WASHINGTON (AP)—According to data released March 24, African-Americans in search of wider spaces increasingly left big cities such as Detroit, Chicago and New York for the suburbs, typically in the South. Both Michigan and Illinois had their first declines in the Black population since statehood as many of their residents opted for warmer climates in the suburbs of places such as Atlanta, Dallas and Houston.
2010 Census: Blacks leaving big cities for suburbs
I'm troubled by the southern de-urbanizing migration, not becuase I dislike the south, but becuase my fellow black Americans are suburbanizing. In the eyes of many people this is positive trend, another step towards the American dream or something. But, I believe that the era of suburbs is turning a corner, gas prices are going up and certian cities are slowly becoming the more prized places to live. Driving, heating a large home, maintaining two working cars (since there are no sidewalks in some of these places) and all of the other costs that come with single family houses are becoming greater. I have seen too many good people chasing a dead American dream out into the suburbs, only to find only predatory mortgages that turn the financial stability offered by home ownership on it's head, to find that the cost of a car and gas and heat are even more burdensome than high city rents, or even high co-op fees. And, in those NYC the neighborhoods where black Americans are leaving the neighborhood is quickly devoured by the wealthy developers. It's like abandoning the ghetto just as it becomes valuable. Of course, there are many many many other factors in gentrification. But, some of this is about values and what people want to invest in and live with.
My father, and others get very angry at me when I talk about this. They here an accusatory tone in what I'm saying. (And they are right it's there, I won't lie.) My father has said that he is sick of being told that as a middle class black man he must "give back" or "be a role model" that he must "volunteer" -- he points out (rightly) that white middle-class Americans are not saddled with the same expectations that they must fix the problems of "their" people.
And I get what he's saying. He's right: there is a double standard. But, that doesn't change the damage that has been and continues to be done by suburbanization! The damage happens on both ends-- the urban neighborhood that are abandoned and the unmitigated financial that result far too often from mortgages, dishonest agents, and the economics of suburban life. Then there are the social factors of suburban life. I know kids, for example, who are packed in to a car and driven 10 or more miles to a park to ride their bike-- it is unthinkable and impossible to ride there! Parents still find ways for their kids to have good expereinces, but some things are needlessly difficult in a suburb.
Like MOST Americans the black middle class just wants a bigger house, and many have developed negative associations with cities. I have had so many people look down their nose at me for living in a city. "Why do you want to do that?" "When you get this new job you'll move out, right?" etc. In NYC, happily immigrants from Kenya, Ghana and other African countries are helping to filling-out, transform and enrich places like Harlem. Without those immigrants Harlem would be on it's way to becoming another part of the Upper West Side. But, even the new immigrants talk wistfully about moving to the suburbs. -- and idealized version of the suburbs that is not in touch with the suburban reality and all of its problems.
Are we going to destroy, through abandonment, the most beautiful black neighborhood in the country?
I grew up thinking that urban cosmopolitanism was a part of my African American heritage. I viewed OUR people as the defenders and custodians, the inventors and most essential residents of cities, but I guess that was naive. Like all Americans as we slowly (and I do mean slowly) grow more middle class and have more wealth the FIRST thing many aim to do is "get the hell out of the ghetto" --all I can say is the real estate vultures are more than happy to see you go.
Many go for "better schools," but they are just the kind of concerned active parent who has the time to help make a school better-- in other words they are the people I'd want to network with once my kid is in school. So, it is kind of a big deal, a few good parents can do wonders for a small school, not everyone has the income to have a stay-at-home PTA mom, and not everyone cares, but those who do could cluster together in the city as easily as in the suburbs. Though I talk to some people who just have this unquestioning belief that suburban schools will be better... this, of course, is not always true.
I think dreams of white picket fences. It's just another way to fleece us with false hope. In 50 years we will look up and wonder at the fact that cities had thriving neighborhoods that were totally black. We will still be on the outside of the gate looking in, only now the gate will be around Harlem, Bushwick and The South Bronx.
History Repeats.
(To some extent this is inevitable, and even if every black middle class person held on to and invested in the city, it would make a dent, but there are forces that would still lead to these things happening. I'm not saying we are the cause and solution to our own problems. In fact, I can't seriously make a call to action since it would require black people to act exceptionally-- it would be a double standard, as my dad would say. What I can do is share what I value about cities and what I fear about suburbs and try to help others to see it too. For you, as an individual, a suburban life may be your only viable option-- or it may be abjectly better in ways you can easily quantify. All of our actions are part of greater trends, and when these things happen over and over and over the impact is multiplied. Maybe it's worth it, in your view. It's not in mine.)