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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THE MOVEMENT OF BLACKS FROM URBAN AREAS. A REFLECTION OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN GENESEE COUNTY. (sad commentary- many comments to this article had to be deleted as they were abusive-still too many haters!)
Black populations fall in major cities
By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAYUpdated 3/22/2011 2:24:39 PM |
446 | 17ShareReprints & PermissionsThe black population is declining in a growing number of major cities — more evidence that the settlement pattern of African Americans is changing as they disperse to suburbia and warmer parts of the nation.
2010 Census data released so far this year show that 20 of the 25 cities that have at least 250,000 people and a 20% black population either lost more blacks or gained fewer in the past decade than during the 1990s. The declines happened in some traditional black strongholds: Chicago, Oakland, Atlanta, Cleveland and St. Louis.
The loss is fueled by three distinct trends:
• Blacks — many in the middle or upper-middle class — leaving cities for the suburbs.
• Blacks leaving Northern cities for thriving centers in the South.
Shrinking numbers
The black population is declining in many major cities:
Source: Analysis of 2010 Census data by William Frey, Brookings Institution
• The aging of the African-American population, whose growth rate has dropped from more than 16% in the 1990s to about 10% since 2000.
"In the Northern cities, a lot of young blacks who might have grown up in cities are leaving maybe the entire region," says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the data. "They're going to the Sun Belt and particularly the South. The ones who stay in the area want to move to the suburbs."
Atlanta's loss of blacks tripled since 2000 to almost 30,000. The percentage of blacks in the city shrank to 53% from 61%. But in Atlanta's vast metropolitan area, the black population soared 40% to 1.7 million, a clear indication that many spread out to suburban counties. The Atlanta region has the second-largest black population after New York.
HISPANICS: Growth outpaced estimates
CENSUS NUMBERS: Interactive map shows your state, county, locality
The trend is playing out differently in Chicago. The city lost more than 200,000 residents, and more than 180,000 of them were African-American. In the metropolitan area, the black population fell 3.5% to 1.6 million, pushing it 66,000 below metro Atlanta's. "Sadly for Chicago, I think in large part it's the weather," says Chinwe Onyeagoro, CEO of O-H Community Partners, a Chicago-based economic development consulting firm.
Sunny skies and warm temperatures are luring not only retirees but also young professionals who may have friends or relatives in the Sun Belt — Atlanta and Houston in particular, she says.
Suburbs anywhere are a huge draw.
"Typically, middle-class African-American families make the same kind of choices that white families have made for some time," Onyeagoro says. "As soon as kids are school-age, they move to the suburbs." Suburbs are also luring lower-income blacks who are leaving neighborhoods that don't have supermarkets and other retail, she says.
Recent Census surveys show that the District of Columbia's black population declined since 2000. Census data will be released this week for Washington and other major cities, including New York.
The drop also can be partially attributed to a declining black fertility rate and the aging of the black population, says John Logan, director of US 2010 Project at Brown University, which studies trends in American society. "We're starting to see the graying not only of the white population but of the black population," he says.
For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. |
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Thu May 19, 2011 6:45 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Census estimates show more U.S. blacks moving South
Posted 2/15/2011 4:34:16 PM |
6 | 6Share
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's blacks are leaving big cities in the Northeast and Midwest at the highest levels in decades, returning to fast-growing states in the once-segregated South in search of better job opportunities and quality of life.
Southern U.S. region— primarily metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami and Charlotte, N.C. — accounted for roughly 75% of the population gains among blacks since 2000, up from 65% in the 1990s, according to the latest census estimates. The gains came primarily at the expense of Northern metro areas such as New York and Chicago, which posted their first declines in black population since at least 1980.
The figures are based on 2009 census population estimates. The recent census figures for blacks refer to non-Hispanic blacks, which the Census Bureau began calculating separately in 1980.
In all, about 57% of U.S. blacks now live in the South, a jump from the 53% share in the 1970s, according to an analysis of census data by William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. It was the surest sign yet of a sustained reverse migration to the South following the exodus of millions of blacks to the Midwest, Northeast and West in the Great Migration from 1910 to 1970.
"African Americans are acting as other Americans would — searching for better economic opportunity in the Sun Belt," said Isabel Wilkerson, author of "The Warmth of Other Suns," a detailed history of the Great Migration. "But there is also a special connection. As the South becomes more in line with the rest of the country in social and political equality, many are wanting to connect with their ancestral homeland."
The converts include Shelton Haynes, 33, a housing manager in Atlanta. He grew up in New York City and lived in Harlem for many years with his wife and two children before growing weary of the cost of living and hectic pace. After considering other places in the South such as Charlotte, the two settled on Atlanta, where Haynes' brother, sister-in-law and parents now also live.
"We have a great support network of family and friends here, and there is good community involvement, with our kids involved in swimming, tennis and basketball," Haynes said. "In Atlanta, I also see a lot of African-Americans do very well in a variety of professions, so it was good to see things changing."
The findings, based on 2009 data, are expected to be highlighted in official 2010 results being released that show changes in non-Hispanic black populations in states such as Illinois, Texas, New York, Georgia and Florida.
Historically, the South was home to roughly 90% of the nation's blacks from 1790 until 1910, when African Americans began to migrate northward to escape racism and seek jobs in industrial centers such as Detroit, New York and Chicago during World War I. After the decades-long Great Migration, the share of blacks in the South hit a low of about 53% in the 1970s, before civil rights legislation and the passage of time began to improve the social climate in the region.
The current 57% share of blacks now living in the South is the highest level since 1960.
The latest estimates show that the Atlanta metropolitan area added more than half a million blacks over the last decade, making it the metro area with the second largest black population. Despite losing blacks, the New York metro area continued to be home to the largest black population, at roughly 3.2 million.
The Chicago metropolitan area, which previously was ranked no. 2 in black population, slipped to no. 3.
Broken down by state, Georgia was tops in the total number of African Americans, edging out New York state. It was followed by Texas, Florida and California.
In December, the Census Bureau officially reported the nation's population was 308.7 million, up from 281.4 million a decade ago. Most of the population growth occurred in the South and West, where some states stand to gain seats in Congress to reflect their increases in population. Texas, for example, will pick up four new House seats, and Florida will gain two, while Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington each gain one seat.
Frey noted that the continued Southern migration of blacks, who tend to vote Democratic, could have political implications as they flow into mostly Republican-leaning states. In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama was able to win in traditionally GOP-leaning states such as Virginia, North Carolina and Florida after a jump in black voter turnout.
"While much attention is currently given to Hispanic and Asian immigration to new parts of the South, the return migration of African Americans seems to have flown under the radar," Frey said. "It's a factor which should not go unnoticed by politicians and those creating new congressional districts in growing parts of the South."
Other findings:
• Despite a slowing of the black population, the New York metro area could see racial and ethnic minorities become the numerical majority when 2010 results are released. Other metro areas which could officially tip to "majority-minority" status in 2010 are Memphis; Modesto, Calif.; Jackson, Miss.; Las Vegas; San Diego; Washington, D.C.-Arlington, Alexandria, Va.; and Oxnard, Calif.
• Texas will officially become a majority-minority state for the first time based on official 2010 results; its switch occurred in 2005, according to census estimates. It joins Hawaii, California, New Mexico and the District of Columbia. Eight states, led by Arizona, Maryland, Nevada and Georgia, have shares of non-Hispanic whites nearing the tipping point of 50%.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.
Posted 2/15/2011 4:34:16 PM
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Thu May 19, 2011 6:50 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Black exodus reshaping cities
6:21 PM, May 18, 2011 | CHICAGO - Kendall Taylor grew up on this city's tough South Side and is a pastor at Lodebar Church and Ministries in his old neighborhood. But he lives 35 miles away, in Plainfield, Ill.
"I didn't want my children to grow up in the same environment I did," said Taylor, 38, who bought a house in Plainfield with his wife Karen, 38, in 2007. They have one son, Jeremiah, who is 15. Taylor's mom, sisters, nieces and nephews still live in Chicago. The youngsters, he said, "all want to come and live with me" in the quiet, but fast-growing suburb of about 40,000.
Taylor's decision to live outside Chicago makes him part of a shift tracked by the 2010 Census that surprised many demographers and urban planners: He is among hundreds of thousands of blacks who moved away from cities with long histories as centers of African-American life, including Chicago, Oakland, Washington, New Orleans and Detroit.
At the other end of the spectrum, in Maine, is the Lewiston-Auburn area, which saw a 476 percent increase in its black population from 2000 to 2010. Most of the newcomers are refugees from Somalia, said Phil Nadeau, deputy city administrator in Lewiston.
Their arrival "has contributed to reversing the decline of population in the community," he said, and has made it "culturally a much more interesting place to live."
Chicago's population fell by 200,418 from 2000 to 2010, and blacks accounted for almost 89 percent of that drop. Hispanics surpassed blacks as the city's largest minority group. Meanwhile, Plainfield grew by 204 percent overall, and its black population soared by more than 2,000 percent, the fastest rate in the region.
The decline in major cities' black populations is "one of the most important trends out of the 2010 Census, and I do think it's a long-term trend," said Mike Alexander, research division chief for the Atlanta Regional Commission, a planning agency.
RELATED: Ga. black population outgrows other minorities
MORE: Census population and diversity trends
From 2000 to 2010, the city of Atlanta's black population fell by 29,746 people. During that period, the black population in the broader Metro Atlanta area rose by 40 percent, an addition of 490,982. Those numbers tell Alexander that blacks are relocating in suburbs, not in other cities. "This black migration to the suburbs" mirrors what whites have been doing for decades, he said.
The trend has broad policy implications: As blacks who can afford to live in the suburbs depart, will cities have enough resources to help the low-income blacks left behind? Will the demand for housing be strong enough to support the revitalization of traditionally black inner-city neighborhoods? How will black churches, businesses and cultural institutions be affected? Will traffic congestion worsen because blacks moving to the suburbs keep their jobs in the city?
Roderick Harrison, a sociologist at Howard University in Washington and a former chief of the racial statistics branch of the Census Bureau, says the changes reflect the improving economic status of some African Americans.
"It hopefully does represent people actually being able to take steps that they see as improvements in their lives," he said.
Harrison worries, however, that cities will be hurt by the departures. "Combined with the mortgage foreclosure crisis, you're creating a lot of vacant units. Abandoned housing is a breeding ground for crime and further deterioration and decay," he said.
The African Americans who are leaving cities often are "stronger citizens" - those most likely to pay property taxes, contribute to social stability in their neighborhoods and hold government accountable for providing adequate services, Harrison said. Without them, he said, "you can trigger a downward spiral where you're losing tax base and the ability to repair infrastructure," making it difficult for neighborhoods to attract newcomers.
A loss of identity?
Marcy Long, 57, has lived on Chicago's West Side her entire life and isn't going anywhere.
"I'll probably be here until I die," she said. Her parents, three children and church keep her rooted in her neighborhood, the retail clerk said.
Even so, Long understands why other black residents of her neighborhood - at least six families during the past few years - have left for the suburbs or other cities. "Taxes are high, rent is high, groceries are expensive, jobs are hard to find," she said.
The National Association of Realtors says the Chicago metro area's median home price is $155,000, lower than the national median price of $158,700 but higher than the Midwest median of $124,400. Chicago's sales tax is 9.75 percent; Milwaukee's is 5.6 percent and Indianapolis' is 8 percent. Chicago's unemployment rate in March was 8.7 percent, lower than the current 9 percent national rate.
The homes Long's former neighbors left, she said, now are occupied by white or Hispanic families. "I do wonder if Chicago is losing some of its black identity," she said.
Chicago's first black community was created by former and fugitive slaves in the 1840s. A steady flow from the South raised the black population to 40,000 by 1910. Although segregation and discrimination were part of life here, black churches flourished and manufacturing jobs created a large black middle class. Jazz, then the blues, became a hallmark of black culture. By 1960, the city had 813,000 black residents - just under a quarter of the population of 3.5 million then.
Joanna Trotter, community development director for Chicago's Metropolitan Planning Council, said most blacks who have left the city probably were seeking better schools and more affordable homes. As more Census data become available, she hopes to answer some key questions about the migration. Most important, she asked: "Is this vast exodus from certain neighborhoods, or evenly distributed?"
The answer will affect efforts to attract investments by retailers to the city's south and west sides, areas where "food deserts" - neighborhoods with little availability of fresh and healthy food - already exist, Trotter said. Public transportation, already scarce in some low-income areas, could be cut back further.
Jim Lewis, a demographer and senior program officer at The Chicago Community Trust, said neighborhoods that are adjacent to downtown or have historic or architectural significance have the best chance of being revived by new residents.
Those with long histories of poverty and few employers, such as Lawndale and Englewood, will have more difficulty bouncing back, he said. "They're not on the way to anywhere," he said.
Trotter says some Hispanic newcomers are settling in the suburbs instead of moving first to the city, and she believes it would be unfortunate if whites displace blacks and Hispanics in the inner city. "We want to retain diversity within the city core," she said.
On the other hand, Trotter said, the growth of African American populations in the suburbs suggests that those traditionally white communities, "which you wouldn't think would necessarily be welcoming," are seen by minorities as more accepting.
The exodus in Oakland
Like Chicago, Oakland has a rich African-American history. Like Chicago, it lost thousands of black residents from 2000 to 2010. The San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan area lost 33,003 blacks, a decline of 8 percent, leaving Oakland with 106,637.
Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy Institute of California, said the state's overall black population also declined.
"That means, of course, that some African Americans are not just moving from the cities to the suburbs but leaving the state," he said. Some appear to be moving to states such as Texas that have better job prospects, he said.
In some ways, Johnson said, the shift is a traditional pattern, but "in other ways, it might mean quite a bit." For example, he said, it's unclear whether Latinos are displacing blacks in California cities. "Would these inner-core areas actually be depopulating if not for the arrival of other groups?" he asked.
Ishmael Reed, 73, an African American writer who is a longtime Oakland resident, attributes the changes in his city to "white flight going the other way" as people who left the majority-black city years ago are returning because of high gas prices and affordable homes.
"Since there has been an exodus of African Americans out of the city, some of the cultural institutions are in trouble," he said. He worries that city budget woes will force closure of the city's African American Museum and Library.
Cedric Brown, 43, moved from San Francisco to Oakland in 2009, when he got married. He loves being surrounded by "other folks who have a similar cultural heritage and experience," said Brown, who is black and the CEO of the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, which works with low-income minority communities.
He believes the city can sustain its black cultural institutions, but he said the African American community's "political strength and base has eroded because of this out-migration." One of the dangers of the departures, he said, is that "the folks who remain behind because they can't move are increasingly isolated and marginalized."
When Brown lived in San Francisco, he was on a task force created in 2007 to study that city's loss of black population. It called for improving the schools and expanding housing opportunities.
Amos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church and president of the San Francisco NAACP, served on the task force. He said San Francisco "has become a city of the rich, the immigrant poor, and that's it - no black middle class." He sees the effects in his own church and in other black congregations. "For the past five years, no major church has put down (extra) chairs for Easter, Mother's Day or Christmas," he said.
Choosing the suburbs
When Judith Davis, 28, and her husband Earnest, 31, who both are black, moved to the Chicago area from Cincinnati five years ago, they were sure they wanted to live in the city. They quickly changed their minds.
"We couldn't believe how segregated the neighborhoods were," she said. "We were shocked at how poorly run the school systems were."
They rented on the city's outskirts, then bought a home in suburban Bolingbrook, 30 miles from Chicago, in 2009. Their son, Earnest III, was born almost four months ago. "Bolingbrook was the last, last, last place we wanted to go," Davis said, "but when we looked at it, it just made sense."
They bought a big house with reasonable taxes, but her commute to her job in health administration downtown is a two-hour train ride each way. It's worth it, she said. They pay $1,350 a month for day care; a facility in Chicago run by the same company costs $1,900 a month. Their neighborhood is diverse and filled with young couples "who made the same choice we did," she said.
Henry Guice, 46, is black and grew up in a tough Chicago neighborhood, where he returned after graduating from college. When it came time for him and his wife, Patricia, 46, to buy a house five years ago, though, they ended up in Plainfield with their three children.
The family still attends church in Chicago, but Guice loves returning to his four-bedroom home with a backyard overlooking a pond. "It's a beautiful picture, like a postcard," he said.
Guice didn't want to raise his family amid Chicago's crime and wanted his kids to attend better schools. They often visit friends and relatives in the city and still "feel connected" to it.
Chicago has "tremendous benefits," Guice said, and he hopes new Mayor Rahm Emanuel will address its problems "so people will start coming back."
"I think Chicago has a bright future," he said, "but I'm happy here."
(USA Today) |
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Thu May 19, 2011 7:00 am |
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