Originally published in The Villanovan, Issue: 1/21/05 [here]
By Amy Knop-Narbutis
American culture is obsessed with speed. We seek shortcuts in every
area of life, whether it's fast food, fast cars, fast computers, or
even speed dating. Because our society values efficiency and progress
so highly, predicting what we will accomplish in the next 50 years is
nearly unfathomable. Yet not all parts of our culture are as
progressive as we think.
In 1954, Brown v. Board ruled in favor of the desegregation of schools
across America. A hopeful American of that time might have predicted
that in 50 years, segregation would be a thing of the past. On Nov. 18,
2004, Douglas Massey of Princeton University came to Villanova to
refute the myth that we have left segregation behind us.
According to Massey, racism has found a new outlet in the
hyper-segregation of African-Americans. In 2000, 50 percent of urban
African-Americans lived in densely populated, all-black,
hyper-segregated neighborhoods. The six most segregated cities in
America (Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Newark and
Philadelphia) had segregation levels that were matched by no other area
worldwide, with the exception of the South Africa under apartheid.
Though we may be shocked to think that America has anything in common
with apartheid, we continue to foster our racist practices in covert
ways.
A phone survey performed by Massey and his students illustrates how
subtly discrimination is practiced through housing segregation.
Massey's students called a series of housing units asking whether they
were available for rent. By identifying the race of the person calling
(based on speech patterns), the rental agents were able to
discriminate.
While 62 percent of white students were told that houses were
available, only 37 percent of black students were given the same
information about the same houses.
Forty percent of female African-Americans were required to provide
credit reports before they could even learn about availability, while
white males were rarely asked for such information.
In Massey's opinion, this discrimination is not a result of economic
status (since wealthy African-Americans are only slightly less
segregated than the rest), but of stereotypical perceptions. The
General Social Survey (GSS) found that while most blacks prefer to live
in integrated neighborhoods, most whites prefer to live in homogenous
areas. One fifth of whites surveyed said their ideal neighborhood would
include no minorities.
The rest, on average, preferred to live in an area that was at least 60
percent white. According to Massey, this prevalent avoidance of
African-Americans is rooted in unfair negative stereotypes about
laziness, lower intelligence, violence and dysfunctional family
structures.
These stereotypes lead to housing segregation, which is our society's
unspoken way of preventing interaction between whites and minorities as
equals.
"A barrier to residential mobility is the equivalent of a barrier to
socioeconomic mobility," Massey explained. If a person of a minority
group cannot move into a better neighborhood, he or she cannot gain
access to the better jobs, better schools, safer streets and the many
other resources that engender success.
To end this segregation, we must actively enforce federal housing laws.
Unless we acknowledge that discriminatory practices continue to take
place in America, we will continue to foster racism, betraying the
ideals of equality and liberty that we claim to hold so dear.