Friday, December 31, 2010

Racial Segregation in DC

"Racial segregation is as taken for granted as any feature of urban life in the United States...The fact of severe and persistent racial segregation of housing patterns in metropolitan areas is not contested...," write DC's own sociologists Gregory D. Squires, Samantha Friedman, and Catherine E. Saidat (GWU) in their 2002 article "Experiencing Residential Segregation: A Contemporary Study of Washington, D.C."

This is definitely clear when looking at this census-based map (just put in 20003 or any DC address), which shows a racially segregated city. We can also see this with the census data:

Poorest by income: Tract 71
% black non-Hispanic, 1990 86% (city average 65%)

% black non-Hispanic, 2000 83% (city average 61%)

% black non-Hispanic, 2005-09 78% (city average 55%)

% white non-Hispanic, 1990 10% (city average 27%)

% white non-Hispanic, 2000 10% (city average 28%)

% white non-Hispanic, 2005-09 17% (city average 32%)



Richest by Income: Tract 67
% black non-Hispanic, 1990 30% (city average 65%)

% black non-Hispanic, 2000 22% (city average 61%)

% black non-Hispanic, 2005-09 15% (city average 55%)

% white non-Hispanic, 1990 67% (city average 27%)

% white non-Hispanic, 2000 70% (city average 28%)

% white non-Hispanic, 2005-09 76% (city average 32%)


Just a tidbit from the sociologists' conclusions: "Two findings stand out from this survey: (1) the disparity in the percentage of blacks and whites who were able to secure their first choice when they moved into their current home and (2) the share of respondents who did not take any legal action after they believed they had been victims of racial discrimination because they thought nothing would come of it." In the New Year, we'll try to understand the reasons behind this segregation and what it has done to Ward 6.

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