A must read to learn the true origins of modern suburbia
Brace your emotions and reserve judgement 40, 30, and 20 somethings. If you're a caucasian American suburbanite you're parents and grandparents likely already know. But do you?
With the push towards urban renewal many city centers are shining new destination spots many times unaffordable for the average middle-class family. Yet, how then did they go into such decline in the first place? Was it market driven or people driven? How did inner-city ghettos get that way? What is really behind the "American Dream" of suburban living?
"Hundreds of thousands of families moved into suburban homes in the 1970s.
It was much like the land grabs of the 1890s, except that in this modern land grab of the 1970s, the land wasn't being given away. We were paying for it.
Oh, some may tell you how much they longed for the comfort and serenity of "suburbs." It was the "American Dream." Their dream. That's what they'll say.
They'll even try to convince you about all the comforts they found in the suburbs during those early days of suburban settlement.
But did any of these families fleeing the terrible conditions of the city ever really stop to ask themselves why they were moving? Or, where they were going? We were running from, not running to, remember.
Well, if they had paused to think about it, or really know what they were getting into, they might have had second thoughts."
An except from the online novel
One family's experience of White Flight, race and the racial transformation of Chicago's South East Side.
It is a firsthand snapshot and true to life account that reverberates from the nationwide post WWII phenomenon that changed the face of an America most 30 somethings and younger have only seen in movies. And drew racial lines that have never been significantly crossed since.
When you read it understand that similar happenings occurred in large and mid-sized city across the country, perhaps even your town!
This is the legacy of the United States and the darkside of Americana, the ill that our generation has been given the chance to change.
With the push towards urban renewal many city centers are shining new destination spots many times unaffordable for the average middle-class family. Yet, how then did they go into such decline in the first place? Was it market driven or people driven? How did inner-city ghettos get that way? What is really behind the "American Dream" of suburban living?
"Hundreds of thousands of families moved into suburban homes in the 1970s.
It was much like the land grabs of the 1890s, except that in this modern land grab of the 1970s, the land wasn't being given away. We were paying for it.
Oh, some may tell you how much they longed for the comfort and serenity of "suburbs." It was the "American Dream." Their dream. That's what they'll say.
They'll even try to convince you about all the comforts they found in the suburbs during those early days of suburban settlement.
But did any of these families fleeing the terrible conditions of the city ever really stop to ask themselves why they were moving? Or, where they were going? We were running from, not running to, remember.
Well, if they had paused to think about it, or really know what they were getting into, they might have had second thoughts."
An except from the online novel
One family's experience of White Flight, race and the racial transformation of Chicago's South East Side.
It is a firsthand snapshot and true to life account that reverberates from the nationwide post WWII phenomenon that changed the face of an America most 30 somethings and younger have only seen in movies. And drew racial lines that have never been significantly crossed since.
When you read it understand that similar happenings occurred in large and mid-sized city across the country, perhaps even your town!
This is the legacy of the United States and the darkside of Americana, the ill that our generation has been given the chance to change.
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http://www.themediaoasis.com/... -
Very good article and very true! Thanks Calumet.
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Very interesting, Calumet! Thanks for the post. I'll have to read more when I have time.
"White flight" certainly did exist. My family moved from Minneapolis to suburban Chicago in 1967. My dad grew up in a Chicago tenement and did not think the city proper was a good place to raise his children. When the rioting of 1968 occurred and dad was nearly killed coming out of the city, my parents decided to move us back to Minneapolis and I have been here since.
Of course, in 1968 there was still "redlining" keeping each race in their own neighborhoods and sections of the city. Today, the city is fully integrated and the suburbs are becoming so as well. Parents and students have the opportunity to choose any high school in the city, as each emphasizes a different magnet or major. This has helped tremendously in integrating the schools. -
The funny thing is there is a reverse process is happening now. White flight back into the city taking over neighborhoods and taking over. Forcing may to move outside the city. Just look at Chicago.
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Hiiiii! Yes, gentrification. I am a big proponent of it in every way, but the affordability aspect. It is inevidable initially, like calculators and HDTVs that the price of living in the shining new center cities would be costly, but I suspect not for long. As more people move back (spurred on by high fuel costs...is it a coincidence?) it will become more affordable.
Compact cities are after all a national mandate. -
depends on who is pushing the national mandate?
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True, but I would commend Mayor Daley in his efforts to desegregate many of the renovated areas. He has contracts with apartment building including buildings in the gold coast accepting subsidized rentals for low income family to live among those rich/well to do whites to balance the neighborhoods. We still need a lot of subsidized housing but the neighborhoods are transforming with more diversity. If his plans are successful it will be a good effort in mixing cultures in the renovated areas. Unfortunately, if they build to many condos the populous will be more white than ethnic diversity.
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Tresor, I experienced and observed the desg of the schools in Boston and it was a nightmare and left a lot of scars. The concept is long overdue but the prep side of it was absent and it ultimately had a damageing result. Fund cultural programs and art in the schools, not cut it and we'll make some progress. Your not alone there are a LOT of us with you! Thanks. ed
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You're absolutely right. That is one aspect of the old neighborhood concept that worked, ergo families and individuals across the economic strata living in vicinity of one another.
The highrise projects which piled all poor people together has scarred many people and created a lot of social maladjustment over the last 30+ years. This will take some time to aleviate. -
At one time I lived in a working class neighborhood (earmarked for revitalization) that was relatively peaceful, almost suburbanesque by Chicago standards. When Ida B Wells, Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Gardens were razed the trickle in of former residents from these projects finally sent me running away for my own safety.
Gang activity rosed markedly. Break in, assaults, etc., rose. I have three friends, teachers, who all expressed all types of horrible actions by the children. Totally undisciplined, without boundaries. Amoral. This is what the projects have produced. And I believe it was intentional. -
I believe the projects and poverty produced it. Some of us actually made it out of the projects and when I lived there, the projects were not full of gang related violence, break in and drugs. Poverty, IMO, is the culprit because blacks are f survivors, by whatever means necessary.
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Yes. I should have qualified my response with that. It is poverty. But not poverty alone, but the social isolation. The crowding together of thousands of poor along with the disinvestment and disenfranchisement, the lack of jobs, and recreation in the communities in which these enclaves of poverty rested. Where liquor and drugs were made more accessible than fresh produce, goods and services and the paltry goods of the under served local stores were artificially overpriced from comparable items you could find in grocery stores outside the areas.
This precipitated a problem that only grew worse over the decades and relatively few have come away from the experience unscathed.
