As I have posted in the past I think an important aspect of understanding racial and ethnic relations is to recognize when there is evidence that highlights real progress has been made in alleviating discrimination and prejudice. While traditionally the American South was most infamous for its segregationist policies the entire nation openly practiced such discriminatory practices by maintain a racially segregated housing market.

By using openly segregated practices suburban neighborhoods remained racially separated for years, and even after legislation made it illegal to use race as a factor in determining housing loans the system had already been set up in a way to maintain the status quo. This represents how primary level discrimination, which is usually the actions of an individual, are able to morph into structural discrimination, which is the most subtle form discrimination takes. Fortunately, housing segregation in America’s metropolitan areas has taken a turn for the better. According to a study performed by two fellows from the Manhattan Institute, a conservative research organization, racial integration in cities is at its highest rates since 1910.

While this a welcomed accomplishment there is still much work to be done in addressing separation between Caucasians and African-Americans, especially in regards to public education. With a decline in busing some public school districts have become even more racially homogenous in recent years and the averages for Caucasians show they still live in neighborhoods which generally consist of seventy-eight percent white residents.

Luckily a welcomed statistic is that today roughly only twenty percent of African Americans live in areas defined as ‘ghetto’, or low-income, which is down from a rate of close to fifty percent a half-century earlier. Ironically, the cities greatly improving in increased racial integration are in the Sun Belt, where many of the nation’s strictest segregation laws persisted up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One factor contributing to this is the influx of immigrants, many of whom choose the major Sun Belt cities to live.

So while much is left to be accomplished there is also much to celebrate in the battle for racial equality. Making housing less segregated is arguably one of the first steps to increasing association and intermingling between people.

You can find the New York Times article here.