Why are cities like Detroit and Baltimore majority black and economically downtrodden?

Well, the word “cycle” says a lot. It’s how they were raised to view the world. It’s how they were raised to think. Maybe they think that’s all that there is.

So a little history from my area is that we had a town down the street from our city that was all black. This is before integration so they had a seperate school, too, graveyard, etc…

Recently we were preparing for our centennial and I asked about the lack of color in our area and why that was, assuming it was racial issues. I was wrong. Apparently after WW2, many blacks left for Detroit and other manufacturing areas in the north for work with good wages, and never came back. The school closed as did the ‘town’, which is why after integration, my mother’s generation included both races at the local school.

So in regards to your question, it would appear that the loss of manufacturing jobs in the US has led to the current issues.

After World War II construction of the suburbs was subsidized with tax deductions on mortgages and the federal interstate highways. There had been segregation with the cities, but white flight to the suburbs made it even more extreme. Blacks were denied housing, mortgages, and jobs. Even though those practices became illegal, they were still customary.

The people with the least means, and the least opportunities were concentrated in the cities, leading to a downward spiral.

I have heard first hand stories. As a teen, a grade school teacher of mine was in a crowd throwing rocks at the first black-owned home in the neighborhood. The family was harassed until they left. My teacher was ashamed and wanted us to know better.

Also, black families still have a deficit of generational buildup of wealth and privilege. As an illustration, my grandparents were from poor familes and my parents grew up without much money. But they had schooling, jobs, and housing available to them where their black contemporaries were excluded. Our generation benefited from our parents’ and grandparents’ advantages.

@KNOWITALL The movement to northern cities staretd in WWI and accelerated in the 1920s and 1930s, and especially during WWII. That was because that is where the jobs were. The black migration of the 1920s saw the resrugence of the Ku Klux Klan, especially in states like Indiana.

African American migration to Richmond CA, Marin City CA, Oakland CA, and other similar places all across the country, was encouraged by the war effort.

The reason people cite “systemic racism” is that African Americans were only able to live in certain neioghborhoods. Federal Home loans in black neigherborhoods were by law not permitted. Housing covenants in the suburbs prevented Blacks from integrating neighborhoods.

And when civil rights legislation made it apparent that integration was going to be compulsory, the whites left the cities in droves.

@zenvelo Okay, interesting!

Also sad yet interesting, Missouri had the second highest number of lynchings outside the south.
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/06/29/missouri-had-the-second-highest-number-of-lynchings-outside-the-south

I am puzzled about one aspect of the issue. When I was growing up companies would not hire blacks (called “colored” in those days) or Jews, yet the Jewish people thrived anyway. Why not the black people?

Jews have much better education than people who are impoverished, and better connections for business employment. Jews have been dealing with societal exclusion for thousands of years, and have gotten good at surviving it. You really never see any impoverished Jews unless oppressive governments are oppressing or severely restricting them in some way.

^^^The Jewish communities establish their own schools, banks, clothing and grocery stores, and hire each other to run them. The Russians in my neighborhood do the same thing, and don’t even bother to learn English. It seems like the black community could do the same thing.

They might have already started, the Charter school my grandsons went to became all black after it was started five years ago. My youngest was the only white kid left in his class and was teased and bullied. They called him Ghost Spirit and pushed him around. He and his white teacher (the only one left) both quit at the same time.

I really think blacks need to be / identify themselves as a part of mainline American culture rather than a separate ethnic group. Unless, of course, that’s who they want to be and how they express themselves individually.

@Yellowdog it is impossible to “identify oneself” as part of mainline American culture when that culture thwarts every attempt to do so, whether it be voting rights, or just driving down the road in the middle of the day.

When the President of the United States will not speak out vigorously against White Supremacists, when attempts to remove symbols that honor slavery and subjugation are staunchly opposed by those who declare it “the history and culture” , then assimilation is not something one can declare unilaterally.

I’m not sure why you perceive this as a racist comment. Some people, especially in these times, see or accuse racism to be were it is plainly not there..

Although I have lived in Memphis or northern Alabama all of my life until now, I do not identify with the South. I have always liked colder weather, colder climate, and more northerly cultures, with the exception of Appalachia and the Ozarks, which are considered Southern and I HAVE adapted to.

I HAVE worked in several academic libraries and repositories of historical documents and archives, mostly with graduate-level history majors. The Confederacy is an integral part of American history. Those protesting the removal of monuments, whom the President said ‘there were good people on both sides’ were not white supremacists—although there were white supremacists at that rally.

Later, when the media was twisting those words, saying that Trump was calling the Klansmen good people, yeah, actually he did come out and denounce the white supremacists – more than once, in fact. ‘Good people on both sides’ was in reference to both sides of the Confederate monument renewal protest.

White Supremacy is a very tiny minority in the U.S.—and those who do exist are decrying the obliteration of Anglo-Saxon culture, not burning crosses. There is no crises of white supremacist in America today.

Trump is a builder / business man from Queens, not a Southern racist. You have to go back to 1973(46 years) to find any racial discrimination on Trump’s part. At that time, most real estate persons were discriminating against blacks because of property values. At that time, the Clintons were faithful disciples of Klansman senator Robert Byrd, and the Democrat party in the South were avid racists.

I am 54 years old and actually DO remember the garbage strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King, My church and family taught that mistreating black people was wrong, and in fact that we needed togo out of our way to be nice to them (due to the political climate of the 1960s, and really I suppose now and everything in between). I have never seen, even here in the South, any discrimination or Jim Crow, since I was old enough to become aware of such things.

There still are African Americans old enough to remember senator Byrd and their circle of Arkansas and Tennessee klansmen. But the African AMericans of these younger generations have never known this kind of discrimination—except, of course, that the left is continually barraging them with the message that half the country are racists, including the POTUS.

It is in fact the Left who is preoccupied with a person’s race or culture. Most of us live in racially and ethnically diverse communities and may observe a person’s race and culture as part of their identity, but we have lived and worked together as one culture or community all of my life at least.

I’m not sure why you perceive this as a racist comment.

You don’t see black people as Americans.

I just saw this on the PBS schedule. You can watch it free online in the US.

”DETROIT 48202: CONVERSATIONS ALONG A POSTAL ROUTE explores the rise, demise and contested resurgence of America’s ‘motor city’ through a multi-generational choir of voices who reside in mail carrier Wendell Watkins’s work route.”

“Archival footage and oral histories convey the impetus behind the African American migration up north to push against the boundaries of racial and economic segregation. The testimonials of Wendell’s neighbors and friends shed light on the impacts of redlining and the fight for housing justice, the legacy of industrial and political disinvestment, the fragility of Black home ownership as impacted by the mortgage and financial crisis, and a confluence of events and failed policies that resulted in Detroit’s bankruptcy. Blamed for Detroit’s devastation but determined to survive, the resilient community offers creative solutions to re-imagine a more inclusive and equitable city.”

@Call_Me That is your opinion, not fact. If you want honest communication, the personal judgement is wrong. Imo, I dont see @Yellowdog saying that at all.