threeonefour wrote:arch city wrote:MarkHaversham wrote:I don't get it. Most people in the StL area are white or black, and in most parts of the area a majority are one of the two dominant racial groups. What a pointless article.
I see your point. And no offense, but some of you guys need to get out of St. Louis.
In Houston and Dallas, especially in the suburbs, overall the make up of cities and neighborhoods are extremely more diverse than what you find in St. Louis.
Native Blacks, whites, Indians, Africans, Asians, Latinos, etc. etc. often live next door to one another.
People, who are used to diverse cities and neighborhoods, cannot fathom why there isn't more diversity in St. Louis. It's that simple.
St. Louis has been changing, but it is WAY behind in cultural, ethnic and racial diversity. Perhaps the reason is because of its inland geography and slow-growing economy. Or perhaps it is because STL has been relatively closed to outsiders until recently.
I agree. In addition to the points you made, I'd also say that the cities you mentioned (Atlanta comes to mind as well) also seem to have much stronger African-American middle and upper-middle classes. I'm not sure why we don't see that here, especially with the impressive amount of Af/Am-owned businesses and startups, but I suspect our relatively heavy segregation may have something to do with the relative lack of visibility. That's just my anecdotal observation, of course, so I'd be interested to know what others think.
I live in the Carondelet area, and it, like many other city neighborhoods along or near Grand Boulevard, is rather diverse. The trouble is, when you look outside of the southeast quadrant of the city, or the Central Corridor near the universities, there aren't many other communities or neighborhoods with diversity beyond African-Americans and Caucasians. I suppose University City as a whole may be an exception to the rule, and I know there are pockets throughout the metro area with a notable Latino presence, especially in the Metro East. That said, I have to agree, if St. Louis moving up in terms of diversity, it's because it lagged behind most metro areas in the nation for so long. I think that has to do with some of the factors you pointed out, such as the good ol' boys network and the failure to transition quickly enough from a manufacturing-based economy to a global economy.
This is simply not true. Any city with a large African-American population has large ghetto areas, because that is the legacy of racism in America. St. Louis also has a relatively large African-American middle class population, I would say that most African-Americans in St. Louis are middle class they just choose to be segregated for cultural reasons (mainly White racism). Its obvious many people on this board are either not black or have contact with very few black people in St. Louis (because its segregated). The fact is in 2014 most African-Americans are middle class or at least working class, the problem is Black poverty is 25% nationwide, which is at least double to triple White poverty in America.
I'm also sick of people pointing out Atlanta as some beacon of Black hope, because that simply isn't true. Atlanta has the highest income inequality in the country and most of the middle class Blacks come from other places (ahem St. Louis), while the native born Black Atlantans lives in poverty that makes North St. Louis look good.
Dallas and Houston are products of the new economy, much like any sunbelt city. If St. Louis was growing and developing at the pace of these cities we would be a lot more diverse and integrated, unfortunately St. Louis grew the most in the time of Jim Crow segregation. Also don't discount the massive amount of Black and Latino poverty in places like Dallas and Houston, in fact St. Louis probably has way more services for the poor than either of these places. The only difference is many sunbelt cities have integrated ghettos, Tampa, which I've live in is a perfect example of this.
Also, I rarely see people point out Chicago being a racist, segregated cesspool and it having numerous race riots throughout its history. Chicago is super diverse, but what you find is that every ethnicity doesn't even leave its neighborhood. I brought my Black cousin from Chicago with me to the Delmar Loop and he couldn't believe how integrated it was, his exact word were "White and Black don't mix up there in Chicago AT ALL, people don't even leave their hoods".
My point is racism and segregation is bad in St. Louis, but people are mostly talking sh*t and acting holier than thou. Most cities are segregated and most Americans live in neighborhoods with little to no diversity, that is changing in fast growing Sunbelts, but it is in St. Louis too...we just got a longer way to go and slower growth.
