It is one of the most common arguments used to justify federal
inaction in pushing communities that get government housing dollars to become
more racially diverse: Class, not race,
determines where people live, the argument goes. African Americans and Latinos are poorer
than white Americans, and therefore, cannot afford to live in whiter, wealthier
areas.
ProPublica evaluated race and income data for
Westchester County – the affluent New York City suburb under a federal
desegregation order – to determine whether income alone accounts for the
high degree of racial segregation experienced by African Americans there.
In
one half of the split map, we show the current distribution of African
Americans in Westchester. In the other, we show the expected distribution of
African Americans if
black households lived in areas with white households of the same income.
The differences are striking. If income were
the only determinant, and black residents settled wherever they could afford, Westchester
would look dramatically different. Areas such as Yonkers and Mount Vernon where
African Americans are heavily concentrated would be a lot less black. More
affluent places such as Eastchester, Scarsdale and Bronxville, now
overwhelmingly white, would be significantly more diverse — even if the county
did not build a single unit of affordable housing.
Some of Westchester’s living patterns likely reflect preferences
among African Americans to live among other African Americans, but scholars
warn against overestimating the effect of choice.
“When African Americans and Latinos end up living in
segregated communities, those communities are poorer, and have worse schools
and higher crime rates. They are really paying a price for that segregation,”
said John Logan, a Brown University sociologist and segregation expert. Black
segregation isn’t “because they prefer to live with their own people, just as
whites do. I think it is because they have limited choice in the housing
market.”
