Segregation in America, Does It Still Exist?

To determine if segregation still exists, let's define it:

segregate:
1. to set or be set apart from others or from the main group
2. ( tr ) to impose segregation on (a racial or minority group)

source: Dictionary.com - The World English Dictionary

Cruel Display of Racist Condescension in the Land of Segregation

Segregation in the form of separating schools, bathrooms, business establishments and the like ended with the 1964 Civil Rights Enactment, therefore from a legal position, segregation in America no longer exists.

However from other standpoints, for example, demographically or socially, does segregation still exist?

If we look at the definition of segregation: "to separate or set apart from others or from the main body or group", I say segregation certainly exists and often thrives.

photo courtesy of public domain - wikimedia

You know what I'm talking about. In the blink of an eye or the crossing of a railroad track or river you can be taken from a visually stimulating, thriving community to a down trodden, windows boarded up, depressing part of town that can't begin to claim the title or atmosphere of "community".

It is old, run down, tired and worn out. It hasn't changed a bit in the past 60 years....since that decade that was supposed to change everything.

Does seeing the stark contrast of different neighborhoods in city after city make you wonder if segregation still exists like it does me?



photo credit: jgh-photo under creative commons

Churches do it. The blogging world does it. Barber shops and hair salons too. College and universities too many to list here are notorious for it.

While segregation of schools is illegal, many people and organizations still choose to segregate themselves from other groups of different races. Does this impede the way of ending racism and create an environment of division and separatism?

"We must face the fact that in America, the church is still the most segregated major institution in America. At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation."
Dr. Martin Luther King

photo credit: Creative Commons - wikimedia

I grew up in a city of approximately 100,000 in Michigan in the 1960's I started elementary school in 1961 at a school that was, my best guess, 60% black and 40% white. Today that same school claims that 69% of their students are black, 2% Hispanic and 29% are white.

When I was in 5th grade we moved and the new school I attended was 100% white. Really. Today this school claims a "diverse" mix of: 89% white, 1% Native American, 4% Asian, 2% Hispanic and 3% black. Not much changed, did it?

While these are just two schools in one small school district it was interesting to me to revisit the place of my childhood and discover little had changed at all. Interesting and highly disappointing.

This discovery indicates to me, that while segregation is indeed illegal, that doesn't mean it no longer exists.

In 2001 this small town just 50 odd miles east of Tallahassee, FL made it big in the media. The residents of Perry still lived in segregated "harmony" until a lawmaker from Maryland, Talmadge Branch, was passing through one day.

Mr. Branch decided to stop in to the Perry Package Store and Lounge to enjoy a beer. He was bluntly told that "coloreds" weren't served in the lounge and he would have to enter through the back in order to enjoy his beer and lunch.

This apparently wasn't unusual in Perry, as according to residents all the bars in that town were segregated. The mayor, when interviewed for this story, actually used the term, "consensual segregation".

Mr. Branch himself was accused of coming to the town, just to "stir up trouble".

For more interviews and instances of "consensual segregation" you can read the entire story right here.

photo credit: public domain - wikimedia

Census study: Racial segregation persists in Muskegon-Norton Shores metro area

MUSKEGON - Diversity is hard to come by in Elisia Sparkman's neighborhood.
With a population that's roughly 90 percent African American, her one-story rental home on the 2000 block of Wood Street in Muskegon Heights is among the most racially segregated areas in the county, according to census data.

But the divide isn't necessarily motivated by skin color, said Sparkman, 56, an African American who gets by on social security disability. Income, emotional ties to one's neighborhood, lack of opportunity to go elsewhere - all play a role in the racial makeup of Muskegon County's neighborhoods, she said.

"Our generation, when we stay still, it's because.....Read entire story

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Black Northerners Migrating South in Record Numbers

MORE OPPORTUNITY AND A SPIRITUAL RETURN AMONG MAIN REASONS

(NEWSER) - The Great Migration may have come full circle. African-Americans are leaving large cities in the East and Midwest and moving to the South in the greatest numbers in decades, say demographers. Black New Yorkers... Read entire story