White Flight: A Justified Departure or An Unwarranted Desertion?
Patrick EdmondsThe strident screams of vulgarity, inner-laced with threats of abuse directed at children, albeit wayward, but no more than nine years in age. Shattered glass, slamming doors, and cries of pain so clear they seemed to come from my own home. An ever-worsening property, with a decaying sidewalk, decrepit front-lawn better suited for a mud-wrestling match than the growing of grass, and pieces of trash drifting onto my property on a daily basis. Brazen teenagers dribbling basketballs, often using their rental house to improve their passing game, and playing absurdly loud music at all times of day. Belligerently drunk adults lighting bonfires to sustain their binge to the wee hours of the morning.
These unfortunate experiences were what encompassed my daily life and functioned as the true bane of my existence for more than a year, for these people and their behaviors detailed above are not some hypothetical situation or individuals I read about in the paper. No. They were my neighbors, their rental home attached to mine, separated by a little less than two-feet of concrete, our walkway and stairs shared.
For more than a year I exhausted every avenue of civil response that I could: police, landlord, County Section 8 Housing, the school system, and basic human logic with my neighbors- nothing worked. And try as I may to rationalize this daily ritual of disrespect by my neighbors as simply an extension of their lower-income status, seemingly limited education, and most likely cycle of poor parenting, eventually I just couldn’t endure the barrage of vile actions on constant display to me and others.
However, more than the fear of financial depreciation of my home and the constant worry of physical altercations with these neighbors, was the incessant mental fatigue I suffered, feeling sick to my stomach every time I drove home, wondering what new indignity this troubled family would expect me to tolerate. Eventually, it became too much, and so I did what many have done before me- I fled. I packed my bags, told my roommates, and sold my home. I fled. I fled because they were ignorant. I fled because they were different. I fled because I could.
The idea of flight from ignorance and poverty is hardly new to anyone who has grown up in or around a large city. The term “white flight” usually carries with it a context of prejudice and racism. This idea was recently the centerpiece of an Inquirer article, Pennsauken Works to Discourage White Flight, which depicted one town’s efforts to stem the tide of a white exodus, apparently motivated by the changing color of the community. As more African American, Hispanic, and Asian families moved in, more white families moved out. And while the writer should be applauded for tackling what is often considered a taboo subject, the article itself still failed to address the contentious, unspoken debate at the heart of the matter: Is it wrong for white families, or any family with the capacity to do so, to move due to a changing community?
The town in question, Pennsauken, a New Jersey town close to both Camden and Philadelphia, is no different than many other communities that lie on the borders of large urban centers, and its changing demographics are a reflection of this reality. Over a forty percent decline in the white population since 1980 seemingly conveys the fact that many of the once white public opted to flee for paler pastures as a result of the change in the community’s racial makeup. According to Nathaniel Norment Jr., chairman of African American Studies at Temple University, this response is, “…something that's created based on white people's fear of being close to black people. There's this myth we have that blacks' moving in will change the social environment." Norment’s astute perception aside, from a strictly statistical standpoint, isn’t this “white fear” a legitimate one? According to the article, yes.
Anyone with a basic understanding of education and poverty knows that these two factors influence property value more than anything else- perceived or real. They also know that African Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately more likely to be victims of a failed educational system, thus creating greater poverty. Therefore, if a white family, through statistical certainties, sees an increase in these minority groups, they can rightfully determine that their schools will worsen, their taxes, due to greater services to the impoverished, will increase, and their home’s property values will decline. This is to say nothing of the other regrettable reality- crime- another disproportionate statistical certainty often revolving around higher levels of poverty, poorer options of education, and greater amounts of minorities.
These unfortunate truths are validated within the article. According to Eric Dobson, a planning consultant and member of the school board, “When you see low property values, you can see people of color are living there. It’s troubling when you have an overwhelming number of one race buying in a place.” Ironically, most of the influx of minorities overflowing the suburban areas of large and small cities are attempting to escape the same thing white flighters presumably fear: debilitating poverty, dysfunctional schools, and rampant crime. The only difference is that most of these transplants have actually experienced these unfortunate circumstances whereas the fleers can only assume their seemingly inevitable advent.
For the one year of my life that I dealt with the effects of absurdly ignorant (intellectually, socially, and morally) individuals I regrettably called my neighbors, I wished everyday that I didn’t have to. And while I can say that my motivation to move was primarily influenced through my experiences with this family of loathsome human beings and their ignorance, I am happy to say that race played no part in my decision because the family was white. But, I often wonder if I would be a statistic of “white flight” if they had been black or Hispanic, and what this would say about me. (Actually, a friendly black family, who I got along with quite well, lived directly across the street from me). And although I can’t answer this question, I do know that if I could have been aware of the flood of anger, stress, and discontent that would saturate my life for an entire year, I would have certainly sold sooner.
Reader Comments (6)
Excellently done. You were at the height of your blogging game on this one, taking it from the personal to the societal level, all while shocking and challenging the reader. However, despite the technical soundness of the piece, I expect some obvious challenges to your logic.
I'll throw a few out there for debate. Hypothetically, even if your grim statistics about property value, crime, etc. are correct, isn't it still irresponsible of decent folk to flee from cultural challenges rather then to stand up and offer better examples to people. By your logic, fleeing from bad neighborhoods will only continue the process of urban blight into the suburbs. What is the end game here? Are there certain areas that simply cannot be penetrated by less than upstanding neighbors? Or will the population once again shift to rural areas where there's too much distance between neighbors to reveal their flaws to one another while our cultural centers are left to rot?
A second idea to ponder is the effects of "white flight" or anybody's flight from poorer areas on our housing market in the last few years. Why do most people choose to buy that home in a lower income area in the first place? Probably because they are looking for the most affordable housing for their modest budgets and are willing to sacrifice a few of the finer neighborhood comforts in exchange for a mortgage that doesn't break their bank account. But as your situation exhibits, sometimes the living conditions of row home with a noisy, inconsiderate neighbor can be so bad that no financial prudence can be worth the eventual long term damage caused by emotional and mental stress of living in your own home. So, people either become inconsiderate themselves in the hopes they'll drive out their neighbors or they give up and move to nicer areas. But don't those nicer areas cost more, and eventually lead to increasing debts for the fleeing renters and homeowners? Isn't it the combination of unsustainable consumer debt and faulty mortgage lending practices that is in large part responsible for the current recession? So maybe fleeing areas is not just culturally irresponsible, but also fiscally damaging to individuals and the economy as a whole.
Well, those are some of my arguments as devil's advocate, but as I write this listening to my neighbor's blaring TV volume levels pumped up to drown out the sounds of neglected screaming toddlers intermixed with the angry shouts of adults who may or may not be their parents, I am overly inclined to flee. Not due to race or prejudice, but like you just to preserve the mental health of my spouse and me. The only other option is to wait it out, but I'm no Clint Eastwood and even if I was, I don't own a mint condition 1972 Gran Torino.
This is an issue that I have experienced in the past as I have seen my old neighborhood change from white flight. Some of the most open minded and urban dwellers who had never had a yard took off to bigger houses and nicer neighborhoods they could not afford because they saw their neighborhood "going down."
It is easy to label the leavers as racist or ignorant or apathetic, but if I worked all my life and owned my home and enjoyed my life style, I can imagine the fear of citizens who see their whole existence being uprooted by Section 8 housing and housing authorities, who are trying to provide a better opportunties for their clients and have the power of government to implement any course they can with their plans. There must be an utter sense of abandonment behind their control.
You can not abide crime or violence in one's environment if one wants to feel secure. This is before race relations or idealism or self actualization. This is Maslov's triangle that has so much truth when we deal with reasons while people behave the way they do. The people who leave, no matter where they go, are leaving because of a low level of self actualization that must be fulfilled or refulfilled before they can move on.
What is security but a feeling of normality? When our norms are broken around us, we can no longer call that place home. We must change to find what we have lost and we look for the place closest to the old norm that made us content. To call that racist, is probably a lack of thinking about the individual involved. The people who leave make individual choices, and probably have little to do race other than on a superficial basis. It is probably economic and cultural differences that act as the catalyst.
Thanks for the lunch and the ideas. Media likes to call any type of change racism at work, but with a deeper look, like you make in your post, we see a much deeper need of humanity .
Here's an article from philly.com that speaks to my concerns. The man of the story is not white and is leaving his city, which he has loved for a very long time, with deep regret. A true shame.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20100311_Daniel_Rubin__A_reluctant_farewell_to_Phila_.html?posted=y&viewAll=y#comments
It was a good followup story. There is sadness in the story but there is also a element of hope that the man is taking his life back, making his own choices, and no longer being a victim. The man came over from poor circumstances to America and now is doing the same thing at the end of his life. Change is part of life and the impetus of that change may be many things.
The comments following are disturbing. There is just so much anger and no answers. There is just so much blame, but no answers. As I said, moving is not running away, but making a rational decsion based on your morals, values, and life situation. Society has created these problems, many different aspects of society, but in the end the individual can act and change his situation, no matter how hard. We can find people in our society, even our own government, that may assist us. We need to do what we can, but in the end a man must sleep, know his own limitations, and make decisions that are best for his family and future.
I feel we hold places with much more symbolic value that they need. Thanks for the link.
Guys... guys... I have the solution... the "final solution" so to speak. As I hope you'll come to see, that's what the neutron bomb is for. It destroys organic materials (in this case, blacks and hispanics), but leaves the infrastructure largely intact (in this case, the real estate). That's how we can raise the "property value" - just drop a neutron bomb on them, and BANG, property values rise as the minorities are vaporized. You see, in this case "white flight" is a good thing, since we wouldn't want any WASPs to be destroyed in the blast...
Why would we want to spend any money educating the poor when we can simply destroy them? Why would we want to provide helpful services to impoverished people when our leaders have, by virtue of a huge military budget, developed much more efficient ways of killing them?
"Efficiency and progress are ours once more
Now that we have the Neutron Bomb
It's nice and quick and clean and gets things done
Won't we KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL THE POOR?"
- The Dead Kennedys
I am living in the house of my dreams and yet it is very likely I will be forced to move in the very near future because I am no longer safe here. Raising two children and caring for an elderly parent leaves me extremely vulnerable. I have a broken fence that's easily climbed, a security system I'm afraid to enable, and a small dog who wouldn't bite Hitler. I don't own a gun and have no intention of buying one. Our bikes have been stolen right out of our garage for the third time. They were actually locked to a wooden beam but my son used his and forgot to re-lock them- they were gone in less than a week. My basement windows are nailed shut because i figure anyone who would enter a closed garage would certainly climb through a shut window. Depressing headlines greet the day, waling sirens herald the night. No, I will not shoot an intruder, I will leave before they intrude. This is not racism. It's self-defense. I do not even want to talk about what's left of my life savings, tied up in this house and dwindling daily as values decline. No, I'm not fleeing because I'm white. I'm fleeing because I am a caregiver and head of household. I'm fleeing to protect my family and preserve the vestiges of my entire life's work. One cannot put the needs of the community before the needs of the family. I am truly sorry it has come to this.