Do you consider race when looking for a neighborhood to live in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that racist government-sanctioned housing policies for a long time DID mean that an influx of non-Whites would tank home prices in affluent areas.

If you want to understand the impact of housing policies on race and race relations in this country, I would strongly recommend that you read this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

I am a conservative (generally) Republican, and I thank you for posting this. I have started reading it and find it very interesting. I look forward to finishing it later tonight.

OP: here. Thank you for this.

Funny, before moving to the states, I always thought of liberals as more inclusive. If thats the case, then why are liberal cities so segregated and there is such a disparity between blacks/hispanics and others i terms of education, wealth and health? I know the answers to this are loaded, but it makes me wonder what liberal politicians are really doing to advance "equality." Perhaps the idea of equality is joke in a capitalistic society. I digress.

My understanding is that there is more daily contact between blacks and whites in the south as a legacy of the days when blacks were servants in white households and needed to live nearby. I'm not 100% sure about that but it's certainly true that historically there's been a lot more residential segregation in the north than the south.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure people don;t in DC. They are moving to the "hood" and praying all the riff rafts move out soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that racist government-sanctioned housing policies for a long time DID mean that an influx of non-Whites would tank home prices in affluent areas.

If you want to understand the impact of housing policies on race and race relations in this country, I would strongly recommend that you read this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

I am a conservative (generally) Republican, and I thank you for posting this. I have started reading it and find it very interesting. I look forward to finishing it later tonight.

OP: here. Thank you for this.

Funny, before moving to the states, I always thought of liberals as more inclusive. If thats the case, then why are liberal cities so segregated and there is such a disparity between blacks/hispanics and others i terms of education, wealth and health? I know the answers to this are loaded, but it makes me wonder what liberal politicians are really doing to advance "equality." Perhaps the idea of equality is joke in a capitalistic society. I digress.

Interesting article but I am torn. Africans have been exploited for centuries and it continues to this day but at what point does the perpetual target have to take responsibility for being an easy target. It is human nature to cannibalize the weak, it would behoove demographics not to be weak. One on one discrimination is one thing but a systemic history of raping and pillaging and 500-600 years of more or less taking it speaks to some inherent weakness that must be addressed before true parity can be reached. And it isn't like Europe was the only people taking advantage either, China is repeating the process as we speak in Africa now but yet these problems persist.

Yes, women should just accept being raped by men because the prevalence of it over the years is evidence that they have some inherent weakness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. We live downtown DC in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood and honestly the only factors we looked at was commute to work and price. In the time we lived on our block, it has turned from majority AA to majority everything else. I really like our old AA neighbors and hope they stay because they are much more friendly and neighborly than the new people moving in who I mostly don't know.

We moved from the upper west side of Manhattan and don't ever want to move to the 'burbs where both DH and I grew up. Could not wait to leave and will never go back!

We had a similar experience!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that racist government-sanctioned housing policies for a long time DID mean that an influx of non-Whites would tank home prices in affluent areas.

If you want to understand the impact of housing policies on race and race relations in this country, I would strongly recommend that you read this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

I am a conservative (generally) Republican, and I thank you for posting this. I have started reading it and find it very interesting. I look forward to finishing it later tonight.

OP: here. Thank you for this.

Funny, before moving to the states, I always thought of liberals as more inclusive. If thats the case, then why are liberal cities so segregated and there is such a disparity between blacks/hispanics and others i terms of education, wealth and health? I know the answers to this are loaded, but it makes me wonder what liberal politicians are really doing to advance "equality." Perhaps the idea of equality is joke in a capitalistic society. I digress.

My understanding is that there is more daily contact between blacks and whites in the south as a legacy of the days when blacks were servants in white households and needed to live nearby. I'm not 100% sure about that but it's certainly true that historically there's been a lot more residential segregation in the north than the south.

Pp again -- I should add that I'm sure that northern residential segregation occurred in part because many African-American families in the north migrated from the south in the early to mid 1900s so they moved into redlined, segregated neighborhoods in the north because that was all that was available at the time.

[Anonymous]

Per the question about liberal vs. conservative and North vs. South - the easiest answer is that the United States is racist. It was founded on racism and reared on racism. Our early economy was built on chattel slavery, and a large swathe of the United States fought a bloody war in order to preserve their right to keep their fellow humans in bondage.

When slavery fell, it was replaced by Jim Crow and by national-level policies (in the North and South) that kept Black Americans from basically all of the drivers of middle class achievement (GI Bill, low-interest housing loans, Social Security).

There is no non-racist America and no America without the original sin of slavery. With that said, African Americans vote overwhelmingly Democratic because that is the lesser of the two evils, not because the Democrats are a shining beacon of racial tolerance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that racist government-sanctioned housing policies for a long time DID mean that an influx of non-Whites would tank home prices in affluent areas.

If you want to understand the impact of housing policies on race and race relations in this country, I would strongly recommend that you read this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

I am a conservative (generally) Republican, and I thank you for posting this. I have started reading it and find it very interesting. I look forward to finishing it later tonight.

OP: here. Thank you for this.

Funny, before moving to the states, I always thought of liberals as more inclusive. If thats the case, then why are liberal cities so segregated and there is such a disparity between blacks/hispanics and others i terms of education, wealth and health? I know the answers to this are loaded, but it makes me wonder what liberal politicians are really doing to advance "equality." Perhaps the idea of equality is joke in a capitalistic society. I digress.

My understanding is that there is more daily contact between blacks and whites in the south as a legacy of the days when blacks were servants in white households and needed to live nearby. I'm not 100% sure about that but it's certainly true that historically there's been a lot more residential segregation in the north than the south.

Pp again -- I should add that I'm sure that northern residential segregation occurred in part because many African-American families in the north migrated from the south in the early to mid 1900s so they moved into redlined, segregated neighborhoods in the north because that was all that was available at the time.

Racism in the North is definitely a peculiar beast. I moved up to Boston for grad school in the early 2000s. On an apt. hunting trip, I remember being told by a rental agency employee something to the effect of "you don't want to live over there, that's where all the blacks are." (Little did he know that he was actually talking to a black person, lol!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that racist government-sanctioned housing policies for a long time DID mean that an influx of non-Whites would tank home prices in affluent areas.

If you want to understand the impact of housing policies on race and race relations in this country, I would strongly recommend that you read this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

I am a conservative (generally) Republican, and I thank you for posting this. I have started reading it and find it very interesting. I look forward to finishing it later tonight.

OP: here. Thank you for this.

Funny, before moving to the states, I always thought of liberals as more inclusive. If thats the case, then why are liberal cities so segregated and there is such a disparity between blacks/hispanics and others i terms of education, wealth and health? I know the answers to this are loaded, but it makes me wonder what liberal politicians are really doing to advance "equality." Perhaps the idea of equality is joke in a capitalistic society. I digress.

Interesting article but I am torn. Africans have been exploited for centuries and it continues to this day but at what point does the perpetual target have to take responsibility for being an easy target. It is human nature to cannibalize the weak, it would behoove demographics not to be weak. One on one discrimination is one thing but a systemic history of raping and pillaging and 500-600 years of more or less taking it speaks to some inherent weakness that must be addressed before true parity can be reached. And it isn't like Europe was the only people taking advantage either, China is repeating the process as we speak in Africa now but yet these problems persist.

Yes, women should just accept being raped by men because the prevalence of it over the years is evidence that they have some inherent weakness.

Horrible example, women do have an inherent weakness (physicality) that has more or less caused them to be subservient to the whims of men through out time. The law acts as an equalizer in modern times but it can not veto the basic lack of genetic equality between the sexes, it can only at as a deterrent to act upon it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol at all of the people lying through their teeth in this thread. Of course everyone considers race. You don't see bleeding heart liberals moving to the depths of PG county, nor do you see many African Americans moving to Old Town Alexandria. for the Canadian OP: people pay attention to race because they are concerned about property values and crime. Like it or not, certain demographics are more likely to commit violent crimes and property crimes. There is a history in this country of "blockbusting," where realtors would use subterfuge to sell one or a couple houses on a block to African Americans, then would start throwing bricks through people's windows to make them think the neighborhood was going to hell in a hand basket. The realtors would put their business cards and flyers all over the neighborhood and, before you knew it, the white home owners would be selling like hot cakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbusting).

FYI, that's all that used to live in Old Town. And not that long ago. The Old Town residents closer to Potomac Yard was almost 100% AA in the 80s - 2000s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A couple of observations. As a white guy, I have not looked at any potential area, and thought about the racial make-up as part of my buying decision. School quality, location, ease of commute, and price have been the driving factors. I also do not think any realtor with even an iota of sense would admit to knowing what the racial make-up of any area is, and directing buyers to or from an area, based on that. That is discrimination. Finally, I really couldn't care if my neighbors were white, black, Asian, Jewish, or tutti-frutti colored. I hope that they will try and maximize their investment with sound upkeeping, maintenance, etc., ya know, act like rational and sensible home owners. As for school quality: if the schools suck, real estate prices will follow that. Smart money that can leave, will leave. Tax base shrinks, and, those left behind suffer. Thank you school unions.

Realtors cannot discuss school quality, crime or racial demographics. It violates the Fair Housing Act.

[Anonymous]

I'm white. I don't want to be in an all-anything neighborhood because it'll either be too snoozeville (full of hot yoga and dog groomers), OR full of shitty take-out spots and dominican salons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you even find out the racial makeup? When I view houses I see 2 Neighbors. I do check the racial makeup of the elementary school. I've avoided a school area where my minority kid would be only one of two in her class. The area was 90% white.

ask your realtor

Is this a joke? Realtors are forbidden by fair housing laws from steering anyone into certain neighborhoods based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, handicap or familial status, or even discussing the racial or religious makeup of any school or neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol at all of the people lying through their teeth in this thread. Of course everyone considers race. You don't see bleeding heart liberals moving to the depths of PG county, nor do you see many African Americans moving to Old Town Alexandria. for the Canadian OP: people pay attention to race because they are concerned about property values and crime. Like it or not, certain demographics are more likely to commit violent crimes and property crimes. There is a history in this country of "blockbusting," where realtors would use subterfuge to sell one or a couple houses on a block to African Americans, then would start throwing bricks through people's windows to make them think the neighborhood was going to hell in a hand basket. The realtors would put their business cards and flyers all over the neighborhood and, before you knew it, the white home owners would be selling like hot cakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbusting).

FYI, that's all that used to live in Old Town. And not that long ago. The Old Town residents closer to Potomac Yard was almost 100% AA in the 80s - 2000s.

Old town used to be a slave market, by the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you even find out the racial makeup? When I view houses I see 2 Neighbors. I do check the racial makeup of the elementary school. I've avoided a school area where my minority kid would be only one of two in her class. The area was 90% white.

ask your realtor

Is this a joke? Realtors are forbidden by fair housing laws from steering anyone into certain neighborhoods based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, handicap or familial status, or even discussing the racial or religious makeup of any school or neighborhood.

Really? I've had realtors tell me all about which minorities lived in which neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

This thread is a train wreck but really what do you expect. Yeah, most upper income liberals want to live around people just like them. Nowadays its less about skin color and more about income and groupthink. Own an expensive car, shop at whole foods, send your kids to French classes, and seem really upset about GMOs and you'll fit right in.