re: #4 sauceruney

But it wasn’t just white people that ran from many parts of large cities, that’s the thing. Up until circa 1990 the CTA’s 63rd Street branch of what is now the Green Line (but which back then was connected to the line north to Howard St, instead of west to Harlem Ave in Oak Park) ran to Dorchester, which from the 1920’s onwards had become a shopping district for African-Americans, run by a black middle class. When Chicago started to see rising crime and serious civil disorder in the second half of the 60’s, that black middle class largely fled Chicago for the suburbs, as did similar black storeowners, doctors, and other professionals. Dorchester was left desolated, so much so eventually even its CTA ‘L’ station was closed.

What is often called “White Flight” was really “Middle Class Flight”. In Detroit and Washington DC as well, the black middle class fled urban areas that were experiencing rampant crime and disorder. What else could they do? Their actions were short-sighted in many ways, but people have to live in the short and medium term. A good long-term plan is great, but you’ve got to live long enough to reach it.