Residential Segregation, Racial Identity Construction, and Place
I thought I would address a topic that we talk about a good deal in one of my other classes: residential segregation. We have all seen those maps illustrating such segregation. What's hidden within the maps is the variation (or lack thereof) between impoverished blacks and the black middle-class. The gains of the black middle-class in terms of income and educational attainment are undermined by their increased proximity to concentrated poverty relative to their white counterparts. As with most racial issues, the explanation is historical. The lingering effects of de jure segregation, such as intergenerational wealth inequality, mean that middle-class individuals are unable to utilize the same resources in housing as similarly situated whites. Further, recent studies suggest that racial steering practices (in which realtors withhold houses from certain interested parties) continue to affect the black middle-class disproportionately.
An article (Karyn R. Lacy - "black spaces, black places: strategic assimilation and identity construction in middle-class suburbia") that was recently assigned for class highlights the role of an understudied factor in the persistence of residential segregation: racial identity construction. Lacy examines two groups of the black middle-class. One group lives in a majority black neighborhood while the other lives in a majority white neighborhood. The biggest difference between the groups is their emphasis upon racially-distinct places. Parents that choose to live in the majority black neighborhood feel that they can better shield their children from the effects of subtle discrimination, as well as demonstrate the value of a black racial identiy. For these individuals, a racially homogenous neighborhood is seen as the best way to maintain group membership. The middle-class blacks living within the majority white neighborhood feel that they can maintain and express their identity through participation in racially homogenous organizations and clubs. For them, the benefits of participation in majority white institutions are worth the risk of discriminatory interaction. To summarize, Lacy's finding suggests that continued residential segregation results (at least given the historical boundary setting of de jure segregation) in part from a willingness to construct racial identity through residence in racially-distinct places.

