Racially Exclusive Suburbs Across U.S. Dubbed the New 'Whitopia'

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Racially Exclusive Suburbs Across U.S. Dubbed the New 'Whitopia'

By Lewis Beale, Miller-McCune.com. Posted October 7, 2009.

Some of the fastest-growing areas in America are also the most Caucasian -- author Rich Benjamin's new book explores the new establishment of white ghettos.



In Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where 95 percent of the population is white, Rich Benjamin saw more Confederate flags than black people. Not that Benjamin was looking for suggestions of racism, but in his forthcoming book, Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America (Hyperion, Oct. 6), he was trying to discover why some of the fastest-growing areas in America are also the most Caucasian.

"There's a long-term harm when Americans accept balkanization as a way of life," says Benjamin, who is an African American. "Segregation can appear to allay social tensions, but it worsens them in the long run. Optimal democracies require more than voting; they require social integration and involvement."

Benjamin defines Whitopias as towns that are much whiter than the nation as a whole, which means they are more than 75 percent Caucasian. He looked at areas with a population growth of more than 6 percent since 2000, in which the growth was 90 percent white. Then he set out to Forsyth County, Ga., (98,000 people, 684 of them black), St. George, Utah, Coeur d'Alene and other vanilla outposts to find out why folks were moving there.

"There are forces that push people out , like diversity and crumbling infrastructure and high home prices," Benjamin says. "And there are pull factors, like more home for your dollar , beautiful natural amenities and safety, and the perceived comfort that comes with homogeneity." ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/politics/143071/racially_exclusive_suburbs_across_u.s._dubbed_the_new_%27whitopia%27

[AlexinVA]

1. I wouldn't want to live in any of those places...

Boring.

[leveymg]

2. I like the term "White Ghettos". Also "Fort Apache" or "Plantation" captures the spirit of it.

If all the Right-wing assholes in America want to move in together in some isolated spot in the Utah desert, more White Power to them.

[customerserviceguy]

3. There are places that people of color are afraid to live, or even visit

and that is responsible for this so-called "Whitopia". I remember when I lived on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, but would drive an hour to come to work in Tacoma, WA, a racially mixed city. My co-workers of color talked derisively about "the sticks" or "the boonies", but they'd never accept an invitation from me to come and visit, or check out a real county fair instead of the Puyallup Fair (that was really just an excuse to sell spas).

Ignorance is sometimes a two-way street.

[Gman2]

4. The new ALAMOJO's

[izquierdista]

5. I don't think you can include Georgia

Unless you are a tree or under house arrest. Anytime you go out of the house, even in Forsyth county, you are going to leave "Whitopia" and enter a place where there is social integration. Segregation can't be practiced at the mall or the grocery store, and the rednecks who try to practice it at restaurants now get arrested.

Nowadays segregation is mostly mental, and practiced by white people on themselves. They think "oh, I couldn't go there, there will be a lot of ______ there", so they choose not to go, perhaps staying at home instead. So they end up losing out because they have no tolerance for anyone different from themselves.

[keep_it_real]

6. Whitopia is based on collective unconscious / subconscious racism

The last bastion of white racism. When America and the world of whites can uproot the collective unconscious / subconscious of white racism, whites and blacks will be free.

This is the last curtain call to racial sanity.

[Tutankhamun]

7. I lived in a Mexi-topia in CA.

Santa Ana, CA (and, increasingly, its surrounding cities) is as exclusively Mexican as any whitopia is exclusively white. Not because it's poor. There are no poor cities in affluent Orange County. Not because it's near the border (it's two hours away). It's a Mexi-topia because Mexicans decide they want to live with other Mexicans, just like the white people in these exclusively white places want to live with white people.

Even though I'm white, I definitely prefer racially diverse areas -- better selection of females :-)

[Daveparts still]

8. Confederate Flags is more a sign of Stupid people

There are places that are segregated solely by the absence of minorities.
I worked in central Iowa for a time and there were no African Americans.
The area was made up of small farming towns and there never had been any African Americans most of the people who lived in these towns were born there.

Their Ancestors did not set out to find good farm land where they could discriminate against anyone. Along the Northern tier of states the railroad offered lands to European immigrants the towns are made up of their descendants it's not discrimination its luck of the draw, you are where you are because you are.

I spent twenty years in Alabama and despite the bad press many small towns in Alabama are racially diverse and harmonious. You can't get ahead in a small town by being a jerk to half the population.

As a white man I think that every white person should go to Tuskegee Alabama.
Spend time in a town where everyone is African American and see what it is like to be in the minority for a change.