Racial Segregation in Chicago

10/26/2011

            Racial divide in the city of Chicago and other cities around the country has always existed but has not always been very obvious in some people eyes nor looked at as a very pressing issue.  I believe most people understand that while we work together and interact with people of different races every day, they never REALLY acknowledge the great racial divide in the city of Chicago.  There are many different factors that could be viewed as causing this racial divide although I feel several are more obvious than others.

            First of all, neighborhoods throughout both the city of Chicago and its suburbs (for the most part) do not often have very much diversity in residential prices.  Coming from a mostly affluent suburb of Chicago, I understand that it is a very expensive area to live in which raises the bar for who can afford to live there and who can’t.  I feel that mixed income housing would be an appropriate solution to this issue but there is still no way to have all of Chicago be primarily mixed housing.  Many of the more affluent residents of Chicago enjoy finer goods and services, which may not be able to survive in an area of mixed income housing.  Also, I feel that people really do prefer to live by other people of their race; not to say that everybody is racist but it is just the truth.  Secondly, while many people do commute long distances for work, for the most part people live closer to occupations of their level, which lowers the bar for many working class neighborhoods.  As seen throughout the history of Chicago, areas near industrial parks and factories tend to have lower property values than any other areas in the city. 

            I feel that a good solution to this issue would perhaps to make housing vouchers a more important reality.  I feel that this would help to get working class people into better neighborhoods and out of primarily racial segregated areas.  In order for these vouchers to work I feel that people would have to prove that they have the ability to hold a job but this could also help to keep people closer to their jobs.  If we had a system to help working, middle-class people to get a home in an area that is closer to where they work in a mixed income neighborhood I feel everybody would benefit.  And lets just say traffic wouldn’t be so bad.

I know that there is no way to make all of Chicago completely racially combined and that there will always be very affluent neighborhoods as well as very run down low quality neighborhoods.  While this is the reality there is still the possibility to mix all working class races together which would benefit everybody.  It just wont be easy.