Modern Segregation
When you hear the word segregation, what do you think of? Many of us think back to the Civil Rights Movement. Yet, American cities continue to be highly segregated, and the same is true for West Michigan. A simple glance at the racial dot map (see option 2 in today's challenge
options) shows how heavily our communities are segregated by race, especially in the more populous cities and towns.
Significant disparities exist in our local communities, based on race, in the following categories;
- Educational attainment
- Household income
- Access to health services
- Stable housing
For a deeper dive into the data, take a look at United Way’s Tri-annual Community Assessment for Ottawa and Allegan Counties.
Present-day racism was built on a long history of racially distributed resources and ideas that shape our view of ourselves and others. It is a hierarchical system that comes with a broad range of policies and institutions that keep it in place. Policies shaped by institutional racism that enforce segregation include redlining, predatory lending, the exclusion of veterans from the G.I. bill, and the forced segregation of neighborhoods by the Federal Housing Authority. As a result of institutional racism, racial stratification and inequities persist in employment, housing, education, healthcare, government and other sectors (Source).