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>Yes, this is a "map of America's racial distribution". Calling it a "map of America's racial segregation" means someone is pushing a political agenda. isn't r

>Yes, this is a "map of America's racial distribution". Calling it a "map of America's racial segregation" means someone is pushing a political agenda. isn't racial segregation is a very significantly skewed racial distribution? >This doesn't mean that there is no race-based component in deciding where to live. It just means that, as the Schelling model demonstrates, you can't tell how much there is by looking at how much clustering there is on a map. you very well described why race may be not a direct (or a reliably traceable at all) cause of observed segregation. And i'd agree that claiming strong causation here would require more strong arguments than just a map which to me clearly shows correlation.

ajross 13y ago
The English language word "segregation" means something like "a multi-modal spacial distribution". But the most common (and very well understood by anyone educated here) use of that word is to describe the regime of laws in the US south designed to prevent racial interraction and preserve white priviledge. Basically: it means something very similar to "apartheid", which is another word that probably had a neutral meaning once but now can only mean one thing.
- VladRussian2 13y ago
  yes, segregation-by-law doesn't exist anymore in the USA (personal preferences of police officers in LA aside), yet there is a phenomenon of poor black and hispanic kids in Oakland going to school which is predominantly attended only by other poor black and hispanic kids. Segregation-by-de-facto-conditions-of-life?
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    Segregation in common English, at least to my ears, implies some degree of malicious intent. We don't have laws that do this anymore, but there are other possibilities such as racist real estate agents, or the 'strategic' placement of highways between neighborhoods (see Chicago, from what I understand). Your usage is technically correct, but I think it carries an implication that is not necessarily supported.
    - bostonpete 13y ago
      I dunno -- there's a lot of talk of self-segregation in the last decade or two. I think that gets lumped in with general segregation in this day and age (certainly it didn't 50 years ago), and I don't think that form of segregation implies any malicious intent.

ajross 13y ago

The English language word "segregation" means something like "a multi-modal spacial distribution". But the most common (and very well understood by anyone educated here) use of that word is to describe the regime of laws in the US south designed to prevent racial interraction and preserve white priviledge. Basically: it means something very similar to "apartheid", which is another word that probably had a neutral meaning once but now can only mean one thing.

VladRussian2 13y ago
yes, segregation-by-law doesn't exist anymore in the USA (personal preferences of police officers in LA aside), yet there is a phenomenon of poor black and hispanic kids in Oakland going to school which is predominantly attended only by other poor black and hispanic kids. Segregation-by-de-facto-conditions-of-life?
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Segregation in common English, at least to my ears, implies some degree of malicious intent. We don't have laws that do this anymore, but there are other possibilities such as racist real estate agents, or the 'strategic' placement of highways between neighborhoods (see Chicago, from what I understand). Your usage is technically correct, but I think it carries an implication that is not necessarily supported.
  - bostonpete 13y ago
    I dunno -- there's a lot of talk of self-segregation in the last decade or two. I think that gets lumped in with general segregation in this day and age (certainly it didn't 50 years ago), and I don't think that form of segregation implies any malicious intent.