Black Flight - Economic Disparities

Economic Disparities

The economic disparities between some classes of European Americans and African Americans have diminished. Black Americans today have a median income level much higher than they did in the 1990 census and as compared to the 2000 census, after inflation is considered. African Americans occupy a higher percentage of high-paying jobs within the USA than they used to. This has led to a rapidly increasing black upper-middle class. Many of America’s suburbs are becoming diversified with black and white residents coexisting in affluent neighborhoods. With the economic division within similar classes declining between races, African-American movement to the suburbs has resulted in some suburbs becoming more diverse. Other times middle and upper class blacks have chosen to settle in chiefly African-American communities, so their children can grow up in a strong community of their own.

The extent to which increased economic prosperity among African Americans has led to integration among whites and blacks is debatable. Some scholars suggest that the narrowing economic divide is helping the USA to become an increasingly color-blind society, but others note the de facto segregation in many residential areas and continuing social discrimination.