Blogging Social Difference Week 7: Response to Madison Beall's Post on West Hollywood

Last week Madison Beall detailed a trip through Beverly Hills to West Hollywood. She drove there on Sunset Boulevard and ate at Griddle Cafe. On the way there she observed that the houses were huge and expensive looking. At the restaurant she observed many races except for African-Americans.

She links her experiences to the chapter in Massey and Denton’s American Apartheid to explain why she didn’t see any African-Americans. She paraphrases their assertion that the black-white contact is at a minimum in cities like Los Angeles and that like in West Hollywood, little or no segregation is needed. She then details Massey and Denton’s argument that race is what shapes neighborhoods. I have come to understand that these two arguments contradict each other if used in reference to the same place. The first argument implies that segregation occurs because the area has a low population of African-Americans. The second argument implies that segregation happens to keep one area free of other peoples.

Although West Hollywood is not a part of Los Angeles itself, it is surrounded by municipal Los Angeles. West Hollywood can be better understood if looked at as a neighborhood rather than an entirely separate city, as well as how the greater city and region influence it. The Los Angeles Metro African-American population share is approximately 7.1%, greater than the threshold Massey and Denton (5%) use to classify regions that need little or no segregation to keep black-white contact at a minimum. The Los Angeles population itself has an African-American percentage of 13% (Fact-Finder). According to Massey and Denton, segregation throughout the Los Angeles area has indeed shaped the distribution of African-Americans in of the region.

Miracle Mile's changes in population since 2000 (LA Times)

There is an interesting trend occurring in Mid-City (including Miracle Mile), one of the closest areas to West Hollywood, which has a significantly large African-American population. This area is fairly integrated, with an equal mix of white, black, Hispanic and Asian peoples. The African-American population is declining there, and the populations of other races are increasing. This may be a result of gentrification (there are many art galleries in the area) or possibly black suburbanization. The point is that the assertions Massey and Denton make are not exactly 1:1 in Los Angeles. Its true that LA is hardly a model of integration, but the evidence is harder to pin down than areas like Detroit.