Belise, L. (2001, March 14). Ethnic diversity grows, but not integration: New census figures show greater diversity, but communities are no more integrated. The Christian Science Monitor, p. 1. OVERVIEW According to the article, “The United States is becoming steadily more ethnically diverse. But it’s also as segregated as ever.” According to Census 2000 statistics,

• Hispanics experienced a 58 percent growth rate from 1990 to 2000, and now rival blacks as the largest minority.
• Asians experienced a 48 percent growth rate during the same period.
• City neighborhoods remain segregated by race.
• Minority movement into suburban areas have failed at integration.

Jersey City, N.J., an ethnically diverse community of 610,000 near New York City, serves as an example. Researchers at the Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research in Albany, NY rate a community “very segregated” if its “dissimilarity index” is above 60 percent. Jersey City’s index based on Census 2000 numbers was 69 percent for blacks and whites, virtually unchanged from 72 percent in 1990. Census figures do indicate an encouraging break down of ethnic barriers between minorities. Norfolk, Virginia for example, saw its dissimilarity indexes fall 4 to 10.5 percentage points between Hispanic, black, and Asian groups over the last decade. However, the same indexes between whites and these groups showed little movement. In major cities like New York and Chicago, the indexes between blacks and whites have not changed since the 1920s. Even with black advances over the last 40 years, Professor John Logan, director of the Mumford Center, remarks, “The color line is still very strong.” According to Tom Smith of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, these statistics do not reflect a hardening in racial attitude. In 1990, 47 percent of non-blacks polled objected to living in a half-black neighborhood. In 2000, only 32 percent objected.   QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Do you live in a racially or ethnically diverse community? If so, do you have any friends outside of your own people group? Why or why not?
2. What would be some challenges to crossing racial or ethnic lines? How could those challenges be overcome?
3. If you were buying a house, what type of neighborhood would you like to live in? Discuss whether racial or ethnic diversity would play a factor.
4. Why do you think black-white racial integration has not improved over the last decade?

IMPLICATIONS

• Census 2000 results suggest that the last 40 years of effort at integrating our neighborhoods have not been successful. A look at our churches suggests that they have fared no better than our neighborhoods. We need to ponder why this segregation still exists and find ways to challenge and redeem this attitude.
• “Children of the early 21st century will likely grow up isolated from people of other ethnic groups—much as the children of the early 20th century did.” As parents, teachers, and youth group leaders, we need to think through the ramifications of this ethnic isolation on these children later in life and take steps to minimize its negative impact.