Institutional Racism

"White flight" is one theory supporting the idea that racial concentrations influence
residential choice. The premise of this belief is that an increase in the population of
blacks in a specific locality will cause whites to leave once the concentration of
blacks reaches a certain level. The support for this hypothesis is largely anecdotal but
analyses of surveys of white and black attitudes toward the racial make-up of
neighborhoods confirm that some whites are uncomfortable with even a small number
of black neighbors.
Whites also have the highest degree of preference for completely homogeneous (100%
white resident) racial makeup. Additionally, among whites, Latinos, and Asians, blacks
are universally the least-preferred group of neighbors. This reaction may stem from the
fact that statistically speaking, black neighborhoods have higher percentages of high
school dropouts, single-parent families, and the unemployed, and these neighborhoods
are likely to experience significantly higher rates of property crime, violent crime, and
decreased home equity appreciation. In addition, schools populated by all-black or
majority black students were found to have dramatically lower scores on standardized
tests. The phenomenon of white flight may apply to all non-black races fleeing from
neighborhoods with too many black residents.
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