[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The explanation for why those neighborhoods remained "stable" is that Black and Latino neighborhoods have vastly different origin stories.

The influx of Black people into formerly white neighborhoods led to massive disinvestment in the 60s through shady practices like blockbusting and panic peddling. Other practices like contract buying just destroyed any wealth the Black community had managed to build up from good-paying industrial jobs. Then the jobs went away and the wealth could not be replenished, leaving Black neighborhoods in a state of permanent poverty. Shady landlords engaged in arson for the insurance money, and shocks like the MLK riots left permanent scars because these neighborhoods had no capital to rebuild themselves.

The arrival of Latinos in the 80s and 90s was more gradual and intentional. Managed integration, you could call it. In Little Village, there were deliberate efforts by community groups and banks to transition the neighborhood to a Mexican one slowly as the old Czechs and Poles died out or moved to the burbs. This helped both the new arrivals to have a stable community, and helped the old white ethnics be able to sell their properties for a fair price. New laws like the Fair Housing Act played a role too in limiting the abuses of the 50s/60s real estate market.

Cogent distillation of the big picture. Thank you Ardecila.