(08-16-2022, 10:57 AM)homebiscuit Wrote:

(08-16-2022, 10:49 AM)mikesez Wrote: It's funny how selective people are in what they will call out as racism.

I'm white.  When I was in the market for my first home, I didn't yet have much money for a down payment, and above all I wanted to be close to the interstate.  I asked a guy from church to be my realtor, and as he was showing me an available house, he said, "I don't want you to get too excited about this place." "Why not?" "I don't see it as a good fit for you. My wife teaches public school in this area.  Some discipline problems." "What does that have to do with me?" "I'm sorry, to say more would be breaking the law."

Turns out this neighborhood had a high number of black people, not a majority, but more than average. Later he helped a black family we both knew move to a home in the same area.  I'm sure he had many other similar dealings with families I didn't know. This casual housing discrimination is super common.   But it's never called out.  Instead we call out this other stuff because it breaks more cleanly on the blue/red battle lines we've drawn.  Which has a bigger effect on a kid's upbringing - the neighborhood they grow up in, or one of the six teachers they will have in elementary school?  Define racism however you want, but do we really have our priorities in order here? 

And don't take it personally.  The White people on the blue team also don't really want to discuss housing discrimination.

Did you buy the house in the predominantly black neighborhood?

It wasn't predominantly black, it was morenlike 30 or 40% black. And the houses were all new and well maintained.  My wife ended up getting a job offer much closer to my job at the time, and living near the interstate was no longer important.  
FWIW I live next to a predominantly Mexican area now.  Doesn't bother me.

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(08-16-2022, 10:58 AM)NewJagsCity Wrote:

(08-16-2022, 10:49 AM)mikesez Wrote: It's funny how selective people are in what they will call out as racism.

I'm white.  When I was in the market for my first home, I didn't yet have much money for a down payment, and above all I wanted to be close to the interstate.  I asked a guy from church to be my realtor, and as he was showing me an available house, he said, "I don't want you to get too excited about this place." "Why not?" "I don't see it as a good fit for you. My wife teaches public school in this area.  Some discipline problems." "What does that have to do with me?" "I'm sorry, to say more would be breaking the law."

Turns out this neighborhood had a high number of black people, not a majority, but more than average. Later he helped a black family we both knew move to a home in the same area.  I'm sure he had many other similar dealings with families I didn't know. This casual housing discrimination is super common.   But it's never called out.  Instead we call out this other stuff because it breaks more cleanly on the blue/red battle lines we've drawn.  Which has a bigger effect on a kid's upbringing - the neighborhood they grow up in, or one of the six teachers they will have in elementary school?  Define racism however you want, but do we really have our priorities in order here?

It's not racist to want to feel safe in your home at night, and not have to worry about your car being stolen/vandalized if you don't have a garage to park it in.  In a perfect world, sure you can go live in those neighborhoods.  We've had a good number of black families move to our neighborhood recently, and to a family they have told me it was to escape crime and bad influences on thier kids.  I have two tenants at my rental properties that are doing the same, both Hispanic families.  I keep the rent 40 to 50% lower than market for this very reason; so they can escape those hell holes.  There's nothing to 'call out'. It's not racist to want to live in safety.  How about we call out the people who are making poor neighborhoods unsafe?  Are the people in those neighborhoods unable to be law abiding citizens?

It sounds like you are working against racism in your area, so thank you for that.  You should be aware that many landlords steer black and Hispanic people to rundown and high crime properties while steering white prospects to lower crime properties.  If you're not doing that, great, but many do, and realtors too.

While violent crime like stabbings and shootings tends to accumulate in low income areas with gangs, the petty crime like breaking into cars is highly mobile. I'm around 40 years old and I've parked overnight in many different neighborhoods. The two times I've had my car broken into were both in higher end areas. The cops in both cases said there was a wave of breakins attributed to teenagers living a few miles away, not neighbors.

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