The Edison Park Community Area, which has long held the dubious title of Chicago’s most segregated neighborhood, has once again seen its African-American population reduced to zero.
The numbers come from an analysis of 2005 – 2009 US Census data by the Chicago News Cooperative. The 2000 Census had reported a low double-digit African-American population in Edison Park.
Joe,
those numbers are derived from a tiny sample of the population. It’s likely that the tiny number of black folks who live in Edison Park were simply missed. When you’re sampling a community of 11,000 that has fewer than 20 black folks you’re likely to miss them.
When the actual census numbers are released regarding race I’m guessing we’ll see a healthy increase in the black population of Edison Park to possibly 25 or even 30 individuals.
The non decade census numbers are notoriously bad, but they do show some interesting patterns. Some bad, some good.
The population in gentrified Lincoln Park and Lakeview is going up. Likely because of more children in strollers being wheeled around to playdates and activities. The population in Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, West Town has gone down, but I suspect that in 2020 a similar “stroller” pattern will emerge there too.
Large population increases downtown and in neighboring hoods north, south and west.
Beverly seems to have achieved stable racial integration after seeing a slow decline in the percentage of whites living their for decades and there is a tiny, yet perceptible movement of whites into Chatham and South Shore. Perhaps the post racial integrated nirvana is right around the corner. Perhaps not. In any case those are tiny, yet hopeful signs that society is slowly improving regarding race issues.
On the negative side the city has lost a tremendous number of people in the largely black neighborhoods on the south and west sides. The numbers for the tiny neighborhood of “Riverdale” look like something out of 1946 Dresden Germany.
I’m looking forward to the actual Census 2010 overall numbers being released.
Agreed as to the high probability of sampling error.
It’s been about two years since I spent a substantial amount of time in Beverly. Atthat time the integration consisted of virtually all black and virtually all white sections of the neighborhood. Has that changed?
I hope those Uptown 2020 strollers will hold kids instead of being high-tech mobile mini-meth labs.
Joe,
the eastern areas of Beverly tend to be blacker and the western areas tend to be whiter, but the areas in between seem to be fairly well integrated. It’s not unusual for whites to buy houses from blacks or vice versa.
Stable housing integration seems to be an ongoing fact there. Social integration is another matter. The white kids largely attend large Catholic schools and the black kids public schools.
One of my brothers had an amusing comment during the 2004 Senate race. You could tell who lived where by the sign on their lawn. Obama signs dominated in the east and Hynes signs in the west. With the middle up for grabs.
As for your meth comment that is uncalled for. Meth tends to be the drug of choice among Appalachian whites or “mountain Irish” if you prefer. Those folks largely left Uptown by the early 90’s.
Our drug dealers are largely selling drugs that aren’t subject to exploding during the manufacturing process. We appreciate that. A few bullets flying around are bad enough, but half a block being taken out by a meth lab would be really annoying.
The social divide was stark. I didn’t see a single black person at the little league game in this North Beverly video, or a single white person at this car wash at a school two blocks away. There were separate black and white groups at the Starbucks.
Not, I understand, a very comprehensive picture.