Journal
of Catholic Social Thought
Volume 3
Number 1
Winter - 2006
Why
Housing Segregation Still Matters
Douglas Massey
Princeton University
Among all racial and
ethnic groups in the United States, African Americans are uniquely
segregated. At present nearly half of all blacks live in a
hyper-segregated metropolitan area and two thirds live under conditions
of high segregation. The residential segregation of African Americans
has persisted at high levels despite passage of the Fair Housing Act in
1968 and shows few signs of significant decline. The level of
segregation to which blacks are subjected to in U.S. cities is equaled
only by the segregation of Africans in South Africa under apartheid.
This segregation is largely involuntary, stemming from high levels of
prejudice and discrimination against blacks as potential neighbors.
Persistent segregation undermines the status and well-being of African
Americans by blocking key mechanisms of social mobility, depressing
accumulations of wealth, and concentrating poverty and its many negative
sequella. As a result, blacks live in far more disadvantaged
environments than other Americans, which helps to perpetuate black
poverty and social problems. Desegregation is a human rights issue that
should receive bipartisan support from across the political spectrum.
