[prelude91]

Originally Posted by ardecila

This is empirically not true. Each of the community areas that make up Bronzeville (Douglas, Oakland, Grand Boulevard, Kenwood) currently have violent crime rates lower than or equivalent to Lakeview, Logan Square, or Near North Side. Even if you narrow it down to homicides, this still holds true. They're not Naperville, but they are very safe by Chicago standards.

Yet... where is the gentrification in those areas? Where is the long line of developers chasing "vacant lots and very low land values"? The low land values themselves reflect the fact that nobody wants to live there, except perhaps the African-Americans who are already part of those communities.

You can explain the lack of demand either through
A) a particular kind of selective racism targeted at African-Americans (but not Latinos), or
B) the fact that African-American neighborhoods are physically and economically devastated

C) Most of the (White) Urban Pioneers/first wave gentrifiers, are not willing to live in 100% Black communities. The exception being areas like Cabrini that have the location and mass exodus going on...