In search of another promised land.
Via Chicago Tribune:
Cook County in 2016 again recorded the largest black population of any county in the U.S., but it carries that title with less conviction than previous years as more African-Americans move to outlying suburbs or warmer states in the South and West, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Between 2015 and 2016, more than 12,000 black residents left Cook County, an increase from the previous year when about 9,000 residents left. The greater Chicago area, which for the census includes parts of Indiana and Wisconsin, has lost nearly 46,000 black residents since 2010. That exodus is larger than in any other metropolitan area in the country.
“I’ve noticed people have been leaving the city of Chicago, absolutely,” said Corey Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church in Chicago’s predominantly black Woodlawn neighborhood. “Families, especially, and some single-parent households with young males. I think those two factors are contributing to the numbers you’re seeing.”[…]
Dozens of former residents surveyed by the Tribune over the past year who’ve packed up cite a variety of reasons for leaving: high taxes, the state budget stalemate and the weather. But what’s propelling black flight isn’t quite the same as what’s driving out the city’s white population.
Africans-Americans are leaving in search of stability, experts say, hoping to find stable incomes and safe neighborhoods, something they feel Chicago isn’t offering them. The city of Chicago lost 181,000 black residents between 2000 and 2010, according to census data.
Brooks said one of the factors contributing to Chicago violence is a shortage of jobs.
“It’s not just gang violence retaliation,” he said. “(Violence) is about economics. People can’t eat. People can’t sustain their families.”
William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, said he thinks the trend points to conditions beyond just crime.
“People move from the city to the suburbs for a host of things, crime being one of them. But I wouldn’t expect those people to move from a whole metropolitan area. Something bigger’s going on,” he said, referencing the region and state’s general population loss.
HT: Marathon Pundit