1/Hi, folks! Today's BV post is about Americans' TRUE attitudes toward racial diversity. bloomberg.com/view/articles/…
2/Americans SAY they like diversity.
They say it repeatedly, in poll after poll.
They say it much more than people in European countries say it.
They say it repeatedly, in poll after poll.
They say it much more than people in European countries say it.
3/But are Americans just paying lip service to diversity?
When the rubber hits the road, do Americans choose to live around people of other races?
They haven't always done so.
When the rubber hits the road, do Americans choose to live around people of other races?
They haven't always done so.
4/But new evidence shows that things have changed since 1990.
The era of white flight has given way to an era of neighborhood integration.
The era of white flight has given way to an era of neighborhood integration.
5/The percentage of mostly-white neighborhoods in America has been shrinking. 
6/White flight still exists in some places, but it's being outweighed by neighborhood diversification. 
7/When Americans - white, black, or other - move to a mixed-race neighborhood, they tend to stay there.
And if they move out, they tend to move to another mixed-race neighborhood, NOT to a segregated neighborhood.
Once you go diverse, you tend not to go back.
And if they move out, they tend to move to another mixed-race neighborhood, NOT to a segregated neighborhood.
Once you go diverse, you tend not to go back.
8/Well, OK, but what about gentrification?
Evidence shows that gentrification does push some poor black people out, but in the long term it tends to leave neighborhoods much more diverse than they started out.
Evidence shows that gentrification does push some poor black people out, but in the long term it tends to leave neighborhoods much more diverse than they started out.
9/What about at the state level? The "Big Sort"?
Here too, Americans of different races tend to move to the same states.
Here too, Americans of different races tend to move to the same states.
10/So Americans are living in more diverse places.
Of course, that's not the only kind of racial integration.
Marriages are becoming much more integrated, but schools are becoming less so.
Of course, that's not the only kind of racial integration.
Marriages are becoming much more integrated, but schools are becoming less so.
11/And of course, let us not forget the minority of Americans who have a BIG problem with diversity, and who are voicing their opposition at the ballot box! 
12/But overall, signs are pointing in the right direction. Americans are embracing diversity not just with their words, but with their actions.
This is good news for the American experiment.
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This is good news for the American experiment.
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