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New 2010 Census Data Shows CD Mostly White for the First Time in 60 Years

Newly released 2010 Census data shows that the Central District has a white majority for the first time in 60 years, reports Central District News and the Seattle Times.

58% of the neighborhood is now white. This is in contrast to 2000, when Census data showed that the neighborhood was 45% white, 36% black, 8% Hispanic, 5% Asian, and 5% mixed race.

The Seattle Times article narrates the history of the neighborhood's Immaculate Conception Church to explore the changing racial makeup of the neighborhood.

According to the Times, the CD has been a largely African American neighborhood since after World War II when many African Americans moved to Seattle and "found jobs at Boeing or at shipyards lived in the Central Area, in large part because of housing discrimination and restrictive covenants in the city."

2010 Census data for Washington is still being released. What has been already published can be accessed here.

Segregated America

Remapping Debate website has these new interactive maps which highlight the racial segregation in America. In these maps you can zoom to the census block group level, which is a smaller geographical division than the census tracts. In this way you are able to see the segregation in smaller area which census tracts fail to show.I highly recommend playing around with these to see some visual display of diversity or the lack of.

Key findings of the report show that

“75 percent of African-Americans in the United States live in only 16 percent of the country’s Census Block Groups.”

“30 percent of African-Americans live in Census Block Groups that are 75 percent African-American or more.”

A zoom in snap shot of Seattle from interactive maps below shows racially segregated blocks.

SU launches Youth Initiative

Last month, Seattle University announced plans to roll out a $1 million-a-year project to strengthen neighboring Bailey Gatzert Elementary. The school is situated in the cradle of the Central District and serves residents living inside South Dearborn Street, Alaskan Way, James Street, East Cherry Street and 23rd Avenue South. 94 percent of students at Bailey Gatzert receive free or reduced lunch.

The Youth Initiative is modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone and will feature after-school tutoring, legal aid from law students, and health care provided by the nursing school.

SU's web page for the Initiative can be accessed here. You can read glowing press from the Seattle Times here and Opinions here.

There has been criticism of the Initiative. This Spectator editorial calls the Initiative a "PR tool". This is in the same vein of concerns articulated by community members at a panel discussion on February 15th. A member of our Multiculturalism class who attended the meeting reported community members were concerned that the University neglected to thoroughly survey their needs.

It will be interesting to observe how the University responds to this criticism. $1 million dollars a year represents a big budget. Hopefully, it includes some room for reflexivity.

Prince Among Slaves: TOMORROW

A wee bit last minute, but very, very worthy: the Central District Forum for Art and Ideas is sponsoring a showing of Prince Among Slaves tomorrow on SU's campus. The film will be screened Thursday, March 3rd at 7:00 pm at Piggott Hall.

From the CD Forum's website: "Winner of the Best Documentary at the 2007 American Black Film Festival, Prince Among Slaves tells the compelling story of Abdul Rahman, an African Muslim prince. Directed by Andrea Kalin and Emmy Award winner Bill Duke and narrated by actor and hip-hop artist Mos Def. Prince Among Slaves is based on the biography of Dr. Terry Alford and explores the global nature of slavery and the role and identity of Muslims in early America."

As of Wednesday evening, the free tickets are waitlist only (email blairb@cdforum.org), but you may be able to snag a last-minute unclaimed seat.

The CD Forum for Art and Ideas plays an important role as a cultural vessel for Seattle's Black community. Their mission is "to present and produce Black cultural programs that encourage thought and debate for the greater Seattle area". They offer programs that broaden the view of black culture, feature its uniqueness, and offer performers that have "no limitations or pre-conditions prescribed by race". You can read more about the CD Forum and their offerings here: http://www.cdforum.org/

The Corner Project

The Corner is 23rd and Union. The Corner is an experiment in community storytelling. These are photos of the storytellers, installed at the intersection.

23rd and Union is emblematic of the Central District in flux. It is the current home of Earl's Cuts and it used to be a bustling center of commerce. Now, and especially after the 2008 murder of the owner of Philadelphia Cheese Steak shop, it is a relative ghost town in a whitening neighborhood.

Between the months of June and August in 2009, The Corner set up a phone line and asked for stories. People shared their experiences via special phone lines at the Corner. Their stories and photographs have been preserved forever on this website. Check it out.

A confession

The ugly truth: I have a personal motivation for writing this blog. Last week, I moved to the CD. I have been anticipating this day since I moved away from the neighborhood three years ago. There are seven Ethiopian restaurants within blocks of my house. We have Sunday morning church traffic. The Greenlake "let's walk around the lake in a HUGE gaggle with our double strollers and dogs" posse is nowhere in sight. Sigh. It feels good to be back.

So now you know all my secrets. Another one: I enjoy trolling the internets. Recently, I stumbled upon a documentary about the CD that's in production.

From the website: "23rd & Union is docu-drama that weaves real interviews with fictional characters to investigate the 2008 murder of Degene Berecha in the popular Seattle restaurant “Philadelphia Cheese-Steak”. The director was a friend of the victim and shares mutual acquaintances with the convicted murderer. He completed interviews with a wide range of people familiar with each man to help interpret the circumstances that led to the shooting. The film is an ADAPTED story and is used as a vehicle to discuss gentrification and the tension between young African-American men, Ethiopian immigrants and gay couples in Seattle’s Central District."

You can see the trailer here The film will be released Summer 2011.

I am drawn to this docu-drama not only because it explores the issues of gentrification and African Americans in the CD, but also because it delves into dynamics with the gay and Ethiopian communities. These are two groups that I did not give much thought when I conceptualized this blog. Yet, their inclusion in this subject makes sense. Neighboring Capitol Hill is the historically gay area of Seattle. Not unlike the Central District, real estate has risen and prompted migration. The nearby and comparatively affordable CD presents a natural housing choice for the gay community.

Seattle has also been a center of resettlement for Ethiopian refugees and immigrants. The location of services has influenced families to live in the Central District. The coexistence of African Americans, homosexuals, and the Ethiopian community represents a heady mix of diversity. I'm hoping the film imparts us with a sense of hope.

Central Intelligence

Charles Muede in his article Human Remains mentions a local band C.I who had to move out of CD in 2006 due to rising costs.
"The members of Central Intelligence can't afford to live in the CD; they and others in their situation have to move south because they'd "rather pack up than be financially strapped." The mood of "Aim for the Sky" is one of hopelessness, a sense that, no matter what, blacks will always be on the losing end. First, blacks were confined to the CD, then, in the 1980s, neoliberal policies and deindustrialization brought the neighborhood they were forced to live in to an economic standstill, and now that the CD is being revived and redeveloped, blacks are being forced out by escalating property values—"I know you want me out of the hood/so you can change the shit, like Pleasantville/making it hard for me to make my scrill/it's a cold feel..."


Sabeen

Affordable housing at 12th and Jefferson

Looks like the CD will gain an affordable housing complex. Capitol Hill Housing is constructing a building at the site of a vacant gas station at 12th and Jefferson. The complex will serve individuals earning up to 60% of the median ($36,000 for an individual, $41,000 for a couple). There will be 40 apartments and 5,000 square feet of commercial space. Read more at the Seattle PI website.

Moving Boundaries of Segregation

The forging of a black community: Seattle's Central District

One of the rare books of history of Seattle’s  American African is ‘The forging of a black community: Seattle’s Central District..’ .The author, Quintard Taylor, explores the evolution of black community from its first few residents in the 1870s to much larger population in 1970. Although the entire book is useful, but most relevant to our blog is the last section called ‘Past, present and future’. Link

The author explains that Central District emerged as a racially segregated by 1910 and remained so for almost the entire century. The community has historically suffered from “rigid housing segregation and de facto school segregation” .The neighborhood has been marked by “deteriorating building, crimes, drugs, Intergenerational poverty and welfare dependence”. This has led to anger, alienation and despair among the Black community. Yet “black Seattle’s collective synergy created a distinctive African American culture” which provided a “psychological safe haven from the hostile world”.

What is happening now? “The central district is no longer the center for blacks”. American Africans fear displacement at hands of upper income whites who are moving into the area for the inexpensive housing and the proximity to downtown. The apprehension is that this will drive up the real estate prices making it necessary to find housing elsewhere. The numbers seem to indicate that large number of African American community have been pushed out of CD towards the southernmost part of the city.

Looking at the history it seems racial residential segregation has a moving geographical boundary. In addition to facing racial residential segregation, low income African Americans also face the risk of racial displacement.

Sabeen

Gentrification, Integration or Displacement?

Seattle U's own Henry W. McGee offers his perspective on changes in the Central District: read it here. The article is from a few years ago, but McGee's take offers valuable history and some snazzy statistics.

In 1990, there were three times as many African Americans than whites in the CD. By 2000, whites outnumbered African Americans. McGee also observes that households making more than $50,000 dramatically increased during this time.

He cites this data to argue that while the color of the CD is changing, the shifts are more about class than race. Increasingly, urban areas such as the CD are becoming home to the very well-off and the very poor. We are in the midst of a middle class decline.

Yet, race is still intimately involved in real estate. Despite the anti-discrimination housing legislation that Washington State passed in 1977, African Americans are still 2.56 times more likely to to be denied a mortgage than their white peers in Seattle. They are also more likely to pay higher rates for loans.

Which begs the question: are African Americans getting "priced out" of the CD because of discriminatory practices? Or is that many simply can't afford to live in the neighborhood and have chosen to live elsewhere?

-Kirsten

Why This Blog Matters

Historically, the Central District (CD) has been the residential and cultural center for the black community in Seattle. For over 100 years, African Americans have resided in the neighborhood. It is the birthplace of Quincy Jones, Jimi Hendrix, and the Jackson Street jazz scene. In recent years however, many African Americans have moved out of the neighborhood. Moving in, has been an influx of white people.

Our aim is to explore the following questions: Why are white people moving into the CD? Why are black residents leaving? Where are they going? How does this relate to racial housing segregation? Was the CD considered segregated when it was mostly black? Is segregation over in the CD? Or is it just changing color?

Are the neighborhoods that Seattle African Americans currently living in segregated? Is the CD still the cultural center of the black community in Seattle, despite these shifts? And finally - is it requisite to have a geographical center for the black community in Seattle?

It is our hope that this blog will shed a better understanding on this topic. We look forward to having you along for the ride!

-Kirsten and Sabeen