"Whites and blacks in Chicago are living in two totally different cities"

That's the title of an article in the Washington Post, referencing an earlier survey and article in the New York Times.  The Post's Wonkblog says:

Nearly half of parents with children at home said they would like to leave the city. Three-quarters of all respondents said they believed the city had seriously gotten on the wrong track.

The data, though, is particularly revealing for what it says about the very different experiences in Chicago of blacks and whites, who, because of largely decades-old patterns of segregation, largely inhabit separate sides of the city. Whites and blacks offered bluntly different responses to many questions. Sixty-three percent of blacks said they thought the biggest problem facing the city was crime, violence or gangs; just 35 percent of whites said the same (they're more likely to cite economic and budget issues). Forty-six percent of blacks said they'd made changes to their daily routine as a result of the recent rise in violent crime; only about half as many whites report having done so.

Twenty-three percent of blacks said they believe they've been denied housing they could afford because of their race. Two percent of whites said the same.

Down to their experience of their own neighborhoods — and whether they believe the city services, parks and schools there are good — blacks and whites in Chicago have notably different perceptions.

. . .

The difference between these two realities is the city's biggest challenge yet.

There's more at the link.  It's seriously worth reading the whole thing, as well as keeping an eye on the Post's Wonkblog column.  It has some good stuff from time to time.

I've had the (mis)fortune to work in several inner-city areas of some of America's most blighted cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans.  It's a scary experience if you don't know what to expect, because in some of those areas it's literally like being in a foreign country.  One of the reasons I was able to get results working there was that I regarded such areas as similar to tribally divided suburbs in some African cities I've known.  If you treat the gangs as tribes, warring with each other, a lot of things become clear about the society and culture you find in such areas.

The article also highlights - without meaning to - why some popular movements are widely popular among the black community, but not nearly as much among whites.  A good example is the 'Black Lives Matter' movement.  To many blacks, the reality of the situation is unmissable and inescapable.  They're treated to what amounts to legalized police harassment every day, and they resent it bitterly, particularly when it leads to a disproportionate number of incidents of police violence against members of their racial group.  (Largely white) police officers and their supporters, on the other hand, argue that such treatment is inevitable because crimes are disproportionately committed by blacks, and that they're therefore being treated as they deserve.  Neither side is completely right . . . but, sadly, neither side is completely wrong, either.  Unfortunately, their perspectives are so far apart that there's virtually no chance of reconciling them.  Therefore, the disputes, the arguments - and the violence - are likely to continue unabated.

We're living in a divided society.  It's getting more divided, too, as Hispanic and other groups occupy their own areas of our cities.  They aren't forming 'ghettos' as such, but effectively it's the same.  In a major city near me I can clearly identify areas occupied by blacks;  different groups of Hispanics (i.e. Mexican, Honduran, Cuban, etc.);  Vietnamese;  and other racial and ethnic groups.  It's a different version (with different skin colors) of what used to be the case in 'white' cities, where Poles, Italians, Irish, etc. would form their own neighborhoods in the same way.  It's only after World War II that such ethnic enclaves began to break down in the white community, and some are still there.  I've visited them.

Of course, this also affects crime and security.  That's something of which all of us need to be aware, for our own safety's sake.  Follow those six links for more information and food for thought.

Peter