tying in race and class

During the last class, my group discussed racial and financial segregation in cities, and wondered why those there was such an overlap between the lower class and minorities. “Racial Bias in Pennsylvania’s Funding of Public Schools” gives evidence that funding of public schools could contribute to class inequalities between white people and racial minorities. “How to destroy a public school system” mentions this inequality and refers to the “white flight” concept, calling it a “white noose”: “Former Philadelphia Mayor Richardson Dilworth... bluntly described Philadelphia as choked by the “white noose” of the suburbs. Those suburbs are a product of America’s postwar period, when the federal government subsidized the mortgages of white families deserting the city. As the urban industrial base vanished, Philadelphia was left with a rapidly declining middle class. Relatively affluent whites funded separate school districts, while poorer urbanites were left to fund the impoverished schools left behind. Dilworth insisted that a unified metropolitan school system was the only path to true desegregation.” This quotation also reminded me of part of a small group discussion I had during the last class. I thought it would be a good idea to build affordable housing in the suburbs to encourage desegregation of classes and races, but another student said that this would simply encourage affluent white families to move out even further. I think what that student said would also be true in this situation… if there was a “unified metropolitan school system”, wealthier families wouldn’t want to be a part of it, and would move from a “metropolitan” suburb to one even farther out if they could afford it.