Discussing the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” proposed rule, the gummint’s latest trial balloon of social engineering (“HUD battles ‘Whitopia’“), David Paulin notes the following, very telling, ironically oblivious-to-the-author-in-its-implications, and oft-cited quote from lefty Rich Benjamin’s book Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America:
“Most whites are not drawn to a place explicitly because it teems with other white people. Rather, the place’s very whiteness implies other perceived qualities. Americans associate a homogenous white neighborhood with higher property values, friendliness, orderliness, hospitality, cleanliness, safety, and comfort. These seemingly race-neutral qualities are subconsciously inseparable from race and class in many whites’ minds. Race is often used as a proxy for those neighborhood traits. And, if a neighborhood is known to have those traits, many whites presume–without giving it a thought–that the neighborhood will be majority white.”
Paulin adds:
Incidentally, HUD’s social engineers might look into the fact that many blacks prefer to live in predominately black communities — yet nobody calls them racists for their choices. Consider an interesting trend in the liberal and high-tech Mecca of Austin, Texas, where officials have tried in vain to attract significant numbers of “black professionals” — yet many blacks who relocate to the Texas capital say they’re disappointed that Austin lacks the “black culture” and chances to associate with other blacks that they’d enjoyed, say, in places like Atlanta, Chicago, or Washington D.C., according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Marcus Ferron, a 30-something business owner from Chicago, told the newspaper: “I would see African-Americans everywhere in Chicago. I’d see one or two in Austin.” Adding that he enjoys Austin, he nevertheless observed: “I wouldn’t want my child to grow up in a bubble,” without exposure to black culture.
Imagine, for a moment, if a white father had openly professed that same sentiment; that he preferred that his children attend a good school (a predominately white one) so they could absorb the values and culture he holds dear. He’d be called a racist – yet Marcus Ferron gets a pass because he’s black.
