So even in middle class black neighborhoods there is great economic diversity and it makes things harder. Poor people have less money to support businesses and institutions. Even churches, which are everywhere in poor, black communities, find their collection plates coming up short. So the burden falls more heavily on the black middle class, Pattillo-McCoy said. And where there's higher poverty, there's more crime, less well-funded schools and less political clout to fix things.
People are keenly aware of how racial segregation devalues their neighborhood.
Pattillo-McCoy looks around the cafe crowded with UC Berkeley students of every ethnic background, sipping lattes and smoothies, studying, talking. Apparent winners, so far, in the rough game called life. There are special problems for kids growing up in today's materialistic world, problems that every middle-class family faces, she said. But they're magnified in black neighborhoods. Kids are looking for excitement, whether they're white, black, Hispanic or Asian.