White People, We Need to Talk About Your Neighborhoods
By: Nikki Brueggeman
Tags: Society, History, Equality, Housing, Race

When William Levitt decided to ban Black people from living in the housing developments he created, he cited business concerns, as recorded in the New York Times, stated, “‘If we sell one house to a Negro family, then 90 or 95 percent of our white customers will not buy into the community. This is their attitude, not ours.” In short, Levitt’s decision created a housing barrier to Black Americans, but it also highlights the truth about White Americans: they didn’t want to live next to Black people.

At all.

White neighborhoods were sanctuaries. They had the best schools, parks, community swimming pools, and grocery stores. These neighborhoods were built with a purpose: to be exclusive to the White race as a defense against interactions with people of color. This idea was so ingrained into housing practices that, according to Richard Rothstein in an NPR interview, “The most important role of the Federal Housing Administration was it subsidized mass-production builders of entire subdivisions, entire suburbs. And it did so with a requirement that no homes be sold to African-Americans…” Aside from creating White only spaces, this also created a racial wealth gap.

White Picket Fence from Pixabay by PublicDomainArchive

Houses are an investment. If you are lucky, with time, the value of your house grows from the price you initially paid. Houses were how White Americans gained an economic foothold. According to CNBC, “In 1940, the median home value in the U.S. was just $2,938. In 1980, it was $47,200, and by 2000, it had risen to $119,600. Even adjusted for inflation, the median home price in 1940 would only have been $30,600 in 2000 dollars, according to data from the U.S. Census.” This created generational wealth within White families. Houses were inherited, passed down like jewelry and fine china. All of it a direct benefit from the ability to purchase a home in a nice, affluent neighborhood.

A White neighborhood.

White people, these neighborhoods were kept White by your families. After all, as Levitt acknowledged, they bought these houses for a reason. And they did everything they could to keep those spaces, White. Attempts to integrate neighborhoods were met with violence.

In 1957, the Myers family moved to a Levittown in Pennsylvania. What followed was a campaign of terror aimed at making life so miserable for the Black family that they would leave. According to the University of Richmond, “At dusk each evening, crowds of people gathered outside the Myer’s home, angrily shouting and jeering, singing the National Anthem, and throwing stones toward the Myer’s home.” As noted by Chris English of the Buck County Courier Times, “The Myers family endured cross burnings, racial slurs and death threats during their time in Levittown.” In a space where the Myers should have felt welcomed and safe, as it was their neighborhood, they were consistently harassed and terrorized.

In another case, referenced in the show Lovecraft Country, the Chicago Housing Authority kept a housing project called Trumbull Park Homes a White paradise. However, everything changed when a Black family, the Howards, moved into the neighborhood. As noted by D. Bradford Hunt, Ph.D. in an entry on Chicagohistory.org, “Beginning on August 5 and continuing nightly for weeks thereafter, crowds of whites directed fireworks, rocks, and racial epithets toward Betty and Donald Howard’s apartment. Police responded with a show of force but few arrests.” Like the Myers, the Howards were abused by their neighbors for the crime of desegregating a White space.

The Myers and Howards experiences were not isolated incidents. They were published incidents. There were reasons Black people did not simply move into White neighborhoods and it has very little to do with the silly notion that Black people don’t want to live near you. White neighborhoods had the best resources. They had the best schools, grocery stores, and were safe. To believe that Black parents did not want these things for their children is an attempt at dehumanizing Black people. It creates this false idea that Black people are unwilling to move for better economic opportunities. Black families did have the economic ability to buy homes, as is proven by the fact that there were Black neighborhoods, businesses, and communities. The reality is that Black parents wanted their children to have the same opportunities as White children, but the risks were often too big.

American City Image from Pixabay by Herrfilm

The system was set up against Black Americans from the beginning. Lenders would not give money to Black applicants to buy homes in the White neighborhoods, creating a barrier of entry. However, suppose a Black family did find a way to own a home in the White neighborhood. Then, that is when the community did everything in its power to run them out.

These campaigns of violence were not individual, they were communal. White communities blocked and terrorized Black ones. If your families were members of White communities that stayed White, you need to ask yourself why that was the case.

It is tempting to claim that this happened a long time ago. To believe that the Fair Housing Act of 1968 changed everything. This would be a hope, but not reality. As writer Michelle Adams wrote in The New Yorker, “The final bill included significant compromises that limited the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s [HUD] enforcement capabilities. It also put the burden of enforcement on the victims, requiring them to either file a formal complaint with HUD or sue in federal court to vindicate their rights.” Housing, a guaranteed right for White Americans has never been equally extended to Black Americans. The fight for equal housing is still happening and many of us are just trying to catch up.