White Flight to Whitopias

Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America is turning out to be a very thought provoking book. It follows the demographic pattern of white americans in the past half-century (white flight).

Rich Benjamin weaves together two years of field research amongst the whitest communities in America. Along the way he finds that the reaction to his research is largely friendly. What disturbs him, though, is the ability of suburbians to ignore, and at times have vitriol towards, those less fortunate living paycheck to paycheck in communities of color.

White flight is a very curious trend to me. For decades, Americans have made efforts to move to communities even more homogenious than the community they left behind. People seem to want to be around their "own kind".

But does race really imply a kind? Would our lives be better if we all continue to segregate ourselves?

So much of this seperation is motivated by the fact that other races, other cultures, are going to take what is rightfully ours. Is this country, this world, really the property of any one socal category.

Jesus died for all mankind. ALL. Yet the blessings of God, spiritual and physical, are often safeguarded in our churches, communities, and homes, as if we deserve any of it. The sad part of this seperation is that we'll rarely get the chance to share in this heavenly joy with people of different cultures until the sinless atmosphere of heaven allows us to see past our differences and rally around the full love, compassion, and forgiveness of Christ.

Time read this week: 2.5 hours
Total Reading Time: 12 hours