There are, however, some caveats to the report’s findings. Most importantly, MPC examined the correlation between segregation and the other factors, but can’t definitively say that segregation is the singular cause of Chicago’s woes. Low college attainment, lost earnings, and the homicide rate could also be problems driven by general population decline, for example. And not all places with high rates of racial and economic segregation are seeing the same cocktail of problems as Chicagoland. New York and Los Angeles, for example, both of which have much lower homicide rates and less regional racial segregation, also have much higher economic segregation. Meanwhile, Saint Louis, which has the highest murder rate in the country, is in a more economically and less racially segregated region than Chicago.
American history has shown that even the most intensive desegregation policies, such as school busing, don’t create lasting change in the hearts and minds of white people or lasting opportunities for African-Americans. With the expiration of integration court orders, schools have reseparated and disequalized. Government policies targeting segregation in housing have lost their teeth in large part because they no longer refer to race and focus on “socioeconomics” instead. And in recent decades all levels of governments have shrunk back from intervening in segregation, favoring laissez-faire, market-oriented approaches that tend to exacerbate inequality, such as the privatization of public schools and public housing.
