How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America

Re:How black people still need to outwit racists in rural Am... by brudgers on Sunday February 11, 2018 @03:39PM (#16354659)

Vi Hart and Nicki Case's Parable of the Polygons provides a model that suggests why segregation occurs even when people are willing to accept some diversity. http://ncase.me/polygons/

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Re:How black people still need to outwit racists in rural Am... by istjohn on Sunday February 11, 2018 @04:06PM (#16354804)

Yes, but the model does more to confuse than explain the problem of American racial segregation. For one, it suggests that blacks share an equal responsibility for segregation as whites. It suggests that whites and blacks are both free actors with equal power and self-determination. Neither of these are true in America, of course. Whites started out with a huge surplus of power and control over blacks, and the Civil Rights Era was the struggle of blacks for equality. Today, there continues to be a huge imbalance of power which can be observed in the wealth gap.

If one studies the history of the failed campaigns to desegregate America's schools, it's apparent that segregation continues to be something imposed on black people and not the result of mutual preferences.

I feel strongly that this model does far more harm than good as a tool to understand American racial dynamics.

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Re:How black people still need to outwit racists in rural Am... by pbhjpbhj on Sunday February 11, 2018 @06:16PM (#16355391)

>For one, it suggests that blacks share an equal responsibility for segregation as whites. //

The model on that page does nothing of the sort. You, or others, may do that in response to viewing it.

The model simply shows how individual tendency towards segregation causes macroscopic segregation and that if there are also elements that will choose diversity, in the model, then segregation can be greatly reduced.

>segregation continues to be something imposed on black people and not the result of mutual preferences //

I was looking at school information recently in the UK [1]. The statistics strongly suggested ethnic minority groups choosing schooling based in part on race and that the choice they're making is for greater segregation.

>"The data, which was processed by Professor Simon Burgess of the University of Bristol and analysed by Demos, exclusively for the Demos Integration Hub, show that children from Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black Caribbean communities are particularly likely to attend schools with a disproportionate level of other students sharing their ethnic background." [ibid] //

Maybe you're right about USAmerica and that there are no non-white racists there. But it's clear to me that segregationist doesn't, ironically, split along racial lines.

[1] https://www.demos.co.uk/press-release/61-of-ethnic-minority-...

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Re:How black people still need to outwit racists in rural Am... by brudgers on Sunday February 11, 2018 @04:24PM (#16354900)

  "Essentially, all models are wrong, 
   but some are useful" -- George Box

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Re:How black people still need to outwit racists in rural Am... by istjohn on Sunday February 11, 2018 @04:56PM (#16355050)

Of course, all models are wrong in as much as they simplify reality, but my opinion is that this model is not even useful _for understand the dynamics of American segregation_. It's interesting and probably has other legitimate applications in understanding real-life social phenomena, high school lunchroom seating segregated into jocks, geeks, stoners, and goths perhaps. But it's very misleading as a metaphor to describe American housing segregation.

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