White Flight

Lonnie, who posts comments to the In Shaw Blog, is a like a muse. Here's another quote from Lonnie followed by some commentary by yours truly.

"How come when poorer black residents have to leave a neighborhood it's called "being pushed out" while when richer white residents have to leave a neighborhood it's called "white flight"? Certainly the riots of the late 60s and resulting poverty pushed out richer, white residents. It wasn't fair; they were forced out."

Historically in DC, the original white flight was associated with the desegregation of schools. The 1954 desegregation of DC's schools far pre-dated the riots. The whites who fled DC to avoid sending their children to integrated schools were not forced out. They chose to go.