经济学人316:梦想愈来愈近

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　　纽约智库曼哈顿研究所（Manhattan Institute）在其名为《隔离世纪的终结》的最新报告中写道：“美国几乎已经没有‘纯’白人社区了。”现在，美国70000个社区中，只有0.5%的社区仅有白人居民。与1910年相比，现在的美国城市要更加融合。自1960年至今，美国居住在“黑人社区（即80%以上都是黑人）”的黑人比例从将近50%下降到20%。

　　Until the Great Migration² north, beginning around 1910, most of the black population lived in the rural South. Then they were pushed into ghettos because of restrictive deed covenants³ and blatant⁴ discrimination by landlords. Although the Supreme⁵ Court ruled against race-based zoning in 1917 and New York City outlawed⁶ housing discrimination in 1958, real change did not begin until the 1960s during the civil rights era when segregation⁷ was still near its peak.

　　1910年的向北“大迁移”之前，大多数黑人都居住在南方的农村。但是随着限制住宅契约的出现，以及业主们对黑人的大肆歧视，黑人们只好搬进“黑人社区”。尽管在1917年最高法院判定种族分区违法，1958年纽约市也将住宅歧视视为违法，但是实际情况并没有得到改善；直到二十世纪六十年代民权运动时期，种族隔离几乎达到顶峰之后，情况才真正有所好转。

　　Gentrification has also helped: Washington, DC’s Navy Yard for instance, 95% black in 2000, is now less than a third black. America is also no longer a biracial country. Latinos and Asians are moving into so-called white and black neighbourhoods. The typical black American now lives in a neighbourhood that is 14% Hispanic, about the same figure as for whites.

　　中产阶级化也推波助澜：以华盛顿特区海军码头为例，2000年时那里95%都是黑人，而现在其黑人人数只有不到三分之一。美国也不再是一个只有两个种族的国家，拉丁裔和亚裔的美国人也开始搬进那些曾经的白人和黑人社区。典型美国黑人现在生活的社区中，拉丁裔美国人占到14%，与社区中白人所占比例相当。

　　Depopulation of ghettos, rather than integration⁸ of them, has also contributed to the decline in segregation. Thanks to better access to credit, there has been a movement out of the cities to the suburbs, particularly in sunnier states. “The biggest drop in segregation over the past decade has been in places that had the most subprime lending”, notes Jacob Vidgor, the report’s co-author.

　　与社区融合不同，一些黑人社区的消亡，也成为社会隔离程度降低的因素之一。由于获得贷款变得更加容易，从城市向郊区迁移已经成为一种趋势，而这种趋势在美国阳光地带各州尤其明显。雅各布?威格（Jacob Vidgor）是这份报告的作者之一，他说：“过去十年间，隔离程度降低最为明显的地方正是提供次级贷款最多的地方。”

　　Places like Chicago’s South Side are still almost entirely⁹ black, though overall the Windy City is a much more culturally mixed place than it used to be. Still, John Logan, a Brown University sociologist¹⁰, thinks the Manhattan Institute’s assessment¹¹ is over the top. Segregation is still pervasive¹², he reckons. There are still barriers to people moving away from black neighbourhoods, even for those making good money.

　　虽然一些地方，如芝加哥南区，仍然基本上都是黑人聚居，但是整个“风城”在文化上已经比过去要融合的多。布朗大学的社会学家约翰?洛根（John Logan）认为，曼哈顿政策研究所的这份报告高估了实际情况，社会隔离的现象仍然十分普遍。阻止人们从黑人社区搬出的种种壁垒仍然存在，甚至那些挣了大钱的居民也不能幸免。

　　The Urban Institute, a Washington, DC, think-tank, recently compiled a report card on a range of measures of racial and ethnic¹³ equity¹⁴ in the country’s 100 biggest metropolitan¹⁶ areas. The ten best cities for black-white equity are mostly in the South and in the West, while the ten worst are in the north-east and in the Midwest. Margery Turner, who compiled the report, hastens to say there are still significant gaps to address. Even in metro¹⁵ areas scoring high marks, the average black American is more likely to live in poorer neighbourhoods, go to weaker schools, less likely to find a job and is less likely to own a home than the average white. However, these gaps are two to three times bigger in the worst metro areas.

　　城市研究院是坐落在华盛顿特区的智库，它最近汇总了来自美国面积最大的100个大城市的种族和民族公平的一系列指标，编纂成一份“成绩报告单”。种族最为公平的10所城市大都聚集在西部和南部，而种族公平性最差的10所城市则都在东北部以及中部。这份报告的编纂者马热尔?特纳（Margery Turner）说黑人和白人之间的仍然有很大的差距需要弥补。即使在一些“报告单”中成绩较好的城市里，一般情况下，与白人相比，美国的黑人仍然更容易成为贫困社区的居民，进入较差的学校，更难找到工作，或是拥有自己的房子。在成绩最低的一些城市，这些差距则要扩大两到三倍。

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