It seems like ethnic groups cluster in their
own areas, and never even meet with- or understand-
each other.
Segregation is on the rise.
But surprisingly, that turns out to be dead
wrong.
Researchers have created a dissimilarity index
to measure segregation.
And this is much different from the "whatever-I-heard-on-the-news-that-made-me-worried-index"
that we laymen commonly use.
Instead, it looks at the proportion of a given
ethnic group that would have to move out of
their census tract to make them evenly spread
out.
And according to this index, 45 of the 52
big U.S. metropolises with big black populations
have become less segregated since 2000.
In Britain we see the same thing.
Since 2000, every ethnic minority has become
less segregated.
This is because of the most powerful force
on earth: human being's interest to lead a
better life.
They get a job; they make money; and they
move to a better neighborhood.
They fall in love, and love is color blind.
Almost a third of new African-American marriages
are mixed race.
We might stand in the way of this progress
sometimes, with discrimination, with high
minimum wage laws.
But if we don't, it will continue.
And then perhaps in the future if we still
talk about race relations at a boiling point,
it is only because we still live in a kind
of melting pot.
