Historical Segregation In San Diego

San Diego: Present-Day Manifestations of Historical Segregation The city of San Diego prides itself for its rich history and ethnic and racial diversity. According to the 2014 Census, San Diego had a population of approximately 1,318,069, and is the eighth city with the largest population in the nation (U.S. Census Bureau 2014). Many communities are defined by established and recent cohorts of immigrants, and racial and ethnic minorities. In recent years, the total percentage of individuals from racial and ethnic minorities has surpassed the percentage of whites (U.S. Census Bureau 2014). Some neighborhoods that were previously white are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Yet, San Diego remains a geographically divided city,

Even after the Fair Housing Act was passed, informal segregative practices by realtors prevented minority groups from having access to white communities in the north; although San Diego increased in diversity and numbers of minority groups, individuals from different ethnic and racial groups were restricted to a few neighborhoods (Guevarra 2012). Increasing influxes of Hispanics and Latinos in the past few decades have created racial turnovers in many communities that were previously dominated by African Americans ("Feeling a Different Pulse in the Heart of Black San Diego” 2011). After the 1960s, blacks other racial and ethnic minorities also began to spread from the southeastern areas of San Diego that they had previously dominated (Guevarra 2012). This pattern of racial turnover—whites leaving in response to manufacturing industries, influxes of blacks, and influxes of other (predominantly Hispanic) minority groups—is characteristic of many southern neighborhoods. Blacks and Latinos remain in these historically-segregated neighborhoods. Today, these neighborhoods and their predominantly Black and Latino populations are among the poorest and most underserved in San

Neighborhoods that were designated for non-white groups continue to be highly populated by minority groups. Neighborhoods to the north, where color lines were strictly enforced, remain dominated by whites. Demographic trends in present-day San Diego show that there is increasing overall diversity in many areas of San Diego. Figures 1 and 2 (see below) display the percentage of people of color within different census tracts throughout the city for the years 1980 and 2010. There are clear increases in diversity within this time period; most northern areas of the city that had less than 30% people of color in 1980 have a range that has increased to greater than 50% people of color (Figures 1 and 2). Although this map shows increases in overall diversity, this diversity is concentrated in the southern and southeastern areas of San Diego, and does not equate to residential integration in the northern areas that were previously predominantly white. Increasing diversity has not led to residential integration for most groups of ethnic and racial minorities in the twenty-first century. In the report “Linking Innovation with Inclusion: Demography, Equity, and the Future of San Diego,” the University of Southern California concluded that the Highway 8 is a geographic indicator of San Diego County’s division between better housing and economic opportunities to