Perhaps it’s unsettling that a week before we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. a recent Detroit News/WDIV survey indicates 55 percent of whites and 52 percent of blacks in the Detroit area think segregation is sometimes, usually or always a very good idea.
The survey results remind us the civil rights leader’s dream has yet to come true. There is still work to be done if humanity wishes to live in peace and unity.
The poll was conducted in mid-August by East Lansing-based Mitchell Research and Communications Inc., which contacted nearly 650 residents of multiple races by phone and asked participants 28 questions on matters of race.
Though laws no longer segregate races, many other factors, such as economics, racism and all-around personal comfort zones still do. Those who find segregation to be acceptable for any reason are sadly misguided.
Just because civil rights marches are a thing of the past doesn’t mean the problem has gone away. The need for the message carried by those who took to the streets in the nation’s cities still echoes through our neighborhoods.
The Detroit News/WDIV poll reports some blacks prefer segregation to integration because they may fear harassment and discrimination, while whites fear weakening property values and poor schools. Perhaps those polled don’t understand the real-life application of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
The survey also indicated that more whites favor integration than 30 years ago. But decades with little progress have prompted some blacks to give up on the idea.
If people continue to give up on living together peacefully, they give up on the dream King fought so hard to share - they give up on hope.
According to the survey, blacks make up 24 percent of the Detroit area’s population, with their numbers highly concentrated in Detroit and a small number of nearby cities such as Southfield, Pontiac, Inkster and Highland Park.
On the other hand, whites make up 70 percent of the population and live almost exclusively in the rest of suburban Detroit - where concentrations often exceed 90 percent.
Segregation, however, is not just a black and white issue; it’s Latino, Asian, rich, poor, Christian, Muslim and so on. Segregation hurts everyone.
The civil rights movement wasn’t just a thing of the past - it is a current issue. If we continue to choose living apart, we will never live together.
