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Katrina could prompt new black "migration"
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-06 07:03
"They are going to have to find immediate work, immediate housing,
immediately get their kids into school and that probably will change the
demographics of the region," he told Reuters on Monday during a visit to
Houston, the largest single gathering point for the refugees.
Because of the legacy of slavery, southern states including Louisiana,
Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina have historically
been home to the greatest concentration of U.S. blacks. In 1900, 85 percent of
U.S. blacks lived in the South and as early as 1830, more than 58 percent of
Louisiana's population was black.
Between 1940 and 1970 economic changes prompted 5 million blacks to quit the
south for cities across the North including Chicago, Detroit and New York,
marking one of the nation's largest internal migrations.
"It could have potentially that kind of effect," said Obama, whose father
immigrated from Kenya.
MIGRATION TRENDS
New Orleans did not always follow the trend. Historically, far fewer
residents have moved from New Orleans than from most American cities, despite
its high poverty and crime rates.
Nicholas Lemann, author of "The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and
How it Changed America," was wary of predicting that Katrina would prompt major
resettlement.
"It is kind of early to tell," he said.
But he said as officials elsewhere accommodate large numbers of blacks, they
should avoid putting them in confined areas as Chicago did in the past, which
created new urban woes. "They should think carefully on how to avoid the sort of
ghetto phenomenon," he said.
Part of the migration trend will be set by what federal, state and local
agencies do to help refugees rebuild their lives.
"What I do think should be focused on now is what is the Congress is going to
do when they get back," former President Bill Clinton said in Houston on Monday.
"How are we going to find jobs for these people, where are they really going to
live, do they need some cash right away?"
"They feel lost."
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