Racism In Houston

Houston is a vibrant city in Texas that is one of the most diverse in the country in terms of religion, race and language. With large Asian, White, and African American communities, English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese are spoken on a regular basis by many of Houston’s inhabitants. Created just following the Texas Revolution, Houston has an extensive history. Prior to the Civil War, many enslaved Africans worked near the city on either cotton or sugar plantations. By 1860, some 49% of the city’s population was enslaved. Following emancipation, many African Americans continued to be constrained by the system of Jim Crow and other racist laws. Public transportation and schools were both segregated until the 1960s, and in some cases even later, …show more content…
Some of this is a continuation of former discrimination, now occurring along economic grounds, but it is also due to the formation of cultural centers such as Midtown, an enclave comprised of Vietnamese Americans where most of the signs are written in Vietnamese. However, there is some racial diversity, particularly downtown or in wealthy areas where Whites and Asians routinely live together. Image 1 shows the spatial divide of Houston with the clustering of certain ethnicities. Historically, this spatial segregation occured due to zoning ordinances and other laws with racist inclinations. However, as minorities are disproportionately poor, it is quite difficult for areas to become more economically viable with recent federal programs only worsening the …show more content…
Image 2 shows the distribution of environmental hazards in Houston which disproportionately affect minorities. Similarly,the pathological effect of slavery and Jim Crow ensure that schools in largely minority areas are not as successful. Image 3 shows student achievement by race in the city. However, while the effects of Jim Crow have most certainly hindered the success of minorities, responses to past discrimination have similarly inhibited growth. Even today, federal programs with the best of intentions to promote housing for low income families keep the city segregated as minorities are disproportionately poor. A study by the New York Times found that in Houston, low-income housing projects that promote affordable housing are disproportionately built in majority non white communities. This means is that, inadvertently, the government is maintaining spatial divides between races, despite federal legislation to support integration