About this project
      The U.S. census made official last year what most of us already knew -- Metro Detroit is the nation's most segregated area.
      And while many people, regardless of race, seem outwardly content living politely separate lives here, some are unaware there's a price for that preference.

Reports in this series
Go Part I: Racial Attitudes
The Detroit News looks at Metro Detroit's sometimes startling attitudes toward segregation today, the extent and reasons for racial separation and how they play out in the lives of families white and black.

Go Part II: Paying for Preferences
Segregation is the norm for Metro Detroiters, but it carries heavy costs. From segregated schools to stagnant property values to a lack of exposure to the nation's increasing diversity, we pay for our preferences.

Go Part III: Where We're Headed
Are we fated to continue living apart? If so, what will the future toll be? The Detroit News looks at the factors that could break down racial barriers, the factors that keep them standing and how living patterns in other metropolitan areas have changed.

Go Part IV: Community Forum
Calling segregation a silent curse that can no longer be ignored, more than 200 people from across Metro Detroit gathered to look for ways to close the chasm between blacks and whites.

Go Part V: The Impact of Affluence
Blacks and whites in Metro Detroit pay steep but unequal prices for their segregated living patterns. The Detroit News study found that Metro Detroit is unusual in the way that blacks and whites live apart at virtually every income level.






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Sunday, January 20, 2002

Exclusive Report
Racial divide fosters isolation, intolerance
Lori Turner knows the real world isn't like this. 01/20/02

Monday, January 21, 2002

Image
Donna Terek / The Detroit News

Sherita Cammon, 19, holds her 2-month-old, Tamia Bryant, during a checkup with Judy Supanich, a certified nurse midwife at Detroit Community Health Connection. Studies show that blacks in highly segregated metro areas face higher infant mortality rates, as well as higher rates of heart disease and high blood pressure.

Blacks pay harsh price while whites suffer less
Everyone in Metro Detroit pays for segregation. Blacks and whites, however, pay unequal prices. 01/21/02

Blacks' health risks greater
Joyce Heard and Beth Breidenstein both live in Detroit. Both live in middle-class neighborhoods. Both are professionals. 01/21/02

Education
Segregated schools hurt students' bid for success
Almost 70 percent of students in Metro Detroit go to schools where nearly all of the students are like them -- either 90-percent white or 90-percent black -- indicating widespread segregation in area schools. 01/21/02

Busing battles spurred flight
The bombers sliced through the chain-link fence surrounding the lot on North Saginaw, moving under cover of darkness to the 50 yellow buses inside. 01/21/02

Economics
Region pays price for reputation
When marketing consultant Jacquelyn Vaughn moved to Metro Detroit in the mid-1980s, the city seemed at war with its suburbs. 01/21/02

Detroit's segregation blamed for lack of chain retailers
DETROIT--For Detroiters, eating at a national chain restaurant frequently means a long road trip to the suburbs. 01/21/02

Debating the cost

Professor: Segregation hits blacks hard
 01/21/02

Author: Don't blame social ills on segregation
 01/21/02


Staying in Detroit requires sacrifice
DETROIT--Every morning Dr. Stephanie Posey rises before the sun to get her 9-year-old daughter ready for a long journey to a private school in Novi. 01/21/02

Racial divide skews area's home values
With three big bedrooms, a large fireplace, a formal dining room and new windows, Kimberley Archie's home had it all. 01/21/02

Steering still subtle in some home markets
Oakland County real estate agent Carol Frick has worked for years to push her colleagues to embrace the spirit, as well as the letter, of anti-discrimination laws. 01/21/02

State Funding
Taxpayers hit with costs for both core city, sprawl
The segregation of Detroit by race and income costs state taxpayers additional millions each year for city services, schools and roads that carry sprawl to outlying suburbs and rural townships. 01/21/02

Detroit hindered by loss of clout
LANSING--The flight of population to the suburbs has cost Detroit representation and clout in the state capital at a time when the city can least afford it. 01/21/02

One District, Two Schools, Different Outcomes
Race divides 2 Taylor schools
TAYLOR--With 15 elementary schools and 10,700 students, the Taylor School District ranks as one of the largest in the state. It also is home to two of the most racially opposite elementary schools in any single Metro Detroit district. 01/21/02

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