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Exclusive Report
Livonia mirrors area's barriers to integration
By Jodi Upton / The Detroit News
LIVONIA -- When Deano Ware and his family decided to move out of their integrated Detroit neighborhood, they chose the whitest city in America: Livonia.
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Ware, who had studied segregation as a Michigan State University student, wanted a city that was just starting to integrate, where the schools are good and property values strong.
But Ware said he was surprised by the stares and looks he and his family sensed as he drove through tree-lined neighborhoods, and the remarkable number of homes he asked about that already had offers. In the end, he gave up on Livonia.
Ware's experience illustrates the complex interaction of attitudes, economics and social policy that can foster segregation. And it doesn't require outright racism like some communities have experienced: Sometimes it's a compounding of subtleties.
Those subtleties add up to keep a white status quo in Livonia, a community that is symbolic of the predominantly white Detroit suburbs and illustrates the attitudes that experts say will prevent substantial change in Metro Detroit's living patterns over the coming years.
"I can see where a person gets frustrated trying to move outside Detroit because you're constantly paving new ground," Ware said. "Exhaustion is the right word. Sometimes it's like everyone is on a conveyor belt carrying you where you're supposed to go. After a while, it's just easier to go where it's most comfortable."
There are a few suburbs where blacks traditionally move, but Livonia has never been among them.
"Livonia seems to offer little that African Americans might find attractive right now," said Reynolds Farley, a researcher at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.
"Southfield has the strong tax base and a perception of good schools along with something of a tradition for nonhostility toward blacks. Real estate brokers in (Livonia) rather effectively conveyed the idea that blacks were not welcome."
The odd looks alone were not enough to deter Ware. "Then our Realtor -- who was not European American -- kept saying they were racist and we should try Southfield or Redford," he said.
Ultimately, the family decided they could get more for their money in Redford Township and made an offer on a house almost across the street from Livonia.
Livonia grows
Livonia, a city of just over 100,000 people, is more than 95 percent white, making it the whitest large city in the United States. Yet it is hardly atypical among Detroit's suburbs, almost two-thirds of which are at least 95 percent white.
Like many Metro Detroit communities, its biggest growth took place between 1950 and 1970 when whites started moving out of Detroit in large numbers.
In those two decades, Livonia's population grew from about 17,000 to its peak of 110,000 in 1970, but its population remained 99.7 percent white. Since 1960, the city's black population has more than doubled every decade; in 2000 there were 951 blacks residents.
Mayor Jack Kirksey says the city has never had ordinances or covenants that dictated where blacks could live. He said the biggest problem with integrating Livonia has been a lack of apartments and low-income housing -- a policy decision made 50 years ago.
In Livonia, about 89 percent of people own their own homes, compared to 70 percent throughout the Midwest.
"You pretty much have to be a homeowner to live here," Kirksey said. And with empty lots selling for $150,000, it's out of the range of a lot of people.
Housing values have clearly played a role. By the time the city was mostly built in 1980, property values had already started to skyrocket, more than doubling between 1970 and 1980. Still, Kirksey insists anyone who can afford the house payment can live in Livonia. Last year, the average sales price was $168,000, according to city records.
"But if (Ware's experience) was not isolated, maybe I need to call our Realtors together and have some frank discussions because we are doing nothing as a community -- at any level -- to discourage immigration from anyone."
Livonia by the numbers
The population in Livonia skyrocketed from over 17,500 in 1950 while Detroit's white population plummeted.
Census Population Median Year Total White Black Value 1950 17,534 17,513 21 $8,988 1960 66,702 66,562 32 $16,600 1970 110,109 109,659 41 $27,100 1980 104,814 103,215 108 $64,100 1990 100,850 98,870 265 $94,800 2000 100,545 95,975 951 n/a Sources: Michigan Metropolitan Information Center (MIMIC), Wayne State University
Not a Jewish suburb
Others offer another reason for Livonia staying mostly white: It wasn't favored by Jews moving out of Detroit in the 1950s and '60s, said Kurt Metzger, director of the Michigan Metropolitan Information Center at Wayne State University.
"The track was to follow the Jews and they were not headed west into Wayne County," he said. In Metro Detroit -- like many cities nationally -- blacks have tended to follow Jews as they were the first to break down barriers in suburbs such as Oak Park and Southfield.
John Wiggins was one of about 40 blacks in Livonia when he moved from Detroit 30 years ago. He's never had any trouble in his neighborhood. And with a mixed-race marriage, he says he would have been a target if racism was a problem.
"I've been happy here," said Wiggins, who has served on the city's Human Relations Commission for more than seven years. When he moved in, Wiggins said his all-white neighbors adopted a wait-and-see policy: When he was friendly and sociable, they quickly warmed to him.
"Now everybody knows me. The main thing is, people have to be a part of the neighborhood, get involved in a positive way so they know you're a caring person."
Debbie Chevillet, who has lived in the city eight years, agrees. She said a black family recently moved in a few blocks away, and as far as she knows, there has been no stir among neighbors.
But she also acknowledges that among her 22-year-old daughter's black friends, Livonia's all-white history prompts fears of harassment by residents or police.
"They've never had a problem when they've come over but there is that perception," Chevillet said. "But everything I've ever heard about Livonia is, if you want to live here, you can."
'The best way'
To be fair, Livonia is mostly notable because of its size -- over 100,000 people -- but it doesn't look any different than other western Wayne County cities such as Northville or Plymouth. Warren, in Macomb County, has the ninth-highest percentage of whites among U.S. cities with 100,000 or more people.
And both Livonia and Warren have shown signs of breaking down racial barriers: Several neighborhoods in both communities had no blacks in 1990. By 2000, there wasn't a neighborhood in Livonia or Warren without at least one African American, according to the census.
Significantly changing such a dramatic racial makeup will likely take years, but Wiggins says Metro Detroit's best hope for a stable and integrated population may be in places like Livonia, where blacks may continue moving in slowly and steadily.
"When you group black people together, you end up with white flight," he said. "Here, we're all over the city. That's the best way to do it."
And Livonia is certainly looking for new residents: The city has about 10,000 fewer residents than in 1970, and the traditionally blue-collar enclave is gradually changing over to white-collar families.
Ware, who doesn't live there but still hopes to visit and shop in Livonia, says it will take time to break down barriers -- even if they are unintentional.
"I have to rely on the white homeowners, Realtors and mortgage companies. If it breaks down anywhere along the line you're stuck. I can't change the system alone."
You can reach Jodi Upton at (313) 561-8768 or jupton@detnews.com.
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