Sunday, November 3, 2002

Donna Terek / The Detroit News A town hall meeting earlier this year drew residents from suburbs and urban areas to discuss ways to stamp out segregation and gave participants a chance to air concerns.

Stemming sprawl may aid integration
Activists study ways to curb growth, begin dialogue as a way to bring races together

By Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News

About NCCJ    The National Conference for Community and Justice is an organization aimed at fighting all forms of racism and bigotry.    If you are interested in working with the group, call (313) 567-6225 or log on to www.nccj-mi.org. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

   DETROIT -- The way Dan Krichbaum sees it, Metro Detroit's separate living patterns might change if fewer new suburbs were built.
   Krichbaum, executive director of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), says the segregation gripping Southeast Michigan is aided by urban sprawl as more people move out to newer communities in places like Livingston County.
   "The wholesale migration of whites to new communities is a huge problem. We can solve it, but it will take many layers," Krichbaum said.
   Stemming suburban growth and starting a dialogue in the suburbs to avoid white flight are among efforts being looked at by community activists brought together by NCCJ in its ongoing efforts to fight segregation.
   The NCCJ, which has worked to stamp out bigotry, was co-sponsor of community forums that drew more than 200 people following The Detroit News' series, "The Cost of Segregation," in January.
   Krichbaum said the forums also give many Metro Detroiters a chance to voice their concern about segregation.
   "The forums and subsequent work showed how serious Metro segregation is viewed by the ordinary citizen. Many political officials and civic leaders, however, don't even seem to have this on their radar screens," Krichbaum added. "Nothing could be more tragic than if leaders across the Metro area think that it is normal for us to live in such segregated areas and refuse to face the issue."
   One possible next step, Krichbaum said, is putting together a specific plan to try to curb growth.
   Other fast-growing areas have successfully done it, but not always with segregation in mind.
   In Portland, Ore., anti-sprawl initiatives included a three-county development perimeter that made it more difficult to develop beyond the urban core. As a result, many white suburbanites have begun to look inward and segregation levels dropped dramatically in the 1990s.
   Despite the recent attention, Henrietta Harrell, a 53-year-old Eastpointe resident, isn't hopeful that segregation will subside in Metro Detroit.
   "I don't think I'll ever live to see it," said Harrell, an African-American. "You can't change people. You pray for them and hope for the best."
   
   

You can reach Oralandar Brand-Williams at (313) 222-2690 or bwilliams@detnews.com.