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After delimitation of the area of the black community itself and assessing
the level of segregation in the area, we can continue in analyzing
some of its social and economical characteristics.
Before proceeding with the analysis of the data, one note is necessary.
I am very much aware of the fact that ``Association does not mean
causation'' and so whatever are my conclusions about relations between
racial/ethnic composition of communities and crime indicators, these
associations should not be under any circumstances used as characterizing
particular race or ethnic group as such.
I have used for the analysis data from the U.
S. Census 2000
[MassGIS, 2002]: level of unemployment (P043014 and P043007
for the male and female unemployment together with P043001, total
civilian workforce), per capita income in 1999 (P082001), poverty
data (P087002 for number of people living under the level of poverty
and P087001 for total population for which the poverty is calculated),
and drop-out numbers (P037003 and P037020 for share of males and females
in age 25 without completed schooling, and P037001, which is total
number of population in the age 25). I have also added indicators
of the violent crimes and the property crimes (per 100,000 persons
in population) from Bureau of Justice Statistics, DOJ [2002] and The Boston Foundation [2002b]. The
Census values were calculated into rates for the individual communities
and then all data are presented as tab:race-economics.
In order to make sense of the data in the table, I have created rankings
of all communities according to the respective columns (indicated
by the superscripted number) and then marked with boldface font all
values, which were in the upper half of the ranking (summary data
on the whole City of Boston were not ranked and distinguished by italic
font). Because I want to analyze relation between these data and the
racial characteristics of the individual communities, I have marked
the ones which were identified in the previous section as predominantly
Black by boldfacing their name in the first column and predominantly
Hispanic by underlining it. For some variables Harbor Islands and
Fenway are clear outliers and in such a case the value is stroke out
in the table. Moreover, crime indicators are not available for Harbor
Islands.
Looking at the data from a broader perspective, a very clear pattern
emerges: all communities marked as predominantly Black or Hispanic
tend to fall to the lower half or even to the bottom of all rankings.
Specifically the group of communities positioned in the table between
(and including) East Boston and Mattapan (which are also geographically
neighboring one another) create the bottom of all rankings. And among
these Roxbury (second ``most black'' community) stands out as
the very worst case in per capita income, poverty rate, and the second
from the bottom in violent crime. Another evidence of the association
between racially/ethnically segregated communities and poor living
conditions is Chelsea which is overwhelmingly Hispanic (48.35%)
and ranking at the bottom with the above-mentioned group and the worst
in drop-out rates and violent crime. Surprisingly it stands slightly
better in economic characteristics (especially the rate of unemployment).
When we take a more detailed look we can find many exceptions from
this pattern. One of them is caused by the huge student population
in Boston (approximately 250,000) which skews especially the rates
of unemployment (most notably Fenway, Cambridge, and Central), and
of course drop-out rates (here it shows most with South Boston, the
seat of the University of Massachusetts in Boston, which would be
expected according to other indicators to stand much worse than it
does). However, we have to be aware of the crudeness of the methodology
and limitations of our data. The example of this is very poor position
of Chelsea exactly in the drop-out rates. We cannot be sure whether
this value of the drop-out variable can be explained only by the suggested
influence of the low socioeconomical status of the Hispanic population,
or other factors influences the drop-out rate as well. One such possible
explanation is that education of Hispanic population born (and educated)
outside of the United States is incompatible with the standard American
education and thus unacknowledged in the Census. Another comment for
the drop-out value is necessary--its range is so narrow, that the
rough methodology of analysis could be affected discover possible
errors.
There is couple of another exceptions to the general rule, that segregated
communities suffer worse socioeconomic characteristics. When considering
crime-related indicators, Fenway/Kenmore, Back Bay/Beacon Hill, and
the Central community being apparently one of the most affluent by
other measures stand out as three worst in terms of the property crime
and in the lower half in terms of the violent crime (and the Central
community the third worst just following Chelsea and Roxbury). The
probable solution to this issue is twofold. First of all, crime does
not follow the place of living (as other Census statistical variables
do). Second, the magnitude of the difference between Back Bay and
Central community, can be explained only by the fact that these communities
contain most of the financial district, where certainly most of the
property-related white-collar crimes happen.
Another important exception from the rule is Hyde Park. Although it
firmly stands in the minority part of Boston by its racial/ethnic
characteristics (and geographical location) with 39.07% and
13.50% share of the Black and Hispanic population respectively
and according to maps consistent minority residency across the area,
all its socio-economic indicators except of one are in the upper half
of the rank. Further research would be probably necessary to prove
it firmly, but it seems that in this area we can find another level
of segregation of the already segregated community--this time the
area of the Black middle class separated from the rest of the Black
community.
Another exceptional community is the South End, which has extraordinary
high per capita income (fifth best), but ranks in the bottom of all
other variables. I do not have a good explanation of this phenomenon
available, aside from the problems with my too crude methodology or
missing some data. One variable which should be probably investigated
further is the share of foreign-born members of a community, which
may explain this and some other irregularities.
Last group of remarkable communities is group in the southwest part
of the City of Boston (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, and Roslindale),
which in all its characteristics puts them outside of the Boston urban
area more towards suburbs (Jamaica Plain has a divided nature, with
a part falling into the Black community and other one to the semisuburban
part of Boston).
Next: Conclusion
Up: Boston Community Segregation: How
Previous: Segregation of the Boston
Matej Cepl
2003-12-23