The Nation - News from Nov. 25, 1988

In the first major study of integration for different minorities in American suburbs, University of Chicago researchers have discovered that Asians and Latinos have greater contact with other races as they move out of large cities, while blacks still encounter major barriers to integration, the Washington Post reported. One apparent exception, according to the study, occurs in some Southern and Border states, where blacks have integrated suburbs. Using a formula for calculating “spatial assimilation”--the chance of having a neighbor of a different ethnic group--the study said “strong penalties for being black” were still discerned. Blacks live in the most segregated inner-city neighbors and are less likely than other ethnic groups to move to the suburbs, the survey said.