Chicago in Top 10 of Most Segregated Cities
Residential segregation studies document that the most segregated areas of the country are in the Midwest and Northeast, with the West being the least segregated. Chicago ranks among the ten metropolitan areas with the most Black-White segregation, and Latinos in Chicago live in more pronounced segregation than Latinos in any other major metropolis.
These patterns exist despite a recent study released by the Census Bureau indicating that, given the current population trends, Chicago and the surrounding metropolitan area could become a majority-minority region in a decade – where the area’s combined racial and ethnic populations outnumber non-Hispanic Whites. In fact, the rapidly growing Hispanic population accounted for more than 80% of the Chicago region’s growth since 2005 Yet the area remains heavily segregated.

Discrimination Persists 40 Years after Chicago Freedom Movement
In the summer of 1966, the Chicago Freedom Movement chose housing discrimination as its focus. 6 In July, marches were held in all-White southwest and northwest neighborhoods. On August 18th, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. announced that 100 real estate offices in White Chicago neighborhoods had been tested for discrimination and failed the test. King staged protests outside of the discriminating real estate offices around the city.
One week later, Movement members, the City, the Real Estate Board, the Chicago Housing Authority and many other prominent agencies and organization drafted the “Summit Agreement” which outlined each organization’s dedication to what was then known as “open housing.” The following are excerpts submitted by the City and the Real Estate Board:

• It is hereby declared the policy of the City of Chicago to assure full and equal opportunity to all residents of the City to obtain fair and adequate housing for themselves and their families in the City of Chicago without discrimination against them because of their race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry.

• The Chicago Real Estate Board announced at the August 17 meeting that its Board of Directors had authorized a statement reading in part as follows:
As a leadership organization in Chicago, we state the fundamental principle that freedom of choice in housing is the right of every citizen. We believe all citizens should accept and honor that principle. We have reflected carefully and have decided we will—as a Chicago organization—withdraw all opposition to the philosophy of open occupancy legislation at the state level ….

Those promises were quickly broken. In 1988, a suit was filed against Baird & Warner, an Illinois real estate corporation headquartered in Chicago, alleging that the real estate providers engaged in steering Whites away from the City of Evanston. The City of Evanston (just north of Chicago) hired the local fair housing agency to conduct testing to identify the nature and extent of the problem. Testers at the sales office in Evanston found evidence of agents’ engaging in discriminatory behavior, discouraging White testers from viewing homes in predominantly African-American or integrated communities and refusing to provide African-American testers with the same quality of customer service afforded to White testers. Agents also made disparaging remarks about “ethnic” and minority neighborhoods and misrepresented the availability of housing to non-White testers. In another landmark case, agents at Matchmaker Real Estate Sales Center in Chicago were found in 1992 to have engaged in illegal steering.

Today, fair housing centers in the Chicago area continue to uncover housing discrimination. NFHA joins with its local partners in urging the City of Chicago and the housing industry to rededicate themselves to the promises of 1966. NFHA’s local members include HOPE Fair Housing Center, Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs, South Suburban Housing Center, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, John Marshall Law School, and Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, Inc.

In order to show the concentration of the population, density maps are provided for 3 categories: integrated block groups with at least 20 percent black population and at least 20 percent white population, block groups that are over 80 percent black, and block groups that are over 80 percent white. These maps show the concentration of population based on density per square mile. As a result, urban neighborhoods with highest concentrations of residents (in integrated, predominantly black, or predominantly white block groups) are tallest in the 3-D maps presented, while sparsely populated areas appear flat.

Integrated block groups (20% white, 20% black)

Block group with more than 80% black population

Block group with more than 80% white

Racial Profiling
It comes as no surprise that due to the amount of racial tensions and segregation in Chicago that racial profiling has set in.  Racial profiling has to do with specific acts like police pulling over more black citizens than white.  There usually is no basis for this practice other than police trying to “bust a drug dealer.”  While there is no clear-cut research yet about the amounts and effects of racial profiling, citizens and legislatures in Chicago have decided that this practice needs to be identified and stopped.

To remedy the problem of racial profiling in Illinois, the ACLU is endorsing a proposal, Senate Bill 1324 filed by state Senator Barack Obama (D-Chicago), requiring all law enforcement agencies in the state to gather and report data about the race and ethnicity of all motorists they stop for traffic violations - whether police issue a citation or warning. The information about traffic stops would be collected at the county level and reported to the Illinois Secretary of State, whose office will analyze the data for trends and make a report about evidence of racial profiling to the General Assembly.

Here is an exert from a recent magazine illustrating the racial profiling problem Chicago faces. This is taken from an American Civil Liberties Union article.

Racial Profiling Scandals Rock Chicago Suburbs (2/12/2000)
CHICAGO - According to a story in today's Chicago Sun Times, four additional current and former Highland Park police department employees have come forward to back allegations of racial profiling, discrimination and other wrongdoing within the 45-member North Shore department.

The Sun Times reported that makes 16 current and former officers and other department employees who now are supporting the claims in a federal lawsuit of problems in the Highland Park department.

Among the latest allegations, made in sworn statements filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago and released Friday, was one from a beach patrol officer who said officers referred to duty around Morraine Park as ``border patrol'' because of the large number of Hispanics there.

Monique Davis, a beach patrol auxiliary police officer, said that while working at Morraine Park on Sheridan Road, she also heard a supervisor refer to the area as ``south of the border'' because so many Hispanics go there.

The Sun Times story said that Police Chief Daniel Dahlberg, Mayor Daniel Pierce and Michael Zimmerman, an attorney representing Highland Park, did not return calls seeking comment on the court statements.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune reported today that a federal lawsuit was filed Friday against Mt. Prospect and its Police Department, echoing racial-profiling charges that have consumed the town in recent months.

According to the Tribune, the suit, filed by Mt. Prospect resident Hiram Romero, seeks class-action status on behalf of Hispanic drivers targeted under a policy of "stopping, detaining, and issuing traffic tickets to persons on the basis of race and without legally sufficient cause," to boost arrest totals.

The same allegations have been leveled in separate suits against the village by fired police officer Javier Martinez and current officers Gustavo Medrano and Harry Moser. The U.S. attorney's office opened an inquiry into the allegations after Martinez won a $1.2 million jury verdict last month.

The newest suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, names the village, the Police Department, Police Chief Ronald Pavlock, and current officers Timothy Janowick and Joseph Favia as defendants.

Village officials could not be reached for comment. But Pavlock's attorney, Terry Ekl, said he was not surprised by the suit.

"It's exactly the kind of suit that we expect someone to file without knowing all the facts," he said.

The newspaper reported that Romero's suit claims Favia stopped and ticketed him without justification last April. He alleges the stop was part of a "policy" of targeting Hispanics to meet arrest quotas.

Racial Profiling continues to plague the city of Chicago.

Created for Dr. Freitag's Group and Minority Group Politics Class.