DC is becoming more white

AP/Washington Times:

Much has changed since Ben's Chili Bowl opened nearly 50 years ago on a bustling D.C. strip known as America's Black Broadway for its thriving black-owned shops and theaters.

Back then, the red-and-white diner was a popular hangout for black bankers, doctors and blue-collar workers who lived and worked along U Street in Northwest. Even jazz greats Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald could be found devouring chili half-smokes and milkshakes after performing at nearby clubs.

Now, on some days, the crowd at the D.C. landmark is mostly white, reflecting a neighborhood metamorphosis that has brought in high-end condominiums and businesses such as Starbucks.

"Sometimes you look around and wonder, 'Where are all the black people?' " said Virginia Ali, who opened the diner with her husband, Ben, in 1958.

A similar transformation is happening across the District as the black population declines and more white residents and other ethnic groups move in. Demographers say if the trend continues, the District could lose its longtime majority-black status within 10 years. The changes are shaking up city politics, reshaping neighborhoods and displacing longtime residents.

The District's black population peaked at 71 percent in 1970 as tens of thousands of white residents left for the suburbs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But by 2006, the estimated percentage of black residents had fallen to 57 percent.

At the same time, the population of white residents, which plunged from 65 percent in 1950 to 27 percent 30 years later, is growing again. By 2006, the census estimated that 38 percent of D.C. residents were white. The city's Asian and Hispanic populations also are climbing.

Analysts attribute the shift to lower-income and middle-class black residents leaving for the suburbs while young white professionals and others able to afford expensive housing are moving in. The newcomers to the District are being lured by a robust economy, new condos and a chance to escape worsening highway congestion.

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I lived in the area in the late 60's when I was in the Marine Corps and it was not a nice play to be no matter what color you happen to be. It had already started getting better by the mid 1980's and it appears the gentrification continues at a rapid pace. I suspect that it is driven by the cost of housing as much and transportation as much as anything. Who knows, maybe some of the people moving in are Republicans. That should be enough to stop the effort for statehood.

When I left some of the neighborhoods were burning themselves down rioting over the death of Martin Luther King. I remember seeing the smoke in my rear view mirror as I headed back to Texas to go to law school. While I will not be going back to live there, it is a much better place to visit now.