Fall River a Ghetto: Part Three

Another new report has come out concerning the most and least segregated cities in regards to Latinos (the last report was concerning blacks). This new report, culled from the latest census records, lists Fall River as #2 on a top ten list of most segregated cities for Latinos.

Overal Most Segregated (Averaging ranks for all 5 major dimensions) Drumroll…..

New York
Providence, Fall River, Warwick
Pheonix, Mesa
Los Angeles
Newark and Chicago (tie)
Denver
Houston and Riverside, San Bernadino (tie)
Dallas
San Antonio
Milwaukee, Waukesha

A few points for discussion:

The high scores for northeastern cities reflect the high levels of segregation for Puerto Ricans, and to a lesser extent Dominicans. I don’t know the exact data for this, but my suspicion is that Puerto Ricans and Domincans have segregation levels that are closer to blacks than Mexican Americans and other Central and South Americans. In fact, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans often live in close proximity to blacks, and the demographics that I am aware of for Puerto Ricans are often more similar to Blacks than they are to other Latino groups.

Latinos tend to be most segregated in metro areas in the northeast (more Puerto Ricans) and the southwest (more Mexican Americans and Central Americans).

Finally, these numbers tend to reflect much lower levels of segregation than blacks, and higher levels than Asians and Native Americans.

So what does this mean to the topic at hand? Practically nothing. Just because Fall River has a higher density of Latinos living in close proximity to one another does not a ghetto make.

The original question on that Officer.com site that started this line of postings by me has had another response:

RIBlue
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 4

absolutely Fall River is a slum.. I would not live there. I live in Swansea 10 minutes from Fall River much nicer. I work in RI but live in Mass because its cheaper. Look at Somerset, Swansea, Westport, Seekonk, Rehoboth before you go to Fall River. There are lots of nice small towns near Fall River.

Is it just me or does it feel wrong to have police officers, whose job it is to protect and to serve, publicly calling the place where they work, where they get their paycheck, where their job is to make the community a better place, give up on the city and advise against a family living here? What kind of public servants do we have here? Maybe it is this kind of attitude that makes this fair city less desirable overall. Maybe it is this kind of attitude that quietly betrays a silent bigotry against a city that has every chance of reclaiming its lost grandeur if only its residents and city employees found the spirit to make it happen. “We’ll Try” is probably not these guys’ motto for the city. More like “We Give Up.”

Does it take an outsider like myself to see the danger of such thinking? Wake up Fall River! Your reputation is at stake, and, consequently, your livelihoods.