Did Integration Destroy the Black Community?

Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

There’s been much conversation lately about whether integration destroyed the Black community or not. Well, scratch that. This has been discussed lately amongst younger Black Americans, born during — or post — the crack epidemic of the 1980s and the early 1990s. There has always been a general consensus amongst older Black Americans that integration destroyed the Black community. It’s believed by them that we were closer as a community, that our children were better educated, and that we attended church more and had better values. Also, there were no “inner cities” like what we think of today — littered with trash, riddled with crime, and full of dilapidated houses. We were taught Black Pride and knew our history before schools were integrated, and many Black teachers and principals were fired.

Videos like this, of successful Black Americans in the 1950s, further make some Black Americans believe integration destroyed the Black community and the Black family — especially if you’re using an “inner city” neighborhood as your reference point for what a typical Black neighborhood looks like. According to the…