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Dayton slowly moving toward integration

But 2 new studies find wide gap in black-white equity in the region.

Tiffany Bryant recently filed a discrimination complaint with Miami Valley Fair Housing alleging she was unfairly turned down by a Centerville apartment complex. A recent study found that Dayton ranked 80th for black-white equity, putting the region in the bottom fifth along with Cleveland and Cincinnati.

Staff photo by Lisa Powell Tiffany Bryant recently filed a discrimination complaint with Miami Valley Fair Housing alleging she was unfairly turned down by a Centerville apartment complex. A recent study found that Dayton ranked 80th for black-white equity, putting the region in the bottom fifth along with Cleveland and Cincinnati.

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By Mary McCarty, Staff Writer Updated 2:09 PM Monday, February 6, 2012

Dayton ranks among the nation’s most segregated cities, even as a pair of studies last week found segregation has declined significantly since 1970, and Hispanics are faring better here than in virtually any other market in the country.

Dayton ranked fifth among the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas for Hispanic integration and achievement.

“Dayton did very well,” noted Margery Turner, vice president of research for the Urban Institute, which measured employment, home ownership, education and integration patterns among minority groups. “But that’s based on a tiny Hispanic population of only about 2 percent. And the gap between African-Americans and whites in the Dayton area is very wide.”

In the same study, Dayton ranked 80th for what it termed black-white equity, putting the region in the bottom fifth along with Cleveland and Cincinnati.

Segregation continues to harm communities, many experts believe, because it erodes race relations and leads to declining home ownership, employment and educational opportunities. Housing decay and increased crime rates can be the by-products.

“In the Dayton area, there’s a very high level of residential segregation, which means poorer neighborhoods and children who attend dramatically lower-performing schools,” Turner said. “Minorities are less likely to be employed and less likely to be homeowners.”

That assessment is a far cry from a study by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank whose report, “The End of the Segregated Century,” has stirred controversy. In the report, which says black segregation is at a 100-year low, segregation in Dayton was said to have dropped 22 percent since 1970, compared with 19 percent decreases in Cincinnati and Cleveland.

The research was conducted by Harvard University economics professor Edward Glaeser and Duke University professor Jacob Vigdor. They credited the decline in segregation to fair housing laws and improved access to credit as well as gentrification and an increase in the number of blacks moving to the suburbs.

The report acknowledged that “the shift does not mean that segregation has disappeared,” but concluded that “all-white neighborhoods are effectively extinct.”

Tiffany Bryant of Centerville disagrees with that finding. The 33-year-old single mother, who is black, was working as a traveling nurse in Fayetteville, N.C. last summer when she began looking for an apartment in Centerville. She had decided to return home to the Dayton area to pursue a degree as a nurse practitioner while working as a contract nurse for a private agency. “I chose Centerville because of the excellent school district,” said Bryant, who has a 9-year-old daughter, Tarynn.

After calling about the apartment, Bryant got off the phone and told her father, “Wow. That just didn’t feel right. It sounded like they don’t want minorities.”

She said her misgivings intensified when her application was turned down because her credit score was below 700. “I’d never been turned down for housing before,” Bryant said. Her credit score was 620 at the time.

She contacted the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, which filed a complaint after conducting an investigation. The center’s President and CEO Jim McCarthy said that both parties have agreed to mediation. Bryant said the incident has left her shaken and less trustful; in the past, she never felt that she made unconscious assumptions about white people. She has found an apartment in another Centerville complex, and she has noticed that many of her new neighbors look down when she passes them.

“Now I can’t help wondering, ‘Is this because I’m black?’” she admitted. “Maybe they’re just preoccupied.”

Still, she said, “It’s disappointing and discouraging. I don’t always want to be fighting that, and wondering whether something is a racial thing. I’m a very enthusiastic person and I carry myself as a professional. I take care of people for a living. I’d like to be judged by my conduct and behavior, not by something completely outside of my control.”

Bryant said that MVFHC worked swiftly to investigate her situation. “Too often, this goes unreported,” she said. “Often the people who experience discrimination don’t know where to go for help.”

McCarthy strongly disputes the notion that segregation is a thing of the past: “Tell that to the people of color who have been stigmatized and profiled. We have made progress, but there’s a long way to go.”

McCarthy agreed that progress has been made, but cautioned, “It’s simply not true that all-white neighborhoods are extinct. We have laws on the books that redlining is illegal, but instances are constantly being discovered.”

Ruth Thompson-Miller, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Dayton, also found the Manhattan Institute’s report too optimistic. “Some of the conclusions are problematic for a number of reasons, because one family moving into a community doesn’t mean it’s diverse,” she said. “And just living in a neighborhood doesn’t mean they’re welcome, or that they aren’t getting harassed.”

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