racket among whites. Since 1975, black males have been elected as mayors of cities in which whites constituted 70% of the population. This proves, once again, that racism is on the decline because white attitudes towards blacks have improved dramatically. At the same time, however, the degree of poverty among blacks has increased. The single parent black families have been dragging the income ratio down over the years. Racism is obviously not getting worse but the lack of jobs is resulting in greater poverty among blacks, especially in the inner city. (Stokes)The outflow of the black middle class from the inner cities to the suburbs also contributed to the black working class’ structural trap and growth of poverty to the highest its ever been in years. The movement of the black middle class out of cities made situations worse. The middle class were making more money than they ever have before and because of this they wanted to move to better neighborhoods and improve their lives just like their white counterparts did. This outflow of middle class concentrated all problems of poverty to the inner city. As long as the black middle classes were in black neighborhoods in the inner city, it acted as a buffer effect. The black middle class supported an institutional environment of schools, churches, restaurants, and etc., which began to disappear as well as the model of success began to disappear when the black middle class moved out of the city. William Wilson discusses the result of the increased poverty in the inner cities: “the timing of worsening conditions in inner city suggests racism is no longer the center problem; serious social problems in central cities got steadily worse in the 1970s and 1980s, when racism was on decline…” (Wilson). Since the 50’s the crime rates, violent crimes, social problems of drug addiction, school dropouts, teen-age pregnancy, and etc., has gotten worse. The incre...
