The Big Idea
poorness rates are almost double the interior average in areas ring street named after Martin Luther King Jr. , according toour late subject field , and educational attainment is much lower .
Our geographics enquiry , published in theGeoJournalin September 2020 , analyzed the racial makeup and economic well - being of 22,286 census pulley in the U.S. with roadways have a bun in the oven the slaincivil rightsleader ’s name . street bring up after Martin Luther King typically play through multiple nose count blocking ; we identify a sum of 955 such street in the United States .
The areas fence in MLK streets are preponderantly African American , with very few blank residents , we regain . This is peculiarly true in the South and Midwest . A notable exclusion admit California , where MLK neighborhoods have seen a recent increase in their Latino population .
Why It Matters
American urban center began naming streets for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. after his 1968 assassination tocommemorate the civil right field movement and King ’s fight against social inequality . Chicago was the first . In 1968 , Mayor Richard Daley renamed 14 miles ofGrand Boulevard , in the historically Black South Side , as Martin Luther King Jr. Drive .
Today cities in 41 states , Washington , D.C. , and Puerto Rico havestreetsnamed for King .
accord tothe University of Tennessee geographer Derek Alderman , the street that bear his name were selected from areas that have high African American populations than citywide averages . MLK boulevard , boulevards and drives are , the diarist Jonathan Tilove once write , " Black America ’s Main Street . "
Most of America ’s MLK neck of the woods , fromeast Montgomery , Alabama , to Harlem in New York City , were born oflegal or de facto racial segregation . And in the 2d half of the twentieth century , they experience the acute decline in urban industry , air local occupation from the cities to suburbs .
These historical events first induce , then structurally perpetuate , deprivation in MLK neighborhoods . Concentrated urban povertyaffected the funding take to support school , hospitals and other residential area service , especially after the economic ceding back of the 1970s . In many cities , thesinking socioeconomic position of African Americanswas compounded bygovernment neglect of their neighborhoods , leading to belongings devaluation , industrial pollution and disrepair .
The outcome is that MLK neighborhoods have become what Alderman calls a " racialized " landscape painting . Systematically ignored forinvestment and political science services , they are now negatively stereotyped as bare spot wherepoverty , disorder , dereliction and crime are considered normal .
What Other Research Is Being Done
Our subject builds on Alderman ’s 2000 investigation on MLK streets by revealing that the locality around them are extremely racially segregated .
But they are also vibrant commercial-grade districts .
In 2007 , geographerMatthew Mitchelson and co - authorsanalyzed businesses on streets named after King , examining their figure , yearly sales and staff sizing . His study resolve these businesses are comparable in terms of revenue and problem provided to those located on other commercial arteries – namely , Main Streets and street named after President John F. Kennedy .
Mitchelson ’s analysis also found that MLK streets have proportionately more churches and authorities federal agency than Main Streets or JFK streets .
What Still Isn’t Known
inquiry on urban resilience suggests the marginalization of MLK neighborhoods could make their occupier more vulnerable to rude disasters and pandemic like the coronavirus , but this connection has yet to be study .
Finally , the arrival of Latinos to MLK neighborhoods left us wondering : Will increasing variety bring an end to the negative stereotyping of these areas – or simply change those stereotypes ?
Sweta Tiwariis a post doctoral fellow at the Geospatial Institute , Saint Louis University . Shrinidhi Ambinakudige is a professor in the geosciences department at Mississippi State University .
As note , this article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license . you’re able to encounter the original article here .
