White "Flight"
As it happens, I grew up in Lakewood, OH, where Surber’s family relocated, after moving from Cleveland. At that time, Lakewood was pretty much a White monoculture. The original residents were descended from English and German settlers, which was later modified by Irish, in the early 1920s.
In the 1940s and 1950s, European immigrants completely changed that mix. In any given class during my school years, it would not be uncommon to have students of multiple ethnicities, and language groups, in the classroom.
But, not Blacks. Until the early 1960s, that just didn’t happen.
I’ve visited Lakewood since then (I then lived in Cleveland’s nearby neighborhood, West Park). I worked as a long and short term substitute in the public schools for several years, and I learned of the differences in the recent demographics.
First, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the numbers of gay residents exploded. Lakewood is a city with almost 1/2 of its housing in the form of duplexes, or small apartment houses. The housing stock was traditional, and predated the boxy homes built in the later part of the century. Most of the homes dated from the 1920s or earlier.
So, the city had a vintage charm that appealed to the newcomers. They moved in, restored the homes, and built businesses and a culture that was gay-friendly.
Most of the long-term residents were fine with that. The new neighbors were cordial, and their work in fixing up their houses brought up property values.
Best of all, few of the newbs had children in the school system, so their influx didn’t stress an aging school system.
Since then, others have migrated to the city on Lake Erie. Mideast families (we’d always had some of these, but they were - mostly - Christians), Afghanis, Pakistanians and Indians, and other people whose heritage was new to the city.
Did they ‘fit in’?
Some. But not all. Over time, residents got used to seeing mostly covered veiled women shopping and running errands, with - often - large families at their side. There was some friction in the schools. The Euro and largely Arabic/Muslim cultures didn’t mesh well.
Indians were generally well accepted, as most were highly educated, conversant with European cultural norms, and eager for their children to be successful. They clustered in the Honors and Gifted programs.
But, largely, their families generally did not approve of members dating or marrying outside of the Indian ethnicity.
The same was largely true of the other new residents. So, rather than gradually blending into the overall American culture, the new residents maintained considerable distance from the other residents.
That doesn’t seem likely to stop unless they open up to the idea of widening their children’s marital choices beyond their ethnic boundaries.
But, what about Blacks?
They still are a very small subset of the city, as are Hispanics. The newer residents - generally - are NOT making friends with them. They usually talk disparagingly of Black people, and are antagonistic towards contact, and suspicious of potential criminal threat.
In short, they are what The Left thinks that the rest of us - Americans, largely White - are.