Is white flight still a thing?

The story of St. George, Louisiana

In this week’s episode of the Suburban Women Problem, the hosts chat with Benjamin Herold about his book, Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America’s Suburbs. In his book, Herold tells the stories of five American families and explores how hope, history, and racism affects a new, more diverse generation living in the suburbs. 

Co-host Jasmine Clark shared that she is part of that new generation in Gwinnett County in Georgia and as a state representative she has found that oftentimes people will run against her to “get Gwinnett back to where it used to be.” Or they’ll even say that they don’t want Gwinnett to turn into DeKalb, a county with a population that is predominantly people of color. 

(Photo Credit: Benjamin Herold)

In Louisiana, a group of wealthy white residents did more than just talk about separating from the more diverse population - they actually did it. 

On April 26, the Louisiana State Supreme Court gave the city of St. George the right to secede from the Black-majority city of Baton Rouge by a 4-3 vote. The court determined St. George's plan was reasonable and could operate under a balanced budget.

A group led by white conservatives have been trying to secede from the rest of the city for over a decade. Their first attempt was in 2012 when they said they needed a separate school district based on claims that crime and poor school quality meant their tax dollars weren’t being used properly. That effort failed and when they tried again the next year, it failed once again. 

So they tried a new strategy: form an entirely separate city. Parents behind this effort were insistent on not having their children attend school with the rest of the Baton Rouge community and they were willing to do anything to make sure that happened. 

This strategy went through several failed attempts for years and after a long legal battle, they finally got their own whiter, wealthier city.

The newly incorporated city of St. George justifies this secession by stating on their website that “we have witnessed the further decline of our public school system, skyrocketing murder and crime rates, further decay of our Parish infrastructure, unprecedented exodus of our friends and families from the Parish, and a complete lack of trust in our City-Parish leadership.”

Opponents of the state Supreme Court decision argue that this split with Baton Rouge, like many other historical examples of white flight, would deprive the city of the tax revenue generated by its wealthiest residents and they are asking the state Supreme Court for another hearing on the matter. 

The NAACP’s Baton Rouge chapter released a statement saying St. George’s plan “poses significant risks to our education system, threatens the continuity of critical programs, and challenges community representation.”

A lot of us would like to think that white flight and segregation is a thing of the past, but it’s not. 

And it’s up to us to continue to call it out just like Benjamin does in his book, and Jasmine does through her work as a Georgia State Representative.