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District of Columbia Losing Black Majority

Posted by: Christian Peralta

18 May 2007 - 7:00am

With D.C. neighborhoods attracting new white upper-income residents and lower-income black families fleeing for the more affordable suburbs, the nation's capital is poised to lose its longtime status as a black-majority city.

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"The 14 percent increase in non-Hispanic white District residents and 6 percent decrease in blacks from 2000 to 2006 are probably the result of the gentrification of once-affordable city neighborhoods, demographers said.

The impact on the city's racial makeup is noticeable. In 2000, blacks made up 60 percent of the District's population. By 2006, that figure was 55 percent."

"If the trends continue, the city will almost certainly cease to be majority black by 2020, said Robert E. Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. "It will wind up more like a Los Angeles or a New York, with no clear majority." "

Full Story: D.C. May Be Losing Status As a Majority-Black City
Source: Washington Post, May 17, 2007
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