white flight
nounDefinition of white flight
: the departure of whites from places (such as urban neighborhoods or schools) increasingly or predominantly populated by minorities
Examples of white flight in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Discriminatory mortgage lending practices funneled minority residents into the area, and exploitative real estate agents stoked white flight by scaring Jewish homeowners about the newcomers. — Diamond Naga Siu, BostonGlobe.com, "Boston’s Blue Hill Avenue will soon get a facelift," 17 Aug. 2019 The changes played out over the 1960s as white schools were opened to minorities, sparking white flight to the suburbs. — Anita Snow, Los Angeles Times, "Video of Phoenix police threatening a black couple revives memories of Arizona’s racism," 1 Aug. 2019 In the infamous 1974 Milliken v. Bradley decision, the Supreme Court held that federal courts could not typically include suburban districts in a desegregation order, ensuring that those districts would remain easy vectors for white flight. — Will Stancil, The Atlantic, "The White Suburbs That Fought Busing Aren’t So White Anymore," 12 July 2019 Meantime, busing programs that had taken children out of their neighborhood schools had accelerated white flight to the suburbs and aggravated the geographical racial sorting that contributed to the poisonous education gap in the first place. — Eric Zorn, chicagotribune.com, "Column: Say it was so, Joe! Biden was right to oppose busing in the ’70s," 2 July 2019 As in many American cities, the discriminatory housing policy known as redlining kept blacks from moving into white neighborhoods in Berkeley and busing fueled some white flight to the suburbs. — Melanie Mason, latimes.com, "School busing in Berkeley during Kamala Harris’ childhood was both voluntary and volatile," 30 June 2019 That timidity has combined with white flight to produce resegregation. — Jason Sokol, BostonGlobe.com, "Boston aside, busing was a success — and it has a future," 5 July 2019 The district saw a decline in enrollment in the 15 years after integration, from 16,000 students to 9,000, partly fueled by white flight, according to Berkeleyside. — Melanie Mason, latimes.com, "School busing in Berkeley during Kamala Harris’ childhood was both voluntary and volatile," 30 June 2019 Once known for its cotton industry, the community has been battered by de-industrialization, white flight and a shrinking tax base. — Petra Cahill, NBC News, "Facebook unveils cryptocurrency 'Libra,' more U.S. troops to Middle East & Jon Stewart: The Morning Rundown," 18 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'white flight.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more