#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Where Did All The Black People Go? African American Population In Cook County & Chicago Is Shrinking

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. You can make this possible. All right, folks, let's talk about what's happening in Cook County. According to the U.S. Census, they're continuing to lose black people and white folks. The Hispanic and the Asian population continues to grow. At 1.2 million, African-Americans still make up Cook County, still the largest county of African-Americans in the country. But they lost 75,000 African-Americans in the last year. So what's going on there? I want to talk about this with our panel. Eric, I want to start with you first. The reason that this is important, because now what you're talking about, you're talking about a shift in terms of control of cities and counties.

Starting point is 00:01:00 You look at Washington, D.C., of course, used to be known as Chocolate City. It's barely Mocha City right now. And so even though you have a black mayor, the reality is this city is changing. Now, the benefits of that, you're seeing African-Americans who are moving into Prince George's County and Montgomery County. but population shifts where you've had significant black population also is going to lead to changes in those places uh and so chicago has to figure out what do they do about this uh clearly a lot of people i know people i know personally people who are leaving because of the violence in that city uh also for some folks is the coal we're also finding er, a lot of black people

Starting point is 00:01:46 who are leaving northern and midwest cities returning home to their southern roots. Absolutely, Roland. And you know why? Because it's more economically advantaged for those families to do that. So listen, you mentioned Chicago and D.C. D.C. is one of the number one it's leading in gentrification and it's on steroids, particularly when you start thinking and talking about opportunity zones, which the mayors across the 50 states had to assign 25 percent of land for those for people to come in for those opportunities to really gentrify neighborhoods. So going back to what we're seeing happen in Chicago, you've got four neighborhoods. I was reading a report today. You have four neighborhoods that were historically black and brown neighborhoods in Chicago that are now unrecognizable. That definitely has an impact as well. So as people begin to see their neighborhoods changing the landscape, that the property taxes are going up. As you mentioned,

Starting point is 00:02:45 people are returning not only to their roofs, but to a place where they can grow their families, and it won't hit them as hard in the pocket. Eugene, the point that she makes about economics is really critical, because the reality is when you talk about living in the Northeast, living in the Midwest, a lot more expensive than it is living in the South. When you look at the price of homes, things along those lines, let's also be honest, when you look at some of these states like Texas, where you have no state income tax, black folks are saying, you know what, yeah, those states might be different. They might be deemed red states, but for many of us that's home yeah and the other part of

Starting point is 00:03:26 it that a lot of these states have growing economies in comparison to a lot of the states that they're leaving uh illinois is in a from a lot broader standpoint is in a fiscal crisis year in year out uh in particular cook county uh with a lot of the redevelopment um the home prices are rising but the economic opportunities aren't rising. And so what you're seeing is that you're seeing Atlanta become what Detroit was. You're seeing what a lot of cities in Texas become what the North was 50, 60 years ago for Black people.

Starting point is 00:03:59 So a big part of it is economic. A big part of it is the accessibility of economic opportunities and cost of living. CJ, this also has an impact on politics. One of the reasons that you're seeing Reverend William Barber and others push so hard in these southern states because they want to ensure that black populations are being able to benefit from these population shifts and we better understand that moving for economics is one thing but we want to ensure that our power is also not diluted while it happens well the one thing that that data also showed was the increase of Hispanic growth also in southern states and in southern cities like Atlanta, like in North Carolina. And so, you know, the African-American community, we really need to have a discussion amongst

Starting point is 00:04:57 ourselves of what does this browning of America mean for us when we have been the majority minority, because we're going to be not the majority minority anymore. And how do we continue to progress and get our community move ahead? First of all, we're not the majority minority right now. I mean, frankly, the Latino population is larger than that of the African-American population. So that's the way it is right now anyway one but again what i was saying is how do we come together to really deal with the transformation of this population shift because we have been the majority minority for a long time and so now no we have not that

Starting point is 00:05:37 that no no we lost that uh a while ago again as saying, Roland, for a long time we were. But that population shift is happening. And so how do we as the black community really become accustomed to what this new meaning means? Because there are still some cities where we are still the majority minority. But that is rapidly changing. And how do we, when we start looking at losing our electoral clout, the shifting of more black Hispanics running that might not identify with the black American experience. So we must have a conversation. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What what are you talking about?

Starting point is 00:06:24 What am I talking about? Hold up. Hold up. One second. One second. One second. There are more black members of the Congressional Black Caucus today than there have ever been in history, Eugene. Brolin, the thing with CJ's getting at is the old conservative, you know, fallacy and trope that, hey, it has to either be Black or Hispanic, one or the other, that, you know, both groups can't rise together, as if, you know, the plight that we all are dealing with is not similar or one and the same. You know, increasing Hispanic numbers does not mean that, you know, Black voters are now, their vote mean less, or that there are going to be less opportunities for Black voters. That's a conservative fallacy that conservatives like to use uh you know in regards to the hispanic community and and particularly uh immigration um that's where cj is getting that no that's

Starting point is 00:07:15 not where i'm getting it i'm looking at the data and it goes back to when you literally just no no No, no, no. I did not get this from a conservative talking point, Eugene. Hold up, hold up. I can't hear either one of you. Eugene, finish your point, then CJ. I said, CJ literally just sat here and said, hey, we need to figure out what black America's face is going to be in the browning of America as if the increasing Hispanic populations are going to displace black America, either political power, economic power.

Starting point is 00:07:46 That was their argument. And that is absolutely correct. And again, when you look at the Congressional Black Caucus, yes, we do have the most number of members in the CBC. But it also was a spat that took place when Charlie Rangel lost his seat to a black Hispanic. And that played out in public of where his allegiance was going to be, whether it was going to be to the Hispanic congressional caucus or to the CBC. And so we must have this conversation. First of all, the guy who he lost to is the first Dominican in the United States Congress. That's not what I'm arguing about. Hold up. Hold up. But my point is that congressional

Starting point is 00:08:25 district also changed. Look, look. And that's about again goes to the shifting of demographic population. Wait a minute. You guys, Sanford Bishop is the mayor of Congress from Georgia with a significant white population in his district. So so look, so the bottom line is here. What's going to happen? What's going to happen is when we talk about population shifts, what it also boils down to are African-Americans voting our numbers to ensure that we're maximizing our power. That, to me, I think what has to happen. All right, folks, back to that Rolamark unfiltered video in just one moment.

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#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Where Did All The Black People Go? African American Population In Cook County & Chicago Is Shrinking

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