Jobs for Blacks

This letter is in response to the article by Penelope McMillan, “Black Flight From L.A. Reverses Trend,� (Metro, Sept. 22).

Black migration fortunately is not a matter of moving out: For the first time in American history, the census is showing that blacks are moving up and out .

Researcher James H. Johnson came to a loss in explaining the almost random migration of blacks from Los Angeles because, based on previous census findings, blacks have moved wherever the jobs were.

Today, more blacks have choices that weren’t available to them previously. Having higher education and skill transportability, we are choosing to settle in different parts of the state and country because these are places we want to live and work.

An important factor that appears overlooked in the article is the change in demographics of increasing segments of the black community. Pockets of inner-city poverty exist and will continue to exist for some time, but there is a rather large black middle and upper-middle class in Los Angeles County.

What the census figures show are people who are either selling or renting their Los Angeles property and buying into real estate developments in other counties, or are simply leaving the state; blacks settling in homes with pools and other amenities in peaceful communities, as opposed to homes with guard gates and barred windows.

In bringing their findings before the public, researchers Johnson and Curtis C. Roseman have shown that the black American’s ability to move as an individual means that we, as an ethnic group, are finally becoming an integral part of American society.

C. WILBURN

San Pedro