There’s a new form of modern segregation popping up across America known as ‘white fortress cities.’
Current Events :
Nicknamed ‘White Fortressing’ by Urban Institute scholar Luisa Godinez-Puig, white fortress cities are exclusive majority-white cities (located mostly in the South) that are designed for Whites and to keep Blacks out. These White and wealthy communities are actively breaking away from poorer black neighborhoods in an effort to conserve resources, prevent Whites from having to subsidize their more impoverished neighbors and preserve their way of life.
One such example is St. George, Louisiana. Once a part of Baton Rouge, St George recently won a decade-long court battle to split from its poorer neighbors and form their own city.
Following the Louisiana Supreme Court ruling, St George will now have 86,000 residents across a 60-square-mile area in the southeastern section of East Baton Rouge Parish. It will also have its own Mayor, its own city council, and almost no Blacks.
“St. George’s taxpayers provide two-thirds of the revenue to the East Baton Rouge Parish government with only one-third of that government’s expense in return,” proponents of the movement stated. However, opponents called the movement ‘racist’ and predicted it would create a ‘white enclave’ that completely separates a wealthy area of the city from its once-connected majority Black city and school district.
In Georgia, 11 new white fortress cities have been established around the Atlanta metro area since 2005 — many of which are also majority White.
Among them is Chattahoochee Hills, a city of 3,000 people where 77% are White.
“Chatt Hills is a small city just south of Atlanta Georgia that incorporated in 2007 to preserve and protect the rural lands, heritage, and culture of this area,” the city’s website said.
Another example is Brookhaven, which was approved in 2012 to become DeKalb County’s 11th city. Its 60,000-strong population is almost 60% White and is one of the most affluent communities in the Atlanta area.
The main takeaway from the concept of white fortress cities is that they hoard benefits such as well-funded public schools, siphon away resources from larger communities of color, and retain access to local revenue and zoning control among white communities that are already economically and politically advantaged. Additionally, they prevent opportunities among people of color.
According to Bloomberg News, it is estimated that St. George’s secession will take away $48.3 million in annual tax revenue from East Baton Rouge Parish — a figure which is nearly 8% of the parish’s total tax revenue.
OK WASSUP! covers Current Events:
White fortress cities are becoming a norm in the South.
Black Enterprise:
When these white fortresses are created, the underrepresented communities they break away from tend to have little to no say. In the new cities formed in both Louisiana and Georgia, only citizens within the proposed new city get to vote by referendum, despite the taxes that would be taken away from the surrounding community.
The white fortressing points to modern-day forms of white flight that have shaped American cities for decades as a result of desegregation in a racist post-slavery America. The consequences of these practices typically impact underserved communities by negatively impacting the health and wealth-building opportunities for generations.