SO IT WON'T EVEN SEEM RACIST...:

D.C. May Be Losing Status As a Majority-Black City (N.C. Aizenman, 5/17/07, Washington Post)

The District of Columbia's longtime status as a majority-black city appears to be diminishing, even as Maryland and Virginia continue to experience a dramatic rise in their minority populations, according to census estimates released today.

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.

...when the GOP proposes shifting the nation's capital to the middle of the country.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 17, 2007 8:02 PM