Introduction: Black flight

The tremendous movement of people-this "Black flight" we are seeing sweep across neighborhoods, cities, states, regions, and countries in the first decades of the twenty-first century-is not inconsequential, and although demographic change is not destiny, it can send reverberations across social, economic, and political landscapes. This chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the myriad of possibilities for Black politics in the face of increasing ethnic diversity. It traces the political ascendancy of African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Dominicans; challenges our conceptions of "descriptive" representation; and helps us to gain a better understanding of how Black New Yorkers view politics, not across racial lines, but instead within them. The book examines the ways in which Blacks have fared in "new destination," majority-minority cities. It also explores the effects of suburbanization on African American political attitudes decades later, in the twenty-first century.