In Seattle the city is having a series of discussions to find solutions to the urban flight problem. The problem here, however, is that people can't afford to live in the city. The housing (both houses and apartments) is so much cheaper in the burbs, that people with lower-income jobs in the city have to live outside of Seattle and commute in. Just a little twist on the assumptions Ani brings to this.

GUEST, I'm not saying white people aren't responsible for uban flight -- at least SOME white people. The problem is (1) castigating all white people for the sins of some (this is called "racism") and (2) ascribing motives to them that may or may not be the case (hatred of blacks? how about hatred of crime? hatred of crumbling infrastructure? hatred of piss-poor schools?).

Yeah, the urban flight of the 1950s may have been racially based. In part, anyway. The urban flight of the 2000's is a different animal. That's my point. The urban flighters of the 1950's are all in retirement homes and most probably don't listen to folk music of the Ani Difranco sort. The urban flighters of the 2000's can hear the song and go, "that was my parents, that's not me."

The song is thus a total flop as social commentary. IMHO, of course!

Alex