Thousands of Black people are moving to Arizona. What's the vision to welcome them?
It’s been said that where there’s no vision, the people perish.
Makes me wonder: What’s the future for Black people in Arizona?
It doesn’t take sophisticated data analysis to see that we’re in the throes of a new migration pattern that could leave the Phoenix area susceptible to the types of problems that have plagued Black communities in big cities across the nation.
Arizona's Black population is growing
We know that Maricopa County has been the fastest-growing region by population since the nation started rebounding from the Great Recession. About 800,000 have people flooded the Valley since 2010, and that expansion hasn’t stopped, even with the pandemic.
“If you follow the Census numbers, you know that we’ve been growing rapidly over that time,” Maricopa County communications director Fields Moseley said in a recent phone interview. “I believe that it was around 2016 that we became the fastest-growing county in the country, and we’ve maintained the No. 1 or No. 2 status ever since.”
The growth has affected everything from schools and housing to water supplies to roadways.
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A big chunk of the Maricopa County boom has been Black people such as myself.
About 70,000 of us came to the area between 2010 and 2020, representing more than 10% of the growth over that span, a huge number since Arizona’s Black population is only about 5%.
We don’t have much data on where we’re all coming from, but the numbers indicate it’s a population shift. Not just new births.
Young people are moving out of LA, Chicago
The most-recent growth comes amid pandemic-driven declines in 8 of the nation’s 10 largest cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, led by young adults seeking affordable housing and employment opportunities that don’t exist in their hometowns.
Also, weather. It might be hot in the summer, but you don’t have to shovel sunshine off your driveway.
We can assume that people in Los Angeles took a look around and realized that $10-a-gallon gas and $5,000 two-bedroom apartments were as insulting to common sense as pineapples are to pizza.
It’s easy to imagine them pulling a reverse Jed Clampett, loading up their trucks and driving until they could afford the cost of living, ultimately stopping in Buckeye, El Mirage and Surprise.
“When it comes to county property, the West Valley is being developed the fastest,” Moseley said. “There’s not much (county property) left in the East.”
As for the potential for Chicagoans and New Yorkers? Both cities have terrible pizza and weather, so who could blame transplants for being attracted to Pizzeria Bianco in December?
It's unclear where in metro Phoenix they're settling
But we don’t have centralized information on where Black people are settling.
We know that there is representation in South Phoenix, where a Black woman, Kesha Hodge Washington, is challenging a Latino, Carlos Garcia, for City Council seat.
We know that Tempe has a Black mayor and until recently a Black police chief.
We know that East Valley cities, including Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert, have seen significant upticks in Black residents.
But are they being steered toward specific, and less-desirable, neighborhoods? We’ve seen the negative effects of redlining in Chicago.
Are Black residents finding adequate housing with stable costs, good schools and effective policing? Or are we still being pulled over at disproportionate rates for minor traffic violations that result in needless “Black tax” fines and ill-will?
How welcoming are we to Black residents?
Will Black and Latino residents find themselves at odds politically? Or will leaders in those communities recognize common problems and find ways to come together to improve outcomes for members of their communities?
What about churches? Are Black people being welcomed in houses of faith in their neighborhoods? Are Latter-day Saints welcoming to Black visitors? Or are the racial attitudes that marked previous generations still too deeply rooted for African Americans to feel seen and heard?
Ultimately, do Black worshipers have to travel downtown to visit Pilgrim Rest or First Institutional Baptist to feel at home?
Who are the new Black leaders? We know that Arizona has only one Black lawmaker in the Legislature, Republican David Marshall. How could he begin to advocate for all of the state’s Black residents? Especially from Snowflake in Navajo County? Especially as a Republican?
Will new legislative districts give power to Black voters? Or will conservative bully tactics extinguish minority voices in the next election cycle?
Arizona wins if the community has a vision
What about community organizers? What do they think Black people need?
“I have an acronym that I use: P.E.A.C.E.; politics, education, arts, community and economics,” said Christopher “Truth B. Told” Owens, a poet and activist. “Any society, group or neighborhood that has a stronghold on those aspects will have the resources needed for advancement.”
Owens has created CultureHub, the state’s first Black-owned co-working space, which is operating in Eastlake Park neighborhood in central Phoenix.
“These are very exciting times for Black people in Arizona,” he said. “There have been discussions among activists and leaders in the community that we’re in the early stages of a Renaissance. ... Black people in Arizona realize the opportunities that are out there.”
Sounds like a vision, the kind of thing that gives life and prevents the problems that Black people fled in other areas of the country from following them to Phoenix.
Such vision could help Arizona and Maricopa County, which is home to about two-thirds of the state’s population, become an example for the rest of the nation for how to integrate and assimilate Black residents as full members of society.
It’s important to consider now, because the Black population is likely to continue to grow.
We’ll need better planning data from here forward, especially at the county level.
Because it’s also been said that people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge.
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Black people are moving to Arizona. How are we welcoming them?
