Your county

[memphis]

How is it trending? Shelby County (the only in TN where Kerry did better than Gore) gets more Democratic by the day as conservative suburbanites move out. We just went majority black so don't expect it to go Republican ever again.

[memphis]

I'm not especially thrilled by white flight but I don't see any way to stop it.  It definately is responsible for the changing politics in TN-9, which is gerrymandered to be uber-black and uber-Democratic, and Shelby County as a whole. As for me, you couldn't pay me enough to live outside of the 240 loop, let alone in the exurban hell that is developing in DeSoto, Fayette, and Tipton counties. My mom taught high school in Fayette County for 25 years and I have distant family in DeSoto. Words cannot begin to express how nauseating these places are.

[memphis]

I'm not especially thrilled by white flight but I don't see any way to stop it.  It definately is responsible for the changing politics in TN-9, which is gerrymandered to be uber-black and uber-Democratic, and Shelby County as a whole. As for me, you couldn't pay me enough to live outside of the 240 loop, let alone in the exurban hell that is developing in DeSoto, Fayette, and Tipton counties. My mom taught high school in Fayette County for 25 years and I have distant family in DeSoto. Words cannot begin to express how nauseating these places are.

Isn't TN-9 Harold Ford, Jr.'s District?  Its also electing a White Democratic Congressman this year isn't it?  The Almanac of American Politics shows that Bush won 36% here in 2000 and only 30% in 2004 - a surprising shift considering he won Tennessee with 51% and then 56% of the vote.  Also, John Kerry did worse than Al Gore in every other Tennessee District apart from here.

Yeah, I live in Jr's district. There were several black candidates in the Democratic primary so a White Jewish guy won with 31% of the vote. Jr's brother, a high school dropout with no political experience, is running as a independent, but he is not expected to have too much of an impact.  what's left of white areas in TN-9 tend to be older, middle class to upscale, and Republican, but they are outnumbered by African American neighborhoods that are everything from decaying urban ghetto to new McMansions, but all overwhelmingly Democrat. Newer white suburbs have been gerrymandered out into staunchly conservative TN-7.

[memphis]

I'm not especially thrilled by white flight but I don't see any way to stop it.  It definately is responsible for the changing politics in TN-9, which is gerrymandered to be uber-black and uber-Democratic, and Shelby County as a whole. As for me, you couldn't pay me enough to live outside of the 240 loop, let alone in the exurban hell that is developing in DeSoto, Fayette, and Tipton counties. My mom taught high school in Fayette County for 25 years and I have distant family in DeSoto. Words cannot begin to express how nauseating these places are.

yay, you rule for hating suburbs as much as me!

It's funny, but one of my favorite neighborhoods, Midtown Memphis, is an old early 20th century suburb. I just feel like areas need at least a few decades before they stop feeling so sterile. East Memphis (1950s and 1960s suburbia) is also really nice even though it's very conservative. The trouble with areas built recently is that there seems to have been no planning. Subdivisions and strip malls pop up randomly along arteries that are way too big. Anyhow, we've had this discussion eight thousand times, so let's please not start the "sububz suk!!!111; no citys r 2 scary" stuff. I think we all know how everybody feels.

[memphis]

Don, what part of town do you live in? I'm in East Memphis, near Walnut Grove and White Station.

[memphis]

How is it trending? Shelby County (the only in TN where Kerry did better than Gore) gets more Democratic by the day as conservative suburbanites move out. We just went majority black so don't expect it to go Republican ever again.

Are we really majority black Now? or is it plurality?

Shelby County is really majority black now. Just switched in 2004 Census data. Memphis City Schools, which I went to K-12, is now 90% black.