Welcome back to the Ten Blocks Podcast. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal. Joining me on today's

show is William Vogley. Bill is a senior editor of the Claremont Review of Books and the author of

two books himself, Never Enough, America's Limitless Welfare State, and the Pity Party, a mean-spirited

diatribe against liberal compassion. He's contributed essays to

City Journal for over a decade now, and we're glad he can join us on the podcast. His latest

piece for the magazine, which appears in our autumn 2020 issue, is called The Truth About

White Flight. Bill also wrote a piece for us in the aftermath

of the events of last week in Capitol Hill, or a couple of weeks ago now, actually, called

About What Aboutism? It's a brilliant piece. I encourage you to check it out, and we'll be

sure to talk about it here a bit on the podcast. Bill, thanks very much for

joining us and always good to talk with you. Good to be with you, Brian. Your piece from the

magazine, the Truth About White Flight essay, begins with former First Lady Michelle Obama,

who had published a best-selling memoir a couple of years ago.

Mrs. Obama, who was born, Michelle Robinson, grew up on the South Shore of Chicago in a

neighborhood that came to typify the urban white flight experience. In 1950, the South Shore was basically 95, 96% white. Over just a few

decades, the demographics completely flipped, and the neighborhood was 96% black by the time

the early 80s rolled around. Now, according to the former First Lady, and this is a common charge by progressives as well,

the motivation behind this demographic shift, this white flight from cities, was clear or is

clear and obvious that racism was behind the relocation,

leaving behind devastated black communities and taking a lot of the funding and money

that circulated in these neighborhoods to the suburbs.

Your piece says that that doesn't really reflect the entire story and it's too simple

...