Cape Verdeans and Haitians are dominant populations in Roxbury, accounting for 12% and 10% of the neighborhood, respectively. In Brockton, these two groups are exerting a greater impact, with Cape Verdeans making up 37.3% of the population and Haitians 27.2%. Of the Black populations in Roxbury and Brockton, 26% and 43%, respectively, identify continental and coastal Africa as a place of birth. As these statistics show, while Roxbury has had an influx of foreign-born Blacks, Brockton has experienced an even greater increase.
Greater Boston’s changing Black demographics will impact the way that the region’s diverse
communities participate in the next census. In the millennium, changes to the race question on the 2020 Census will cause difficulties in distinguishing ethnic identity from racial identity as it pertains to self-identity, in discerning multi-racialism and overlapping identities; and in determining what and why racial and ethnic groups should be counted. (Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl et al, 2018). For the first time, the Census will delve deeper into the specific origins of “Black, Not Hispanic” and “White, Not Hispanic.” In this census, in addition to checking “Black,” peoples of African descent residing in the US can write in “Jamaican,” “Ghanaian” or “African American.”
Some view this policy change positively as an appropriate nuanced distinction between race
and ethnicity while also allowing for greater self-identification for Black immigrants who prefer to identify by country e.g. Cape Verdes. Others view the change in classification, negatively, as a tool to foster further division among African Americans, Africans who were born on or have a direct connection to the continent, and Blacks from the Caribbean and elsewhere, which could result in further undercounting and thus disempowerment of Black communities.
Educational Diversity, Equity, and Attainment Greater Boston’s increasing diversity has had far-reaching effects on educational attainment for Blacks and African Americans in Boston’s Roxbury and Brockton. The school districts in both communities have become increasingly diverse. As the regions’ schools have become sites of multi-culture-related conflict and inequality, legacies of historical inequity remain. The racial diversity of the student body, the diversity of students’ cultural backgrounds and districts, the disadvantaged economic statuses of the students, and the percentage of students belonging to the most represented gender are all factors influencing educational outcomes in the region (Niche, 2019).
167