Disparities in East and West Henrico County

Introduction

I moved to Henrico County as a first grade student in 2009. I was a fresh refugee immigrant in an area with other Latinx, Black and Asian immigrants, and I grew up with children just like me. When my move to Glen Allen, VA happened in 2014, a new perspective dawned upon me. I was placed in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Moody Middle School. Though I was too young to understand at that time, I now realize that the school itself was segregated. Moody was in a predominantly Black neighborhood, whereas the program’s students were predominantly White and Asian. Interactions between the two groups were rarely encouraged by the faculty, and I watched some of my own peers inhibit a superiority mindset due to this division.

Though I never agreed with it, I was too young to understand it as a bigger issue then. When my little sister went to middle school, she went to her zoned middle school rather than join the IB program, which was Holman Middle School. My first thought seeing her middle school was, ‘this is a lot nicer than Moody was.’ When I joined Glen Allen High School, my zoned high school, I realized why that was. Moody was in a predominantly Black neighborhood and was less funded than Glen Allen or Holman, which were in predominantly White neighborhoods. At this point, I was old enough to know it was not a coincidence. I became interested in the issue of systemic injustice when I was a junior in high school. The deeper I looked into it, the more I realized that the school system I had spent 10 years in was a representation of systemic injustice. After reflecting on the different schools and neighborhoods I had seen, I realized just how segregated Henrico County really was.

Who Makes Henrico County, Henrico County?

Henrico County is home to a population of approximately 330,818 individuals. Among those 330,818 people, 57% are White and 29.5% are Black. The rest 13.5% are composed of Asian individuals, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and biracial individuals. With the significantly large percentage of White people and Black people in Henrico, one would expect the two communities to be dispersed across the 245 mi² area. They are not. We often think of segregation as “history.” This wouldn’t necessarily be wrong either; segregation and systemic injustice against America’s Black population is a large portion of America’s history. However, we don’t acknowledge that segregation isn’t the past– it’s the present. In Henrico County, White people and Black people live in opposing sides of the county while also living under varying socioeconomic statuses. When geographically segregated in this way, Black people will suffer from issues with social mobility, access to proper housing and services, discrimination, a general lack of integration.

Map 1, White Population in Henrico County, Virginia

Map 2, Black Population of Henrico County, VA

Map 1, created by OpenStreetMap, illustrates the White population in Henrico County. The red signifies a higher percentage of White people currently residing in that area, whereas beige is a lower percentage. The red is mainly located in the western side of Henrico, with reds in the very east side as well. Now, when we look at Map 2, a map illustrating the geography of Black people residing in Henrico, the red areas are somewhere else. In fact, the red is exactly where the beige shows in Map 1.

Looking at the two maps side-by-side, it is clear that where White people reside, not a lot of Black people do, and vice versa.

Map 3, Race and Place in the Metro-Richmond Region, 2011 - 2015

Map 3, created by a Spatial Analysis Lab at the University of Richmond, puts the entire population of White individuals and Black individuals into one. Looking at Map 3, there is no denying that in an area where a significant amount of Black people live, White people do not. Putting this observation aside for now, it is also important to note the socioeconomic divide in Henrico County. Map 4, created by the Census Bureau, represents Henrico County’s average income by location. The darker shade of blue represents a higher average income, whereas a lighter shade of blue showcases a lower average income.

Map 4, Income by Location at Henrico County, VA

When separating Map 4 into two different “sides,” the West, such as Glen Allen and Short Pump area, evidently have higher average incomes. The East, such as Highland Springs, has a much lower average income. To summarize, when looking at all three maps together, it shows: 1. West Henrico has more White individuals. 2. East Henrico has more Black individuals. 3. West Henrico is “richer ” 4. East Henrico is “poor ”

Thus, when placing this information together, it leads to the following observation. The same areas in Map 4 are dark blue, or have high socioeconomic status, are the same areas in Map 1 that are dark red, or have more White people. The same areas in Map 4 that are light blue, or have low socioeconomic-status, are the same areas in Map 2 that are dark red, or have more Black people. And it comes to one conclusion: there is clear socioeconomic and racial segregation in Henrico County, Virginia.

Map 4, Income by Location at Henrico County, VA— West

Map 4, Income by Location at Henrico County, VA— East

Graph 1, Poverty by Race in Henrico County, VA

Looking at Poverty by Race in Henrico County

As observed earlier, Black individuals residing in Henrico County live in more impoverished areas in the East side in comparison to the White population in the richer West. The situation is still complex, however. The most Eastern side of Henrico has a significantly larger population of White people in comparison to Black people, but still has a lower income than the West that is more similar to average US income. However, in the area highlighted below is where a majority of Black people reside. It is also where the majority of low income individuals live. Thus, not all of East Henrico has a high percentage of Black people of low income. Yet, the low income areas within East Henrico do contain a large population of Black people, showing the clear inequitable connection. The Census Bureau revealed statistics regarding Poverty by Race in Henrico County. The bar graph represents the data found in 2019. Since our focus is only on Black individuals and White individuals, the analysis of this data will also only focus on those two races. Looking at Graph 1, it can be seen that there are more White individuals who live in poverty than Black individuals. To be specific, 13,066 White people live in poverty, as opposed to 12,114 Black people.

However, it is important to note the total population of White vs. Black people in Henrico County. There are a total of 185, 772 White individuals in Henrico County and 96,112 Black individuals. Among these populations, 7% of White people live in poverty. 12% of Black people live in poverty. There are almost double the population of White people in Henrico County, yet a larger percentage of Black people are living in poverty, proving the intersectionality of the racial and socioeconomic divide in Henrico County. But these are just numbers. It’s important to note how this segregation and systemic injustice manifests into education: the segregation of the schooling system. Education is the main source to reaching and achieving opportunities to grow financially, academically, and even emotionally. This is the exact reason why equitable education is even more vital. Opposite school systems create opposite opportunities for the students; systems with less funding, less staffing, and less opportunities creates a population of students who may never be able to break out of the poverty cycle they were born into. Segregated education allows one population to “reach farther ” in life without ever giving the same chances to the opposing population. 26 Henrico County’s school system, Henrico County Public Schools, is a perpetrator behind inequitable possibilities for its students.

Henrico County Public Schools

Henrico County Public Schools has 51,786 students among 81 schools. The racial makeup of these schools reflects the neighborhood in which the schools are located– schools in the West are predominantly White, whereas the ones in the East are predominantly Black. The quality of these schools vary just as drastically as the racial makeup of Henrico. The academic opportunities presented to Henrico County students is based upon the school they go to. If they are in East Henrico, they will have less opportunities to receive a better education, whereas it is the opposite in the West. An example of an opportunity would be the number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes students take. AP classes are a level higher than Honors classes in high school. AP classes pave a path for students to experience the workload of college courses, better preparing for their academic future, while also allowing students to learn in a scope outside of the county’s standards of learning. It allows students to develop skills such as writing, speaking, and collaboration to a greater extent than some high school courses may offer.

However, the opportunity to take AP classes is reliant on the school administration. As a student of Henrico County myself, my high school administration would encourage students to take AP classes and it was viewed as normalcy. Though I don’t personally know how the school administration worked in other schools, enrollment rates show a clear discrepancy between West end schools’ exposure to AP classes versus East end’s. Map 5, provided by the Virginia Department of Education, represents the relationship between students enrolled in one or more AP courses and Neighborhood poverty level.

Map 5, Advanced Placement Class Enrollment Rates in the Metro-Richmond Area, 2016-17

Focusing only on the region within Henrico County, the larger circles are placed in West Henrico. In higher poverty areas, there are little to no students who take AP classes. This map illustrates the relationship between poverty and access to advanced classes, but it also shows the role race plays in this. The connection between poverty and race reveals the disparities Black students suffer in schools because their quality of education is not as well-funded or taken care of as West End students. Moreover, Graph 2 shows the percentage of Black students in Henrico County that are currently enrolled in an AP class.

Graph 2, Regional Share of Students Enrolled in One or More AP Course by Race, 2013

In Henrico County, 60% of students who take AP classes are White students, and only 20% are black.

Among the counties that were examined for this study, 40% of students that took AP classes were from Henrico County, which was almost half of the total. This means that among that 40%, only 20% of the students were Black, making the proportion of Black students able to take AP classes even smaller. Further research from the Virginia Department of Education, could reveal the lower scores in SOLs (the standardized testing of Virginia) and lower enrollment of SATs, but they all show similar findings as the one above. The finding that Black students face less opportunities academically because the schools they go to are directly correlated with their low income neighborhood, since it is these neighborhoods that finance the schools.

Conclusion

Why does it all matter? Education is the key to breaking out of poverty. It serves as the bridge between opportunity and success. Without education and these opportunities, these low income black students will be stuck in the cycle of poverty generation after generation. The systemic injustice will never crack. Changing these school systems to be funded not based on the neighborhoods the school is around would be a good first step towards changing the system. Providing more academic opportunities to low income students and their families would be another great step along the path.

Graph 3, Regional share of students enrolled in one or more AP courses

Brown v. The Board of Education was 68 years ago, but without these fundamental changes, Henrico County will forever remain segregated.