From one of my favorite bus drivers, as we discussed prices of property in the area:

“Block-busting was a term people used years ago for the phenomenon that took place when a black family moved into a white neighborhood, and the other whites in the neighborhood decided to move away and more blacks moved in.”

(At that point in America’s history, he explained, this led to the perception that the neighborhood had “deteriorated” and caused the prices of the houses in the neighborhood or “block” to crash, or go bust. Nowadays, he says, this happens very rarely, if at all.)

Posted under Navel-Gazing