Divided over diversity: Political discourse in a Chicago neighborhood

In a Chicago neighborhood made up of different racial and economic groups, nearly everyone claims to value diversity. Yet, this powerful and plastic symbol can influence political activity in opposite directions. An ethnographic study of the neighborhood shows how three different groups—white real estate professionals and politicians, white progressive organizers, and black low-income housing advocates—deploy di-versity. It presents three key findings: (1) mixed-income housing often becomes a proxy for diversity; (2) the diversity concept can support progressive politics while downplaying certain racial and class disparities; and (3) a focus on neighborhood diversity can obscure issues that poor people care about, including tenants rights. By providing a microlevel perspective on diversity discourse, these findings demon-strate how a shared symbol can both illuminate and veil fundamental disagreements over race, class, inequality, and gentrification in cities today. Rogers Park is a racially and economically mixed neighborhood in Chicago where dis-course about diversity is ubiquitous. Nearly everyone involved in politics endorses this colorful and slippery concept, as the following excerpts illustrate