White supremacy in liberal Seattle? "It's baked into the design of the city."

[cemaphonic]

15. I think the idea is more the gulf between its history and progressive image.

There have been a few threads here over the years showing Google Map overlays on racial demographic distribution in American cities. Seattle is definitely more integrated than most large American cities, but still a long way from ideal, and there are some racial fault lines running through the city (like the ship canal mentioned elsewhere in this thread).

The other complicating matter is that discussions of racial politics usually involve white and black (and sometimes Hispanic) populations, but the Seattle metro area has about twice as many Asians as blacks (~15% vs 6%), so while Seattle is more integrated than Baltimore or Detroit, blacks are a small political block, and a lot of their concerns don't get much recognition from the city government.