The Difference between Separation and Inequality...or Is There One?

A point that came up in my final essay that I'm still struggling with is the difference between racial separation and racial inequality, and if there even can be a fair difference. It came up in my paper because I referenced a statistic that showed the clear differences in conditions which African Americans and whites live in in the city of Memphis. The statistic pointed to how in every department essentially (education, housing, employment, etc.), blacks populated areas with worse conditions and lesser opportunities, ultimately showing the ongoing civil rights struggle happening in Memphis in 2014.

With that being said, I thought about the main differences that make Memphis an interesting place to study regarding civil rights issues today. It is no secret that a majority of the population in the city of Memphis is African American dominant, and the poorest neighborhoods and communities in the city are dominated by African Americans. Because of this layout of the city, pockets of Memphis are pretty clearly divided by race and socioeconomic status. Memphis then, is a clear instance of how separation between blacks and whites and inequality essentially mean the same thing.

While Memphis is an extreme example, there is still cities, however, where African American and white citizens are not as economically separate but still remain separate in the neighborhoods they live in and social circles they are involved with. Is this a choice? Or just a result of the disparities from history that carried over into the present and haven't been repaired yet? I think this is an interesting dynamic in American cities that I would like to explore more in the future.