The Nation: Luring Blacks, Keeping Whites

A tale of two suburbs: signs of failure and success

For many communities, racial integration is a worthy but difficult goal, a challenge to the foresightedness and ingenuity of their civic leaders. Rather than waiting for the courts to prescribe remedies for segregation, more predominantly white communities are trying to take the initiative and integrate themselves—with varying success. Two current and contrasting examples: Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, where an advertising campaign to promote voluntary integration shows all the signs of failure, and the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, where urban specialists gathered...