I can assure you that it was coincidental, and the pattern started before the radiation was discovered.
One of the things that I strongly dislike about my home town is the strong racial segregation. Growing up I can remember the neighbors watching carefully to see who visited homes that were for sale in the neighborhood. If a black family toured the house they would talk openly about how they hoped someone else bought the house because they would be forced to flee if the neighborhood started “turning”.
Remember that Hazelwood is only about five miles from Ferguson Missouri. In 1970 Ferguson was 1% black, In 1980 it was 14% black, 25% in 1990, and became majority-black in the 2000 census. Hazelwood has similarly shifted, but it happened years later. Hazelwood was majority white until 2020.
This is an interesting read… and by interesting I mean depressing, and it makes me very happy that I moved to the west coast in the late 80s. The story of segregation in St. Louis
