A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims that animals are fleeing black neighborhoods in favor of predominantly white neighborhoods. The reason? Systemic racism.

Authors of the study Chloé Schmidt and Colin J. Garroway from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg write,

Systemic racism alters the demography of urban wildlife populations in ways that generally limit population sizes and negatively affect their chances of persistence.

The study goes on to explain exactly how racism contributes to the decrease in wildlife diversity:

By actively choosing to develop certain areas, forcing minorities to live in undesirable areas, preferentially investing in greening majority White neighborhoods, or placing industrial facilities near communities of color, systemic racism contributes to the structure of the urban landscape, which in turn shapes wildlife demography in cities.

Ah yes, the hood is getting passed over because developers hate black people, not because the lawless behavior that's prevalent in such areas makes investments in those areas unsound.

(These are the same type of people that tell you that hard work, discipline, and belief in objective truth is "white supremacy.")

Essentially, they claim that urban development, redlining, and systemic racism causes animals to move on to greener pastures rather than remain in an urban wasteland.

And who can blame them?

But then the animals themselves compound the racism by moving away (stupid racist animals!), causing urban communities to become more depressed and unhealthy because they live in said urban wasteland.

These results are concerning because urban biodiversity is important for human mental and physical well-being, and disparities in access to nature build on existing health-related environmental disamenities in predominantly non-White neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, it's much harder for people to move out of decaying urban war zones than it is for squirrels and raccoons to migrate.