Many of the major demographics and statistics needed to undertake a comparison such as this are present. The most basic difference is in the racial composition of the residence, North Lawndale is 96 percent African-American, while Little Village is 85 percent Latino. Other possible contributing factors to high heat mortality such as population aged 65 and older, number of those living alone, seniors living in poverty, and overall poverty were all somewhat controlled because of the similar data in regards to each. So why then in predominantly African-American North Lawndale were residences ten times more likely to die than those in the primarily Latino Little Village? Many have listed the ethno racial composition of each group, but none of this has been confirmed with scientific research. The answer then lies, according to Klinenberg, in the social environments of each community.
North Lawndale, which once was home to many thriving businesses and families alike, is the site of one of the most rapid and complete ethno racial transitions in U.S. urban history. In the decade between 1950 and 1960 it went from being 87 percent white to becoming 91 percent black. Although the composition of the people changed in this period, many of the jobs remained through the turn of the decade until the major employers such as Sears, Roebuck and Co., Western Electric Company, and International Harvester began systematically closing their doors. By 1970, 75 percent of the businesses that flourished during the middle part of the century were gone. Riots during the late 1960's further deteriorated the landscape. .
Today North Lawndale is a neighborhood full of vacant lots of tall grass and debris, boarded up businesses, and a plethora of drug dealers, gangs, and violent crime. Many of the people that live there are those that have aged in place, continuing to live in their homes and neighborhoods while their friends and family have either passed on or moved away.
