09:48 AM CDT on Thursday, June 30, 2005

We just wrapped up a four-day newspaper series that showed how the Dallas-Fort Worth area is becoming a destination for affluent African-Americans.

I'll explain why I was pleased to be a part of that effort shortly and discuss why our paper is not done reporting on this trend.

The reactions from readers ranged from "wow" to "whoa."

Wow, some readers said, we had no idea that so many affluent African-Americans lived in the area. Indeed, our analysis found that the number of black households earning at least $100,000 tripled during the 1990s, thrusting D-FW into sixth place in the nation.

That's an impressive statistic that bears repeating: In 1989, our region had roughly 5,300 black households earning $75,000 or more. A decade later, the area had more than 16,000 households making at least $100,000. (Adjusted for inflation, $75,000 in 1990 had the same buying power as $100,000 in 2000.)

A few readers waved a yellow flag. Whoa. Aren't you afraid that readers will get the impression that black people overall are doing much better than they really are?

That's a good point, one that we addressed in our series by focusing on the big gap that still exists between the haves and the have-nots. There still are far too many black households in our region (38 percent) and across the nation (43 percent) that are earning less than $25,000.

Here's the bottom line: We in the media often focus on just one end of the spectrum – inner-city families, schools and neighborhoods struggling to survive and succeed.

We seldom note the progress that black families are making, and that paints a distorted picture of the black experience in America. Remember all the fuss the Bill Cosby show caused in the '80s? Some people said the show wasn't realistic because it presented a stable black household with two professionals – a doctor and a lawyer.

America wasn't used to that, and many of the skeptics were disbelieving black folks.

Well, as our series points out, there are plenty of affluent, professional households around the nation and, increasingly, those families are settling into larger cities in the South, places like Orlando, Atlanta, Memphis, Houston and Dallas.

There are lessons to be gleaned from these families, most of which are highly educated and own their own homes. They shouldn't be dismissed or marginalized in our coverage of the black community.

Our challenge now is to better monitor how the changing demographics are transforming schools, neighborhoods, churches and businesses. We must examine the community from different angles and stop looking at it through the same old lens.

"As an African-American," one woman wrote me, "it is nice to see positive stories of those that look like me make it into the DMN. Oftentimes, we see the stories about crime, corruption and infighting. It is just so refreshing to see success in black and white."

That was a common refrain in the dozens of phone calls, e-mails and letters my colleagues and I received. The series also generated some instructive feedback, such as the phone call I got from Angela Jones, a reader in Southlake.

Ms. Jones told me how affluent African-Americans in the suburbs are finding ways to establish themselves and stay connected with each other.

My colleague in northeast Tarrant County, Kathy A. Goolsby, immediately got in touch with Ms. Jones and filed an insightful report.

Thanks to all of you who took time to read and respond to our series, "Black Professionals: A New Face of Affluence."

We hope it afforded you new insights and a different perspective.

E-mail jragland@dallasnews.com