In Liberal Cambridge, Residents Tout Diversity but 'Don't Live It'

CAMBRIDGE - In West Cambridge, new questions are being raised about flight of African-Americans from their once black working-class neighborhood.

Near Harvard Square, a preacher embarrassed by the lack of racial diversity in his church is launching a campaign to fill the pews with blacks and Hispanics.

At a community forum tomorrow, scholars, activists, and lawmakers will be meeting to examine issues about race and policing.

Across this city - which stood apart while racial strife roiled Boston in the ’70s and long held itself up as a model of diversity and tolerance - residents shaken by the national uproar over the arrest of a black scholar nearly seven months ago are confronting what some say is a hard truth: Cambridge has slipped on race. And from barber shop gatherings to neighborhood meetings and government forums, people are searching for ways to restore the city to its ideal.

“These things are happening all over the country,’’ said Kathy Reddick, who heads the city’s NAACP branch and says African-Americans are lagging in city schools, outnumbered in government, and being priced out of their homes.

“But people don’t expect this from Cambridge. They say we are the People’s Republic of Cambridge. We tout diversity. But we don’t live it.’’