In Chicago, in the 60s, the gangs moved into the White Repub. Conservative working class neighborhoods and forced them to move to the suburbs. The whites didn't want to leave, but they were forced into it. Living in the burbs was a hassle. They had to pay more for housing and had to drive further to get to work and a lot of the burbs didn't really have any amenities yet, like parks & libraries, etc.
The Whites really resented having been forced out of the City neighborhoods that they and their parents had grown up in.
Then the history books started calling it "White Flight" and said that the whites were prejudice and moved to the burbs because they didn't want to live with the Blacks. That's a lie, it was the gangs that forced them out. It was really "White Fright" not "White Flight"