Earlier today, I heard an interview on NPR with Rob McCord, a Philadelphia resident who wrote an op/ed in today's Inquirer about integration. The thesis of the interview was that American's have self-segregated and that we now largely stick to our own ethnic groups. McCord wrote the opinion piece to encourage white (all?) Americans to conciously integrate their lives and activities in 2007.
My initial repsonse was that McCord is probably right and we are self-segregating ourselves. But then I began thinking about my own experience. And it just doesn't hold true.
When we moved to Colorado, one of my concerns was that our upper-middle class neighborhood would end up being as white as the snow that now covers our yards. Instead, our neighborhood, with Asian Americans, African Americans and Middle Eastern Americans is so diverse that even the white guy across the street is named Miguel.
I agree with McCord's conclusion that we all need to do more to expose ourselves to different cultures, ideas and ethnic experiences. But since sixth grade, my world has consistently, slowly become more and more integrated.
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Interesting thoughts. I can easily tell you the areas of Dallas that are predominantly Hispanic, black, white and even Asian. But if we truly live in a free society, is it a bad thing to "self-segregate" into groups that are culturally like yourself?
ReplyDeleteI think that drifting into communities is human nature. We can honor and celebrate our differences...and share new cultures, viewpoints and lifesytles...without "conciously integrating our lives and activities" in a way that oversteps our own comfort zone AND, more importantly, the comfort zone of others. For example, my friend Alisha (who identifies herself as African American) blends seamlessly ("integrates") into our work team, but it would diminish her experience and mine if I were to join her at a club that is frequented by mostly African-Americans. I respect her culture enough to NOT invade it.
Good topic.