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I know lots of white people like this, who say things like, 'I wish [our town] was more like San Francisco. It's such a diverse city!'
I then remind them that they (willingly) live in the whitest area of town, which usually shuts them up pretty quickly.
It shouldn't, unless you're dealing with people who engage in enforcing the idea of a singular society as promoted by segregationists. I live in a diverse neighborhood but it isn't be design. It simply happens to be one. I would be just fine if it weren't diverse... I didn't choose the neighborhood on that premise.
Which tells you just how segregated US cities are.
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Originally Posted by dechatelet
I've thought about this as well.
The white people I know who are the most politically correct, liberal, and supportive of racial diversity somehow manage to live in the least racially diverse, whitest areas.
One lives in Santa Barbara, a wealthy, isolated enclave on the coast of Southern California.
Another lives in San Francisco, which likes to think of itself as diverse but is really only so in a patchwork quilt sort of way (I know; I lived there.) The different races and other groups don't mix together much (unlike "conservative" San Diego, where they do.)
Another friend has lived in Boulder, CO, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and now Denmark. He's not exactly surrounded by people of color.
In the meantime, I hear that the most rabidly liberal parts of the U.S. that buy into diversity are the least diverse and whitest: Oregon, Washington, Vermont. Santa Cruz, California. Marin County, California. Berkeley, California (divided between the white hills and the non-white flats, like the rest of the East Bay.)
Also, take a look at Hollywood. Liberal, politically correct, and segregated like the rest of LA.
It all reminds me of when my dog is in the car and he barks at other dogs as I pass them by at 30 miles an hour.
So what conservative places contrast by being more diverse? Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA, one of the most segregated metros in the country? Bismarck, ND--number 355 out of 366?
Segregation in the United States is not different between liberals and conservatives. It is an American problem. Incidentally, San Francisco is only 49% white, so if you are not "surrounded by people of color" in SF, then I hesitate to ask what to make of Des Moines or Tallahassee.
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Originally Posted by fat lou
But if they live in lily-white towns they aren't "embracing diversity," are they?
This is a question that I've wondered about myself. Why would people who live in lily-white neighborhoods claim that racial diversity is so great when they obviously don't think that it is? It would be like some guy who weighs 300 pounds telling anyone who would listen how great jogging is, and how much he loves to get out on the road and run five miles. Any fool can see that he doesn't. I mean, what's the point?
What if the 300 pound guy is right about how great jogging is. And he doesn't run. Isn't the first more important to the broader populace than the second.
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Originally Posted by Mason3000
Yeah, lot's of White Liberals living on the South side of Chicago or the Bronx . Typical nonsense. Live in the hip, trendy, expensive neighborhood and avoid the "diverse" neighborhood, the claim your CITY is diverse, lol. Same with schools. Send your kids to an inner-city public school so you can brag about the diversity, then get them into the lily-White AP and IB programs so they don't have to actually interact with the peasants.
Gentrification is a result of market forces. In the United States, it starts with (typically) working class neighborhoods populated by people of color. Young working class white people (not exclusively white, but predominantly so) and new grads move in, seeking the comparatively low rents while staying in the urban center. They are followed by a few hip restaurants, shops, and cafes, which in turn attract more prosperous and established professionals. The result is a largely white, upper class neighborhood with high rents.
The process is not shaped by liberal politics or conservative politics, but by the market and American history.
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Originally Posted by fat lou
Here's a news flash: cities are racially segregated by neighborhood. How many black people live in Greenwich Village or Brooklyn Heights? How many white people live in East New York or Mott Haven? The answer to both of those questions is: almost none.
You have to wonder where all of these people live that they believe is not segregated.
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Originally Posted by fat lou
Huh? I thought we were talking about racial diversity? The upper-crust white liberals who live in big cities usually don't live in diverse neighborhoods. The only ones who do are gentrifiers, and the end goal of gentrification is to price the "diversity" out of the neighborhood.
Gentrification itself does not have a goal. It is a process that results from market forces. Those same forces result in increased rents that the old working-class (more diverse) residents cannot afford. It's not just white liberals, but also conservatives who live in gentrified neighborhoods.
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Originally Posted by PuddingPops
I know lots of white people like this, who say things like, 'I wish [our town] was more like San Francisco. It's such a diverse city!'
I then remind them that they (willingly) live in the whitest area of town, which usually shuts them up pretty quickly.
San Francisco, too, is segregated by neighborhood.
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Originally Posted by EinsteinsGhost
It shouldn't, unless you're dealing with people who engage in enforcing the idea of a singular society as promoted by segregationists. I live in a diverse neighborhood but it isn't be design. It simply happens to be one. I would be just fine if it weren't diverse... I didn't choose the neighborhood on that premise.
And I'm guessing that some of your reasons for choosing your neighborhood were location and price. And when enough people make the same choice, perhaps your neighborhood, too, will gentrify. You yourself may be priced out in the process.
I'm wealthier than many of my liberal friends, we were all born and raised in a middle class town on LI. Since they aquired their wealth, they have moved to the most "educated,artsy" community that they could which is predominetly white and Asian. Meanwhile I still live in the same town that I grew up in which has gone somewhat down hill because of diversity. I'll be moving soon because its getting bad, but i noticed my liberal friends high-tailed out of here as soon as they could and very rarely came back. Yet everytime we get together they always bring up diversity, and all the cultural things they do such as Shakespeare in the Park and museums. Why is that?
Because their mantra is "Do as I say, not as I do".
Just look at how liberals treat "diversity" when it's a Conservative.
Black and Hispanic Conservatives are treated in the most racist and bigoted way by liberals and much of the liberal press.
Just look at how liberals treat "diversity" when it's a Conservative.
Black and Hispanic Conservatives are treated in the most racist and bigoted way by liberals and much of the liberal press.
Because they're conservatives. Conservatives usually deserve disdain no matter what color they are.
I'm wealthier than many of my liberal friends, we were all born and raised in a middle class town on LI. Since they aquired their wealth, they have moved to the most "educated,artsy" community that they could which is predominetly white and Asian. Meanwhile I still live in the same town that I grew up in which has gone somewhat down hill because of diversity. I'll be moving soon because its getting bad, but i noticed my liberal friends high-tailed out of here as soon as they could and very rarely came back. Yet everytime we get together they always bring up diversity, and all the cultural things they do such as Shakespeare in the Park and museums. Why is that?
It's a legit question, although many conservatives do the same thing.
In my opinion most people want similar things -- safety, stable property values, convenience, reasonably good schools, grocery stores, etc. That's true for rich and poor, black and white, young, old, conservative or liberal.
So there's a strong tendency to gravitate to places where those things exist (or can be created). In the past that usually meant the suburbs or a few high end enclaves in the city.
Nowadays things are much more diverse everywhere. A lot of the crime and poverty has moved to the burbs, and in many cases suburban schools have gone downhill. For some people, living intown is now an equally good option.
Of the folks I've known who have intentionally moved into more challenging neighborhoods, most were youngish and on the liberal end of the spectrum. The election results I've seen bear that out. However, that's anecdotal experience -- I don't know of any major studies on the subject.
I'm wealthier than many of my liberal friends, we were all born and raised in a middle class town on LI. Since they aquired their wealth, they have moved to the most "educated,artsy" community that they could which is predominetly white and Asian. Meanwhile I still live in the same town that I grew up in which has gone somewhat down hill because of diversity. I'll be moving soon because its getting bad, but i noticed my liberal friends high-tailed out of here as soon as they could and very rarely came back. Yet everytime we get together they always bring up diversity, and all the cultural things they do such as Shakespeare in the Park and museums. Why is that?
I am politically agnostic.
I was born in Evanston, Il and lived in Montclair NJ. Both have very diverse populations, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and economic and both trend solid Democrat. There's tremendous wealth and poverty in both places that does not necessarily follow stereotypical patterns. The "millionaire next door" is just as likely to be black, white, Asian, or gay regardless of race.
LI is another world and my exposure led me to the conclusion that it generally trends substantially segregated, race, religion and ethnic background. It may very well be one of the most segregated areas of the US.
Everyone knows which towns the Jews, Italians, Paki's, Irish, Russians and so forth, live. Seems to me that LI has followed migration patterns of historically segregated neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn.
This is just one outsider's take on LI. Opinions vary.
( PS- Just realized this is a 4 year old thread. )
In my neighborhood racial diversity is decreasing as the neighborhood is becoming predominately hispanic.
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. Typical nonsense. Live in the hip, trendy, expensive neighborhood and avoid the "diverse" neighborhood, the claim your CITY is diverse, lol. Same with schools. Send your kids to an inner-city public school so you can brag about the diversity, then get them into the lily-White AP and IB programs so they don't have to actually interact with the peasants.
