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Originally Posted by Hoosier
It's 2008 and we're still in an age of segregated residential neighborhoods and school districts. While segregation has been against the law for about 40 years or so, it's a home-grown attitude that many white and black people still deal with on a daily basis.
I read in the National Fair Housing Alliance 2006, Fair Housing Trends Report that through investigations numerous realtors throughout the country have been guilty of "steering" home buyers depending on their race. When buying a home my realtor would not tell me anything and I had to come up with the information. It irritated me since I wanted to be in a safe neighborhood with excellent schools. I was fully unaware of the problem at hand. The problem of residential and school racism. I'm a white early 40s male with elementary age kids. Strong academic programs and safety rank at the top of my list when considering where to reside. I did not realize that I was integrated into a segregated mindset.
In my suburb of Minneapolis we have a few black people living there. They definitely stand out in the mix of all us white people. I remember actually being surprised when a black family moved into the neighborhood. Sadly, at that time I was completely guilty of wondering about the home values in the area. Looking back now, that is a pathetic thought that I'm fully ashamed to even admit.
A professor in my grad level class made reference to taking his children to a barber when they were younger. He is black and his wife is white. The kids have a white person's textured hair...so he took them to a white barber. Upon completeing their haircuts the barber walked over to a closet, opened the door so my professor could see. The closet was filled with Nazi paraphernalia. The barber looked at him, pointed to the closet and left it at that. My prof. got the message, paid for the haircuts and never went back. My understanding is that this happened in the 1990s.
My question. Why do we, both black, white and other races choose to segregate ourselves from one another. Is it out of fear? Yes, we are different, but how much are we losing in life by not learning from one another?
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Sometimes, people are just too lazy to make the effort to get to know another culture intimately. The movie, Remember the Titans, is such an example. You have to make yourself vulnerable, you might get laughed at if you ask questions. But if you are respectful and transparently honest, people can't resist but show you around. I have literally said to a black person: "I am an idiot and I need your help. I don't know anything about this---(fill in the blank) Can you help me?" Boy, I got the royal treatment! We went from being complete strangers, to them never forgetting to greet me whenever they passed by. Soon after that, the whole family and friends were familiar with me. Their networking skills are incredible. Hope you found this helpful