Its sucks being a college educated BLK male in Chicago. (Oak Park: transplants, transfer)

[WhyLiveInTheMiddle]

@ OP

Have you checked out other cities like LA & NYC? It maybe more to your liking. Nothing wrong with Chicago, but for a city that claims to be a 'world' city it lacks in diversity.

[sydbarrett]

Originally Posted by WhyLiveInTheMiddle

Nothing wrong with Chicago, but for a city that claims to be a 'world' city it lacks in diversity.

Clearly you have never been to Chicago.

[skorch101]

Originally Posted by ptug101

I think you will see crime eventually,but yeah hyde park is a bright spot
but its mostly urbans blks and very liberal whites.

Not sure which Hyde Park you are in, but it isn't the same one I live in!

[skorch101]

Originally Posted by sydbarrett

Clearly you have never been to Chicago.

Agree 100% - this person must have never set foot in Chicago!

[Jax419]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

Chicagos the opposite, you will NEVER hear someway say something that is openly racist.

Guess what's not true...

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by Aleking

There are countless reasons, not all nerfarious, why people prefer to hang out and surround themselves in homogenous communities.

What is your theory on why Chicagoans are opposed to diversity in a way residents of other major American cities are not?

My (erroneous) assumption was that in a city with so many types of people, you'd be able to go somewhere and see them all together in the same place. I ask what your theory is not to be snide, but because I am honestly curious about your thoughts. My long-held assumption was that a city's diversity = integration. I haven't seen the entire country, but I've seen a lot of it, towns big and small, and in my admittedly limited experiences, cities with a lot of diversity tend to have a lot of diverse neighborhoods. Here, this is not the case. You're not just going to go out and encounter a group of people whose members represent more than the tiniest demographic.

One might argue that people aren't comfortable around people who are "different" which is why I can understand segregation in Worley, Idaho. But here? There are enough "different" people around that you should be used to it, and realize that "others" are just like you. What's the problem?

I understand that Chicago has a long history of racial tension, but please tell me that is not still lingering even now. I mean, come on, this isn't Birmingham and it isn't 1961. Please tell me there's a better reason.

[tb4000]

Chicago is diverse, but a massive chunk of its populous tends to commute from outside the major city area. When you're in the Loop, you see more interracial friendships and romances prancing around like nobody's business. When it's time to go home though, sometimes we go our separate ways.

[ptug101]

Originally Posted by tb4000

Chicago is diverse, but a massive chunk of its populous tends to commute from outside the major city area. When you're in the Loop, you see more interracial friendships and romances prancing around like nobody's business. When it's time to go home though, sometimes we go our separate ways.

do you see white people and Black people actually hanging out with
one of other, or do you just see white and blk ppl occupying the same space but in segregated groups. what part of the loop is this.

[tb4000]

Originally Posted by ptug101

do you see white people and Black people actually hanging out with
one of other, or do you just see white and blk ppl occupying the same space but in segregated groups. what part of the loop is this.

I see white and black people hanging out all the time. They may mostly be the younger set though, like teens or twenties, before they get all jaded about it.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by Jax419

Guess what's not true...

I was referring to more to relative to other parts of the country such the south (and here I'm referring more to urban areas in the south, or even southern influenced cities that are NOT southern IE: Cincinnati).

In big cities like Chicago (or fill in the lake) that have been big and diverse for a long time, the overall personality is one where people are more likely to be blunt, direct, even in your face, but when it comes to race issues, people use code words. (such as: section 8, welfare mothers, illegals, etc.) because they have to because they know how to comment on other demographic groups, that they may have issue with.

In less smaller, less cosmopolitan cities, or cities that have only recently in history become major players, you still have people that are still brought up in a less urban mindset, where people come across as less direct, more nice, friendly, or at worse passive-agressive, but since they have not been around as much diversit until recently, they are still used to using very direct language about people that are different from them, because there were less social ramifications.

This could describe the difference between Chicago and say Atlanta.

One city has become the mecca of black professionals, where they have a strong presence in most upscale areas of that metro, even if you have a few hillbilly old timers living in some old working class enclave where they may not see anything wrong with using the "N" word.

Versus: the other city, where most natives have lived in that urban area for at least a couple generations, and have been exposed to: Polish, Jewish, Greek, Italian, Black, Mexican, Irish, and other hyphenated Americans for a couple generations where they may have developed views of all of them, but cover it up, because they have lived in that urban environment where it is majorly looked down upon, and can even get them in trouble. So, they use code words at backyard barbecues. And there is a noticeable lack of black people in most of the upscale neighborhoods and suburbs.