Why are ethnicities in the US so segregated?

[qworldorder]

Originally Posted by march2

It's not weird at all. Society and political correctness has done a great job at making people feel that if there isn't a given percentage of different races in your friend set, it's somehow "racist". That's ridiculous! It's perfectly natural for anyone to be drawn to others like themselves, weather it's age groups, common interests, etc., and, yes, race. What makes it true racism is if you're specifically self-segregating in order to avoid people of other races. ANY race can be guilty of this. I was raised in a fairly evenly mixed white/black neighborhood in suburban Charlotte in the 1970's. It had nothing to do with race. It was "integrated" by the fact that it was just a lower-middle class/working class neighborhood where race was never an issue or brought up. We were just people; period! We got along wonderfully, probably better than most other areas of the U.S. The first friend I ever spent the night with was a black kid (I'm white). The church my family and I attend now is about 60% black, 30% white, 10% other. Not by mandate, not by design, but by choice. We saw growing up the stereotypes on TV and movies about "the South" and we (black and white) would chuckle and joke about how so many outside of the South had so much wrong about us, yet thought they were so wise. What Morgan Freeman said is 100% true; "How do we stop racism? Stop talking about it". What I find so "weird" is today's obsession with race, to the point that the obsession itself creates racial strife that wouldn't exist if we'd just calm down and be color blind like we claim we want to be. Looking for phantoms behind every corner. Are there problems? Yep. There are many problems in our society, race being one of the many. And racism is colorblind as well. The responsibility doesn't just fall on one group. THAT is the biggest lesson we can all learn. I've watched this play out in my 50 years of life and it works every time. I was listening to NPR yesterday and a guy was talking about how he lives in Vermont and how "white" it is there. He spoke of how he goes out of his way to talk to black people, open doors for them, etc. so they won't think (as he said) "all white people are racist". WOW! That's just nuts to me. The "obsession". That pretty much summed up my point. I open the door for anyone, any lady, talk to any person, without regard of their race. MLK asked us to judge on the content of character, NOT race. But today's society has that backwards. THAT'S why there are many of the issues we have now; not a given number of friends who have a different skin color. If we have our hearts and minds where they should be, our friend sets will follow. Nevertheless, an interesting thread!

While I agree with much of what you said, I don't particularly agree with the bolded. For one, it's unrealistic to think that human nature won't ever notice differences in race--that's just how we're wired. And that's natural. And two, I don't think sweeping racial problems under the rug by not talking about them will solve the problem, or by pretending to be "colorblind". That's the exact recipe for maintaining inequitable, racist systems. Having open, honest dialogue about the problem is the way to go, and I'm proud of how Old Navy/Twitter handled the whole interracial ad "fiasco", to give a recent example.

Now, I'll give you that often groups, both progressive and conservative, can get far too carried away over trivial matters, and find the "racism" in anything. But feigning ignorance that there aren't racial disparities between groups, whether biological, cultural or socioeconomic is not the way to go, either. Better to err on the side of sensitivity, even if sometimes it gets ridiculous, than to completely not care.

And I don't think the responsibility for ending racism and racial disparities due to racism falls on just one group, but I also feel that the onus IS on the group with the "best seat" (whites) to pick up the larger slack. Minorities have to do their share too, of course, and we are, but when whites are the advantaged group in this country, it's quite disingenuous to expect them not to have more responsibility than other groups to end racism when their historical (Jim Crow, redlining, immigration policies, internment, etc.) and present-day racism (whitewashing movies, employment discrimination, police profiling, etc.) is the reason for many minorities to be disadvantaged in the first place. I'm not advocating for "white saviors", but I do think they have a larger share of responsibility to end racial injustice--unless all the talk about equality and equal opportunity is just empty platitudes.

[OldDocKat]

It is more segregated in Northern states than here in the South. This is mainly because, in past tomes, few blacks lived in the North. Secondly, the blacks who moved north were different based on their decision to move north in the first place.

[Innotech]

There are probably a lot more actual minorities in the US than other places. Greater diversity overall.
When there is diversity in Europe it still separates out but people are more grouped together so the effect is less. They still want to be with their own. Thats not something unique to americans.

[England Dan]

I think it could be a British Isles mentality is very tribal and does not trust outsiders ( though Britain is a set of tribes within a tribe now, lol). Obviously, where there has been great British migration, especially in the South ( USA) and Australia, which I think has still a matey, alcoholic, sport obsessed culture and is at odds especially with Asian cultures ( which like obediancy and other timid persuits). Unless you are are Anglo-Celtic it is hard to answer

[Gaylord_Focker]

I just ate at a predominantly black restaurant. Felt pretty out of place and the culture was a lot more abrupt.

[Slam4444]

You realize that in a lot of areas of the country, minorities weren't allowed to live in white neighborhoods. That recent past affects segregation to this day. Look at Chicago, where I am from. Minorities, especially black people, were redlined into the bad neighborhoods. Bad neighborhoods = low property taxes = bad schools. It's hard to get a great education, get a great job, build generational wealth and move out to a better area. Meanwhile, white families were given financial incentive and help to get home loans, go to school, build their wealth and pass it down. It's ignorant that you assume because minorities live together that we are racist. Huh?

[jas75]

It depends on the specific area, but in general the South and West are less segregated strictly along racial and ethnic lines than is true of the Northeast and Midwest regions. Part of the reason is that the South and West tend to have higher residential mobility and a larger share of transplants. When people move around less, highly segregated residential patterns that developed decades ago will be slower to break down.

Different neighborhoods within a metropolitan area or city also will have widely disparate economic levels and property values. Given that some racial and ethnic groups have higher incomes and net worth than others, this will influence who has the means to live in specific communities. Aside from economics, many people also gravitate towards areas where they feel they fit in best, and sometimes this is based on their ethnic and racial background. But there are a lot more places in America these days than ever before where there isn't one homogeneous demographic that dominates the area. The perspective of black/white segregation is going to be quite different in suburban Las Vegas, for example, than in the big cities on the Great Lakes.

[Iconographer]

Origin of the term ghetto:

"The term was originally used in Venice to describe the part of the city to which Jews were restricted and segregated."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto

To label this as some sort of American phenomenon is absurd.