What I noticed about diversity

[Thank You]

I'm thrilled to have found this thread. Thanks for all of your comments. I'm in the process of convincing my husband we should move to the Roswell/Norcross area. He's worried about the self segregation and it's effects on our young daughters. We're from the SF Bay Area and live in a very diverse community, but as I've reminded him, people self segregate here too. Here's what I need to know- are there racially diverse play groups in the Roswell/Norcross area? How are neighborhoods responding to racial diversity there? And, How diverse is the Software Industry there?

[trivfun]

Most people feel that they can be prejudiced towards anybody as long as they aren't anti-semitic. When you ask them that question; they shut up real quick.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Grblpwr

I hear you. It's not just my mother being stereotyped, it is also that I saw so many of my black friends made fun of and labled "Oreo" just because they sought to better themselves. Why should anyone be made to feel inferior just because they want to be the best person they can? My best friend in high school was one of the nicest, sweetest, funniest people you could ever hope to meet and she graduated third in our class and it hurt her deeply that the only black kids that didn't taunt her were themselves considered "Oreos" (god I hate that term). Not everyone in GA follows the stereotypes, but it is getting harder to find those that don't.

It is getting harder to find those persons who don't believe all of the stereotypes. Also, what I have noticed going to college is that many people will hide the fact that they think this way because in college one is expected to be the "academian" and tolerant. I have been labeled "carlton", even in college. Personally, my theory of why it happens in college has more to do with expectations being dashed away and not knowing how to deal with someone who doesn't fit the stereotype. It is quite sad. There are many people out there who make claims that because a child is "black" or "white", he or she is suppose to act a certain way and sadly, many children pick up on these subversive cues.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by JLA

I just witnessed my two daughters who have brown skin and there friends leaving the house for a bible study at another friends house. The two teenage girls that left with them, well one is Caucasian and the other one is Hispanic. The all will be meeting with some other friends, two other males, one brown skinned (African American) and the other Caucasian. We reared them to love all people for who they are not for what they would like them to be. A while ago I picked up one of my daughters iPod and the music content was, are you ready for this, the poor teenager must be mixed up, because here music sure is, Soul, R&B, Country, Easy Rock, Latin, Classical, Contemporary Christian, Gospel and Country Gospel. My children and the ones with here are not the exception to the rule, but this the new rule. I see adults and children alike of all races befriending one another and may I say falling in love and marrying one another. This crazy town has a large population of mixed couples and they are in all the economic classes (they will not all show up in the statistics, they prefer not to be counted, it's sort of like the population of this city; I would say that there has to me more than 200,000 people living here, but who wants to be counted). Are there people here who do not like it, I'm certain there are, this is America for crying out loud, but things are changing. By the way, this mixed up town is none other than Columbus, GA and it's deep in the Heart of Dixie. Is there segregation here you had better believe it. Is it worse than other places I have been such as Rochester, NY; Phoenix, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; Denver, CO; San Diego, CA or El Paso, TX, no. I seen segregation in all of the before mentioned cities, Caucasian in one part of town, African Americans in another and Hispanics in another. The difference between us (South East) and the rest, we take the guess work out. You know if we like you or not. Therefore, I would prefer to know if a racist does not like me and he/she tells me so, than to have one who pretends to like me, but spends every waking moment trying to figure out how to hurt me, my family or friends. That's just my view of the who mess called racism.

What I have noticed about diversity is that we can parade it all we want/ We can act as tolerant as possible, but unless we act with love towards one another, it won't matter. I don't know where exactly it came from, but it is in the Bible: You can have faith to move mountains, but without love everything will fall. That is the problem with our society. We are so busy trying to "tolerate" our neighbors that we forget how to "love" our neighbor.