<p>Poetrgl–I get what you’re saying; I don’t entirely disagree. But making LF integrated is more of a factor of changing the economic demographics in the country. The housing prices aren’t going to go down to make the neighborhood more integrated.</p>
<p>I’m sure those LF tennis-players will all say the moved there for the schools. That’s what everyone here on CC says, right? And I’m not prepared to say they (in LF or here) are a bunch of racists. I’m sure some are. I’m sure some are badly clueless. Maybe some of the UMC folks here are, too, but I think most are sincere when they say, speaking of where they live, that it’s for the schools. I’m sure that UMC neighborhoods down South are also mostly white. that’s just how economics tend to work in the whole country.</p>
<p>But when a town has an integrated population, and chooses segregation, I think that’s qualitatively different.</p>
<p>Make no mistake–I don’t like economically segregated towns any more than racially so; I chose to live in neither. Which makes me an outlier in these parts.</p>
<p>In my lifetime, in Kenilworth, there were issues.</p>
<p>Look, I know what you mean by “qualitatively different.” But I am saying there is something really qualitatively unfortunate when people who have never even sat at a cafeteria table with a person of color are not racist.</p>
<p>This is very segregated. So, before we all go patting ourselves on the back, we need to look at our own lives.</p>
<p>It’s always great to look at some other place and see how much better we are doing, but I think it’s easy to be doing better when there is one african american kid in your school and his father is a professional basketball player. </p>
<p>Plus, just the labels. People don’t say “I’m an African Canadian.” They just say, “I’m Canadian.” “I’m an Asian Canadian.” No. Just “canadian.”</p>
<p>It’s a strange thing we have here imho.</p>
<p>I’m adding this link. You can pick a state and you can pick a town and you will see. In Winnetka, Illinois, it is 95% White and 3.3 % Asian. The math is not difficult. There are many towns like this in the north.</p>
<p>At my D and S’s über prep HS, our D’s group took pride in its great inclusiveness. It had one of the most racially and economically mixed groups of friends on campus. Many remain friends now, about 10 years since they met. There is a tremendous amount gained by young people having a diverse group of people they form friendships with and it helps them to recognize many of the commonalities we all share.</p>
<p>It is strange. Kenilworth isn’t on there, either. I was looking for it because it is 100% white, just cuz you know I love some good hyperbole. That is also true.</p>
<p>But, it’s kind of interesting to look at that census information and see where things are truly integrated and where they are not. It’s not always where you would think.</p>
<p>Well, maybe I live in never-never land. My H teaches at our very integrated HS, and says the cafeteria tables are mixed. that seemed to be the case when my kids went there, too, though that was a while ago. Like I said, we may be outliers. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, cluelessness is a problem, but deliberate racism still needs to be called out. Maybe both do.</p>
<p>Chicago is particularly bad for some reason. I just found out we are actually the most segregated city in the country and it’s been bugging me.</p>
<p>So, it’s kind of an “issue” in my head these days and I was looking at all of the places and I was kind of amazed by where most of the minorities live in the United States. For example, Massachusetts is the whitest state in the country. Over 80% white.</p>
<p>Well. at least in 2011 the “Top 5” most segregated large cities were #5 Chicago; #4Newark; #3 NYC, #2 Milwaukee and #1 Detroit. In these cities 70% of the citizens (or more) would have to relocate within the city to have it not segregated.</p>
<p>Racism and bigotry is wrong and should be dashed out wherever it exists. But to lump “the south” together with these types of stereotypes is wrong. I have lived in “the south” for 45 years now, and have not experienced these types of things. The school I went to and my kids go to is COMPLETELY integrated.</p>
<p>Our prom is school sponsored, not private. Prom king this year was black, prom queen was Columbian. They are both extremely popular and well-liked by the student body (obviously, because they got the most votes). There are MANY integrated couples, and no one really thinks anything of it at all. The school is made up of about 43% White, 40% Hispanic, and 14% Black students. </p>
<p>I’m just as shocked by the prom situation in the article as many of you in the northeast are. No state or community that I know of is immune to bigotry of some sort.</p>
<p>And yes, I feel discriminated against when someone from another region talks about “The South” as a whole being bigoted. We are not. You will find pockets of that kind of behavior, but most of the rest of us find it just as absolutely distasteful and abhorrent as you do. Just saying.</p>
<p>MA is whiter than NH?? It’s got to be darn close. I know there are more and more AFrican refugees moving to NH, and some AA’s coming up from Ma, but when D and I vacation there she’s always made a game of pointing out any black person because we can go days without seeing a single one-and that’s in the largest city in the state. </p>
<p>I went to a HS there with about 2,500 kids. I think there were maybe 5 AA kids in the whole school at the time, and another 5-10 biracial ones. I think last time I looked up the stats for the state it was about 95% white.</p>
<p>I think school self-segregation of kids can be a school-by-school thing. My older D went to one here in Seattle with a very diverse population and said there was plenty of integration-and I saw this on the city buses after school let out there and at her school events. BUT, another equally diverse school has never had the kind of student mixing her school did. She couldn’t help but notice that when her team competed there, while the students all cheered for their team, they sat in the stands by race. </p>
<p>The schools in the north end of town are very white, but seem to integrate well. But this may be partly because the SES is more uniform there. Another topic for another thread though.</p>
<p>One thing I noticed when I went to the midwest was that some of the people I was talking to were under the impression that all southerners were bigoted and our communities segregated. But looking around - they were ALL WHITE! A very stark contrast to my home-town.</p>
<p>You really can’t live in the south and have only white neighbors or only white kids in your high school. But up here you really can. It’s a strange thing, and it’s why I say we are a much more racist country than we know when we can be self-congratulatory from our 94.6% white state. We need to examine our assumptions better.</p>
<p>poetgrl, I have MOSTLY only been to big cities in the northeast, so it’s difficult to tell. It’s really difficult to tell anyway unless you live there. I guess large cities like Philly and NYC have communities that are divided by race and ethnicity, but while visiting there I saw only minimal racial tension in those cities…same with LA. Of course it exists - but I would not have necessarily called them “segregated” at a glance.</p>
<p>But if people are geographically gathered in areas according to race or ethnicity, then their public schools are most likely similar.</p>
<p>In HI HSs, not aware of any “private proms.” All our proms are school organized and sponsored. The tickets are well under $100per couple and include dinner and the prom. People spend as much or little as they choose, from consignment or hand-me-downs to $100s or more. Some rent tuxes while others wear band tuxes that they already own or borrow. </p>
<p>Our state is more segregated by socioeconomics in terms of how folks mix and mingle as adults and neighborhoods, as are many areas if the country. In HI, Caucasian is not our majority ethnic group–the largest ethnic group is Japanese.</p>