de facto Segregation: a fact of human existence

I've been thinking through what on earth happened to me in Washington, DC  this past trip in the Winter, 2010.  Briefly, I tried to live in a black neighborhood, because it was within my ability to pay, but was treated harshly and had to get out fast! 

That got me to thinking.  What had I done wrong?  Perhaps, it was the same mistake that Dr. Laura made on her radio show when she several times, over and over again, mentioned the N-Word in a recent broadcast.  I had not realized that blacks have their own culture, which they share with other blacks and few others.  I was intruding on their space; and they resented it. If was as if they were saying, "Get yourself out of our area!  And, don't pretend you're one of us!"  Despite the fact I couldn't afford living elsewhere; and certainly did not mind living in a black area of town.  I know that the southeast area near St. Elizabeth's wasn't bad, but I couldn't find anything there and kept looking around Georgia Avenue.

What I'm saying is that the American Experience of trying to become a melting pot of the races really doesn't work--in my opinion; or, it will have mixed results.  While blacks call among themselves N's, they don't want those not of that culture to use the word to apply to them.  I attended a concert in Wingfield Park in wonderful Reno recently and a black performer said to a predominantly, almost entirely, black audience that it was wonderful being among "his people for a little while" before he want back to perform at one of the casinos downtown.  There's that identity of being black, of realizing oneself by being black.  After all, "black is beautiful!"

I recall several years ago applying for a job at Laney College in downtown Oakland, California.  I thought it was strange that I was one of few white people in the halls of the college; but in thinking it through, I see that the neighborhood had been changing--which, being from the Chicago area, I hadn't known--and I really had no chance of being hired, because I didn't fit.

The phenomenon I'm discussing is true of the Chinese living in Chinatown.  They share common customs and ways of thinking; and a common language heritage.  It's true of the northern Europeans who settled in the northern middle states, especially Minnesota.  It's true of the orthodox Jews who live by Yeshiva University in New York City.  Yet it's also true of families:  though it's perfectly alright for a mother to say to her child "Do you have to go pee-pee?" it's probably not as acceptable for a stranger to be as familiar.  It just doesn't click.

Sad to say, I think the American Experience of intgrating works for some people, but if the ties are strong to the heritage, it won't work for them.  They want to be among their own.   By blacks finding their identity in being African Americans, they have achieved self-actualization but at the cost of separation.  That's the terrible thing of being trapped and cornered by one's heritage.  When I was in Russia, I urged the Russians to give up their history and look to the future.

Glenn Beck contends we must study history.  No, history is gone; and its lessons are tied to other circumstances.  Reach out courageously into a new world with new opportunities; and don't look back (as Lot's wife had done)!