Is celebrating diversity a good thing?

Segregation happens for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it happens naturally. Other times it is forced. Redlining as well as blockbusting have severally hampered where minorities may live. Redlining as well as blockbusting has truly had a powerful effect on how neighborhoods form. Segregation has lead to groups to become isolated, clustered and concentrated. Wilson would argue this happens because of economic structures. Massey and Denton argue it results from whites intentionally seeking to keep minorities out. Likely both perspectives explain the stark differences between neighborhoods. For now I will focus on Massey and Denton’s argument regarding racism seen through segregation. This can be seen when Massey and Denton state that "White apprehensions about racial mixing are associated with the belief that having black neighbors undermines property values and reduces neighborhood safety. According to Newsday poll, 58% of Long Island's whites believe that property values fall once blacks enter a neighborhood" (Massey and Denton 94). The source of these beliefs though is difficult to pinpoint.

American history seems to have something to say about this. Previously, it seems that every new ethnicity was looked down on. From the Irish to Chinese to African-Americans. Perhaps today it is Latinos. After all many Latino is one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S. But the reason behind this racism still seems elusive. Perhaps it is because this influx of immigrants allows many companies to lower wages since there is a larger pool of workers. Perhaps it is because some immigrants enter the U.S. illegally and use government services which raise the overall cost of those services. Maybe it's as simple as many U.S. citizens are unfamiliar with the cultural influences that many immigrants carry.

Northern Illinois University has a Black graduation ceremony.

This ceremony is for graduating Black students, White students are not invited to participate. But do practices such as this help or harm race relations? The YouTube clip regarding race relations help demonstrate this relationship. It almost seems that by celebrating one's individual ethnicity it may wind up alienating himself from others who do not share the same ethnicity. So, perhaps African-Americans want to live in African-American communities. After all the book states that “blacks seem to prefer those with a relatively higher black percentage, other things equal… nearly 90% ranked all-white neighborhoods as their fourth or fifth preference… 63% chose a neighborhood that was half-black and half-white as most desirable” (Massey and Denton 89). So it seems that African-Americans overall do not wish to live in an all white neighborhood. Rather a mixed neighborhood seems to be the most desirable. This raises many potential answers.
            As the book covered, there are many reasons for these statistics. Perhaps African-Americans, as well as other minorities, are fearful of moving into an all-white neighborhood because of potential stereotypes. These stereotypes may arise out of merely being unfamiliar with outsiders. One example of this could be China. For a very long time China’s government had highly restricted citizens from traveling outside the country. The Chinese communist party had and still feared that if citizens would experience other cultures the party’s authority would potentially be questioned. This resulted in many Chinese people never meeting anyone who wasn’t Asian. Once the government allowed citizens to travel outside the country many individuals jumped at the chance. They jumped because they wanted to learn about other cultures out of curiosity. This is important because of isolation they were unfamiliar with other ethnicity’s cultures.

I propose this unfamiliarity is the key component of racism which manifests itself into redlining and blockbusting. This, unintentional racism sadly leads to neighborhoods becoming vastly different. Segregated neighborhoods form, with certain ethnicity's seemingly doomed to live in certain neighborhoods that reflect how their ethnicity is valued in the overarching community. Is the solution to get away from doing events similar to the NIU Black graduation? Probably not, what might lead to decreased segregation could be events celebrating traditional ethnic holidays intended for anyone, regardless of his or her background. Perhaps holding a fun traditional Latino fiesta, in an all African-American neighborhood, would let the community have a taste of a culture that they don’t usually experience. Of course, there are likely better solutions, however it’s a start. 

 http://www.niu.edu/pubaffairs/RELEASES/2003/april/recognition.shtml

 http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/the-racist-housing-policy-that-made-your-neighborhood/371439/