The experience of diversity

Happy Friday, everyone!

If you haven't already, please go and visit La Shawn Barber's Corner and read today's post. In it, she cites an article written by Steve Sailer entitled "Fragmented Future". Sailer asserts that forced diversity does more harm than good as far as issues of trusting others are concerned.

After reading the article, I began to reflect on my own life and experiences. This will probably tick some people off, but I'm only being honest. When my husband and I went looking for our first home about 7 years ago, he and I were of a similar mindset during our search. We knew that we had three options here in metro-Atlanta. Option 1: Live in an "all-black" neighborhood. Option 2: Live in an "all-white" neighborhood. Option 3: Live in a racially diverse neighborhood.

My husband and I knew immediately that Option 1 was not for us. Here is why: He and I have both noticed in our experience that when blacks are in a majority situation, there tends to be a huge lack of accountability among the group. We also considered the disappointment that we would feel if we tried to re-sell a home in a majority black neighborhood, factoring things in like lack of appreciation, property value, etc. Does this mean that I hate being around blacks? Of course not, so please don't misunderstand. My husband and I just base our decision on the facts and on what we have experienced on a daily basis.

Then came the discussion of Option 2. In an ideal world, this may work. But we were both smart enough to know that this was not a good idea for us. We didn't want to be the lone black family that caused everyone to get nervous and throw up their hands thinking to themselves, "There goes the neighborhood!". But the question is are they wrong for feeling this way? I would answer with a realistic and resounding NO since they too are basing their feelings on experiences and facts.

Finally, we came to the conclusion that we would better off looking into Option 3:. We ultimately came to live in an diverse (majority white, few blacks here and there), established middle class neighborhood. We have been living here for going on 6 years, and I thank God everyday for our home life. We are the only blacks on our street, and we are extremely close to all of the neighbors surrounding our home. In fact, we are so close to our next door neighbors that we trust them to watch our children, which is saying a LOT believe me. We don't trust our kids with most people in our family!

I know that we will eventually need to move into a bigger home. When we moved into the house we currently live in, our children hadn't been born yet so our need for space was much smaller. I am dreading the thought of leaving this neighborhood. I know in my heart that the possibility is there that we may not ever have neighbors like this again. But I feel certain that we will be able to find another diverse, established neighborhood with much bigger homes in this general area. In local papers, I have seen the city I live in referred to as "the gem of metro-Atlanta area". This makes me feel that my experience over the last 6 years has possibly been the exception and not the rule. I'm sure that Sailer's article "Fragmented Future" has merit, in a more general sense anyway.