hate

[lovemydog]

32. I grew up in an integrated neighborhood

near Washington, DC. Then moved in high school to a suburb of Detroit where it was segregated. My family would often go downtown, but some of the families who had been segregated for a while were afraid to go downtown and hadn't been much around black people. Later as an adult I lived downtown in a building that was around 90% black. As a white guy, I felt comfortable and I think some of that comfort was because we were all doing well.

Maybe skin color becomes less of an issue when you live around others who are also happy & doing well and you have daily contact with different types of people. You're less likely to blame others and you don't blame someone with whom you've shared meals or who helped you fix a flat tire or dated. You kind of take it for granted that we're people sharing the same often difficult planet. Maybe you see differences as beautiful.

Here in New Mexico, where I'm a sort of minority (the majority is Latino, Mexican & Native American) it's pretty similar. The neighborhoods where there's more integration & better education, people are less likely to talk or act bad towards those who have different skin color because they don't feel that way. There can more 'otherness' in areas where it's segregated.

I don't like to generalize. Just thought I'd share some of my experience in case anyone can relate or share differing experiences.