I lived in Washington, D.C. for 30 years before moving to Maine more than three years ago. D.C. is nothing if not diverse. Some of that diversity gives the city its wonderful restaurants serving ethnic delicacies, but you can only eat in them if you have the nerve because you might get mugged on the way there. There are also beautiful old homes in "changing neighborhoods" where you can still find a bargain if you're willing to fix it up, but you can only do that if you have the nerve because you might get murdered after you move in. (That happened to my friends Bruce and Bonnie Glover.)
While we lived there, our son attended public high school. He was in the minority, along with roughly 320 other white students in a class of 1,500; his classmates were predominantly African American, followed by Asians and Hispanics. Zack had one very close Asian friend, one very close black friend, and the rest of his usual gang were all white kids. The school day began with a walk through a metal security detector to weed out the knives, guns and drugs from student backpacks. Metropolitan Police patrolled the halls. All the white kids congregated together, ate lunch together, and in fact sort of attended their own school within a school, since honors classes based on test scores effectively segregated the student body.
During the three years my son was at Woodrow Wilson High, I attended scores of meetings, plays, concerts, science fairs and book drives. I sold cupcakes at carnivals and helped out with new student orientation. During all that time I was approached by one black parent. She was great, and we actually became friends and kept in touch for a few years, even on Facebook. But being the only white face on her news feed, I felt like an intruder and ultimately "un-friended" her.
Maine is not diverse at all. I guess it's too cold to attract many folks used to warmer climates. Whatever the reason, it's pretty white up here. But there's never any dead bodies found in the alleys every morning, which I think is worth missing out on all those yummy ethnic restaurants. Politicians talk about diversity like it's a walk in the park, but until Americans actually choose to befriend people of other colors and nationalities, all the laws in the world won't get everyone to play nice.
During the three years my son was at Woodrow Wilson High, I attended scores of meetings, plays, concerts, science fairs and book drives. I sold cupcakes at carnivals and helped out with new student orientation. During all that time I was approached by one black parent. She was great, and we actually became friends and kept in touch for a few years, even on Facebook. But being the only white face on her news feed, I felt like an intruder and ultimately "un-friended" her.
Maine is not diverse at all. I guess it's too cold to attract many folks used to warmer climates. Whatever the reason, it's pretty white up here. But there's never any dead bodies found in the alleys every morning, which I think is worth missing out on all those yummy ethnic restaurants. Politicians talk about diversity like it's a walk in the park, but until Americans actually choose to befriend people of other colors and nationalities, all the laws in the world won't get everyone to play nice.
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