Integration

Integration in America is a myth. Regardless of if people want it or not, we don’t have it. Just look at Chicago. Each ethnic group has it’s own little neighborhood that they’re expected to fall into. Anything else would be unacceptable. I understand that people want to get together based on aspects of their culture, but I think in some cases it hurts our society. The separation between the North Side and the South Side has been going on for years. The differences between the two neighborhoods are something shocking. Someone who is not from Chicago could see the two neighborhoods and think that they are entirely different cities. It’s hard for most people to realize how different they are because they don’t know. They remain in their own little sphere and never see anything else. What’s the farthest North or South you travel everyday? If the answer is to Whitney Young, then we have a problem.

It’s also obvious that our society isn’t integrated because of the stereotypes. I think that if we were truly integrated they would not exist. Stereotypes are created to easily define and generalize what we don’t know. If our society weren’t so separate there would be less of the unknown and less of the stereotypes.

I wonder if it’s a subconscious thing. I wonder if we gravitate towards people most like us because we assume that they understand and we feel comfortable with them. It could be an issue of protection. The idea that there’s safety in numbers and if you are around people who are just like you, they’ll help you out if the situation calls for it.Maybe we’re all so separate because of fear. Or maybe we’re still so separate because people continue to harbor supremacist ideas, and therefore make no attempt to integrate.

There are exceptions to this rule. There are a few wonderful places, like Whitney Young where integration is happening. We are lucky to attend a school where people come from all around the city. There are still people who don’t use this to their advantage. Sometimes we still separate ourselves and put up these barriers. I hate that. I want integration. I don’t want to integrate with people who don’t see me as their equal. I agree with Malcolm X that this would be a waste of time. Fortunately, I do not believe that all white people are devils. There are some genuinely good people out there, regardless of their race. Those are the ones I want to integrate with.

Almost Never (Malcolm X Part 1)

Integration. Is it possible? Malcolm X is completely opposed to it. There was something he said specifically that rattled my perspective of the world for a bit. ”I don’t care how nice one is to you; the thing you must always remember is that almost never does he really see you as he sees himself, as he sees his own kind.” Woah.

I don’t want to blindly generalize an entire group of people. I can only make judgments from what I’ve experienced personally. Taking a realistic view of the subject, I’d say that Malcolm X is right. But the only reason I say this is because he leaves some room for exceptions. In the quote he says “almost never”, and those two words are what redeem his statement for me. The “almost never” leaves room for people who genuinely see everyone as equals. I believe that those people exist because I’ve met them.

As for the others…sometimes they don’t even realize it. Racism continues to thrive in our society. Racism is not solely alive in the South or in other environments that seem far away from here. Racism occurs every day, in Chicago, at Whitney Young, probably even amongst your friends. I’m not trying to put race into everything, not at all. I simply think that denying a problem’s existence is just as bad as supporting the problem. Denying that racism is still going on won’t make it go away. So what will? I’ll be honest and admit that I don’t have a solution. Change has to be individual before anything concrete is accomplished. So think, reflect, and do better.