Nope. I was responding to idea that there should be proportional racial representation in the Forbes 400. Eric, how many minority neighborhoods have you lived in? For how long?
The fact that there are "minority neighborhoods", and "white neighborhoods", and "Chinatown" means there is racism. Both ways, as it usually is.
MY LITTLE STORY
I was born and raised in Lake Oswego, which you, maxiep, are familiar with.
It was the size of Wasilla when I was young, and
completely white.
As a child I loved summer as I would fish the lake down on the tracks by the Dairy Maid, because "Old Negroes" would ride the bus from Portland to fish there. It was like hanging out with visitors from another country, and
they talked with a kind of accent I'd never heard, talked about places I'd never been, talked about things I didn't understand. They sort of adapted me as a mascot or something, I think.
No matter how much I pleaded with my buddies to join us they never did. They were too frightened of the strange people. Too frightened of what their parents would say or do. Too frightened, plain and simple.
The other time I always looked forward to was shopping for school clothes each August. My mother would take me to downtown Portland on the bus (she still doesn't have a driver's license to this day). There would be us and a couple of people from OC, then we'd pick up some black maids or gardners as we passed by Dunthorpe, and then we'd be downtown where suddenly they were everywhere! And there were Asians, and Hispanics. For me, it was more fun than the circus! I'd be chatting up a storm with strangers on the bus, on the street, in M&F...It cracked my Mom up because my nickname at the Fire Hall was Silent (insert my first name here).
And then schooltime would come, and everyone I saw each day was white for the next 9 months. Very dull.
When I was in 5th or 6th grade Lake Oswego welcomed their very first 'Black Family". The Greens (ironic name) were thought to be non-threatening because they were financially comfortable enough to buy a nice home, had polite kids, and took an immediate interest in the community. None of the kids were near my age, and the family seemed too much like me to be all that interesting, so we were just neighbors and nothing more. But gradually, after years had passed and no white girls were raped by them and burglaries stayed sporadic, they were accepted as equals, if "special" equals maybe.
They remained the exception in color for 4-5 years at least.
Now LO is the preferred home of most Blazers, and despite being ridiculously overpriced has a pretty thorough cultural mix of successful people. The old men don't come to fish anymore, as they were run out long ago by racist business owners.
I now reside in Beautiful Central Oregon. I moved here 7 years ago. There are many Hispanics, nearly all are illegal aliens. Nearly all seem to be decent people, but they are very cliquish and don't mingle. Few speak English well, or willingly. I saw no blacks for 2 years here. Now there are probably 20 families or so. Their uneasiness is apparent when you see them around town. They seem very guarded, and probably with good reason. I am seeing the same transition here that I saw LO go through, and it's sad to see the same resistance to "new" people that I saw as a child. This community is 45 years behind LO in terms of racial acceptance.
The reason is you can't teach it. It only comes from personally getting to know people.
Get out and meet someone different. It's fun, and enlightening, and you might make a new friend.
