Here Comes the Neighborhood!
The Washington Post is to be commended for consistently publishing articles that confront the evolving realities of race in America.
On July 27, 2006, an article by Lonnae O’Neal Parker called “For Whites in Prince George’s, a Mirror on Race”, examined an interesting racial role reversal in Prince George’s County, Maryland (PG County). In PG County, white suburbanites are moving into an affluent area that is majority black (the article states the area is 63% black). The integrating pioneers cite the low cost of PG County real estate versus what is available in comparable areas as the main reason driving their influx.
Blacks who have made PG County their home for years are not threatened by their new neighbors; relocating whites are not greeted with cross-burnings, threats or destruction of property. To be sure, there have been racist incidents in PG County. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report, PG County cities College Park, Washington, and Bowie, the city that is the focus of the article, have all seen racist incidents such as a cross-burning, racial vandalism and the distribution of Neo-Nazi propaganda throughout a neighborhood in the last two years. One black resident pointedly noted that she welcomed white neighbors, hoping their presence would draw entertainment and retail outlets that black middle class residents’ dollars did not have the magnetism to attract.
The article highlighted typical growing pains. New white neighbors report being concerned about fitting in. They have never been in the minority before and they want to be liked and accepted by their neighbors. Each time Parker related a tale about some apprehensive white resident afraid of not being accepted, I felt like had had a big piece of gooey cake. It was like walking around in uncomfortable clown shoes your entire life then seeing someone else in them and finally getting the joke.
The discomfort is positive. Real racial progress on an interpersonal level cannot start until we can try to empathize with one another’s life experiences. Living close to each other will further humanize people of different races to each other. Residential proximity is even more important than employment integration in that regard because it excludes the drama of office politics that can become more strained when race is added to the mix. Perhaps if a white PG County resident can remember a little of his discomfort at the community pool or golf course, he can identify more easily with the person of color who is in the minority at his workplace.
Parker’s article did annoy me at one point. The author seemed to derive too much glee from pointing out that a black resident threw a party that was supposed to start at 2pm but the only person there for 45 minutes was the new white neighbor. The author then asserts that most functions don’t happen on time in Negroville-uh, PG County. Ha, ha, let’s all laugh at C.P. time and meanwhile share some jokes about how the white people also had to learn to cut watermelon and fry chicken so they would have something to take to neighborhood barbeques. Not funny. I mean, no one shows up to parties on time, right? I never show up at the appointed time. And I’m black….Oh, you win this time, Parker.
Finally, I am curious to find out what will happen to prices in PG County after the whites become, say 50% of the area. Will they drive up property values, pricing themselves out of the bargains they sought? Because most of the black residents are financially well-off they won’t be run out by higher property taxes and home values like in poorer neighborhoods that well-to-do whites gentrify. However, higher property valuations lead to higher property taxes. New Pottery Barns and movie theaters aside, some black residents might be wishing their white neighbors would just go back where they came from on tax day.
Of course, I hope that everyone stays put. Racial integration, particularly where it happens organically and among people of similar financial means, is almost an unmitigated good. So get out your checkbooks and your clown shoes, PG County, there are adventurous and rewarding days ahead.
On July 27, 2006, an article by Lonnae O’Neal Parker called “For Whites in Prince George’s, a Mirror on Race”, examined an interesting racial role reversal in Prince George’s County, Maryland (PG County). In PG County, white suburbanites are moving into an affluent area that is majority black (the article states the area is 63% black). The integrating pioneers cite the low cost of PG County real estate versus what is available in comparable areas as the main reason driving their influx.
Blacks who have made PG County their home for years are not threatened by their new neighbors; relocating whites are not greeted with cross-burnings, threats or destruction of property. To be sure, there have been racist incidents in PG County. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report, PG County cities College Park, Washington, and Bowie, the city that is the focus of the article, have all seen racist incidents such as a cross-burning, racial vandalism and the distribution of Neo-Nazi propaganda throughout a neighborhood in the last two years. One black resident pointedly noted that she welcomed white neighbors, hoping their presence would draw entertainment and retail outlets that black middle class residents’ dollars did not have the magnetism to attract.
The article highlighted typical growing pains. New white neighbors report being concerned about fitting in. They have never been in the minority before and they want to be liked and accepted by their neighbors. Each time Parker related a tale about some apprehensive white resident afraid of not being accepted, I felt like had had a big piece of gooey cake. It was like walking around in uncomfortable clown shoes your entire life then seeing someone else in them and finally getting the joke.
The discomfort is positive. Real racial progress on an interpersonal level cannot start until we can try to empathize with one another’s life experiences. Living close to each other will further humanize people of different races to each other. Residential proximity is even more important than employment integration in that regard because it excludes the drama of office politics that can become more strained when race is added to the mix. Perhaps if a white PG County resident can remember a little of his discomfort at the community pool or golf course, he can identify more easily with the person of color who is in the minority at his workplace.
Parker’s article did annoy me at one point. The author seemed to derive too much glee from pointing out that a black resident threw a party that was supposed to start at 2pm but the only person there for 45 minutes was the new white neighbor. The author then asserts that most functions don’t happen on time in Negroville-uh, PG County. Ha, ha, let’s all laugh at C.P. time and meanwhile share some jokes about how the white people also had to learn to cut watermelon and fry chicken so they would have something to take to neighborhood barbeques. Not funny. I mean, no one shows up to parties on time, right? I never show up at the appointed time. And I’m black….Oh, you win this time, Parker.
Finally, I am curious to find out what will happen to prices in PG County after the whites become, say 50% of the area. Will they drive up property values, pricing themselves out of the bargains they sought? Because most of the black residents are financially well-off they won’t be run out by higher property taxes and home values like in poorer neighborhoods that well-to-do whites gentrify. However, higher property valuations lead to higher property taxes. New Pottery Barns and movie theaters aside, some black residents might be wishing their white neighbors would just go back where they came from on tax day.
Of course, I hope that everyone stays put. Racial integration, particularly where it happens organically and among people of similar financial means, is almost an unmitigated good. So get out your checkbooks and your clown shoes, PG County, there are adventurous and rewarding days ahead.
posted by YG&B | 5:44 PM
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