Most people know that Chicago is still one of the most segregated cities in the country, right? The Great Migration and the Chicago Freedom Movement really accomplished very little. Well, what do I know? I wasn’t living in the 1920s or the 1960s, but there is a pretty deep divide between the races and ethnicities in this very diverse city. Case in point:
One Friday night, I have to go to the UPS center because we had missed a package three times, they’re not open on Saturday, and the contents of the package were time-critical.. I walk into the office where you give the UPS people your slip and they give you your package, a fairly easy process.
As I open the door, chaos descends. There are people everywhere, jammed hip-to-hip and shoulder-to-shoulder. In spite of the lack of space, kids are running around and weaving through the tight crowd in the teeny space. A television is blaring and the sound of people talking to each other is not a hum, it’s a full-on rock concert. Though it is loud and hot and I start to feel a hint of claustrophobia, the room seems kind of fun, especially with two cute kids opening and closing the door for everyone. After getting my bearings and find the line I should wait in, I look around to notice I am the only white person in the room. Every single person in the room is black, with the exception of one Latino family. And then, I look to my right and see a sign that explains that if you’re not from the following list of zip codes, your package will be next door. My zip code is not on the list, so I leave the cacophony and head next door.
As I open the next door, nothing descends. I find a similar sign, my zip code is on it, along with, I realize, other north-side zip codes. In this room, however, there is plenty of room for everyone to sit, and not only is no one talking, but each person has his or her nose buried into a fancy phone. There is no TV blaring, nor are there any kids, let alone cute ones opening and closing the door. Every single person in the room is white, with the exception of one Latino woman.
And then I realize that the zip codes were divided by North/South and that I have just seen a microcosm of the entire city of Chicago. Were I a martian visiting planet Chicago, I would have thought the the north-siders were boring snobs with absolutely nothing significant to say and that the south-siders were a party!
Two categories of thoughts went through my brain. 1: What makes my culture this way and what makes the “other” culture that way? Are we boring snobs? Am I a boring snob? and 2: I wish I had a camera.
7 comments:
wow. very interesting. hmmm...
Agreed - North/South Chicago are two different worlds. And the segregation extends far out into the suburbs. My town was so white bread that when a black family tried to move in to a gated country club community, their realtor tried to recommend other cities. They caused quite the stir, as did the one other black family that was 'allowed' to live in our area. How sad that a city that could thrive on diversity is instead thriving on the ability to enjoy it while downtown and then quickly escape it on their way home up north.
And as I write this I'm realizing I live in the same environment now. North Chicago, meet Chapel Hill. South Chicago, meet Durham.
I had hoped that things in Chicago had changed in the last 30 years, but I guess they haven't. We loved living in Hyde Park (60615) because it was one of the city's all-too-few truly integrated neighborhoods.
Michael and I broke the color line in another situation last month: we constituted two-thirds of the total white people singing in James Bignon's Gospel Choir at the Savannah Music Festival. (The other white guy was on the festival staff.) Initially, we just planned to attend the concert, but the tickets were sold out--then we learned that we could get in if we joined the choir. How could we pass up such an opportunity? We went to three workshop/rehearsal sessions, which were a hoot. The other singers were incredibly warm and welcoming to us. Would that ward choir was as much fun.
I think about this all the time; it's interesting and disturbing all at the same time.
AND, as a side note that is too long and heaving for a blog comment: there is a lot of interesting literature about how white people do not "race" themselves at all. We are not clear on what white culture is because we treat "whiteness" as the norm, and not a specific culture/group of people. White, middle-class is normal and everything else is an interesting ethnic adventure. You can see why this is a destructive force to the rise of social justice. Just food for thought. . .
Great post, Alissa. I love real life sociological applications, those that cause us to open our eyes and our minds as to what is really going on around us and to ask why. Makes the "what's next?" possible.
That is one of the things I dislike most about Chicago. New York City, I miss you in all your ways. Sure, their is segragation there too...but come on Chicago. Can you make it any more obvious?
Fascinating. I tend to think Alexandria is a pretty integrated city, at least my neighborhood is. Church attendance on Sunday throughout the city, for the most part (A2 excepted), is a whole other ballgame.
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