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So, I went to Bethesda yesterday
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Anonymous
Maybe, but I was sick of living in DC. The crap public schools (at least at upper levels) is something you can't get away from. not to mention the venal, incompetent and just plain lazy DC police force. The fact is, I actually chose Bethesda for its diversity, together with its walkability, great schools and services, good restaurants etc. Now, this diversity may not equate to OPs definition, which appears to only include majority AA areas, but it is very real: cosmopolitan, international, and welcoming. It felt less "American" than VA, which even in Arlington has occasional reminders that you are in the South.... |
Anonymous
I don't have to justify it, because I. Don't. Care. Diversity or lack thereof was not high on my shopping list. Nor do I think that it is healthy to raise my kids in any way but a color-blind way. I would never want to give them the impression that one area was better or worse based on the skin color of the people who happened to buy a house there. The concept that people who live in Bethesda choose to live there so they can insulate themselves from black people is incredibly racist and offensive. I did not know my neighbors' race when I bought a house, nor did I care to stalk the street so I could find out before purchasing. Because again, I. Don't. Care. We happen to live on a very "diverse" street, with people of a variety of races and sexual preferences, so clearly if I chose Bethesda to avoid diversity I didn't do a very good job. |
Anonymous
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Wouldn't it be nice if we could have an adult conversation about race without getting into the my neighborhood is better than yours stuff.
Diversity has different levels of importance for different people. Yes, most of the posters chose their house based on affordability, schools, commute, proximity to services, age of house and diversity was probably not a big consideration. For a minority family (race, ethnicity, religion or even sexual preference) diversity may be much more important. Even if you are not in this position, can you really not understand why a parent might be worried about be the only family of a particular group in the neighborhood or school? I'm sure there are many African Americans who chose Prince Georges county for the community and many non African American families who did not choose it because they did not want to be in the minority. I don't see this necessarily as racism (unless you fear or have some superiority feelings about the other group) but wanting to avoid having your children be too different, be close to friends you already have or even church. We have a large Jewish population in our area not because they avoid others in other communities but because we have great temples and a good community center out here. There are probably more Baptist African American churches in PG than Bethesda. The problem is though that this keeps things polarized. DC as a whole feels very segregated to me. I don't think DC is all that diverse as you have one demographic in NW a relatively small area and another demographic in NE/SE. The same thing exists out in the suburbs. The more international communities seem to be doing better but its driven more from foreign born or mixed race families. I do find out that the definition of diversity changes based on the person. I posted on the school thread that criticized Wootten for too many asians and foreign born kids that this is one of the reasons we like the area and my daughters friends were chinese and indian. Someone posted back that there must be no AA if diversity means asian and how horrible this area must be. Two of my daughters best friends are AA and I didn't reference them because the post I was responding to was being rude to foreign born kids which African Americans are not. For me diversity is more than just white and black but areas that have a mix of religions, sexual preferences, ethnicity, and race. |
Anonymous
Amen! |
Anonymous
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This thread is complete and utter bullshit. All of the posts bashing Bethesda are from people who either don't live in Bethesda or have had lunch for a couple of hours at a café in the middle of the day downtown. I grew up in Bethesda. I lived in the Al Marah neighborhood for 20 years (off River Rd, across from Holten Arms). My childhood neighborhood best friend was Korean. My sister's best friend in the neighborhood was Iranian. We had close friends from Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Italy, Lebanon, Bangladesh, China, and numerous other countries in the neighborhood. Our parents were all friends too. Furthermore, I went to Carderock Springs Swim & Tennis Club in the summers. That swim club (and neighborhood) is nearly 50% international. Spanish and German were spoken more frequently than English around the pool. The OP and this entire thread are and full of shit and you all took the bait. OP, you and your DC should open your big "brown" eyes and look a little deeper at Bethesda and stop judging it based on your superficial and limited knowledge of it.
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Anonymous
That shut her up. |
Anonymous
| wow. nice dialogue people. |
Anonymous
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Diversity really isn't that important to some people. It is to others. Many kids who will grow up in a predominately white environment will seek to replicate it--others will decide to seek out the opposite experience. Isn't that what we as adults do? The city of DC is getting whiter--see census data. Personally I believe this is being driven by a generation more eager to live in an integrated, diverse environment. It remains to be seen whether this population shift will continue or whether the schools will remain an obstacle. Some posters like the ones fleeing Columbia Heights decided it wasn't for her--but there are families galore who are sticking it out and trying to make it work with charters, publics, and private schools.
I personally find it annoying when poster from DC who bash the suburbs for not being diverse--some are, some aren't. Bethesda doesn't immediately come to mind when I think of diversity versus, but maybe for others it is. |
Anonymous
I don't have a problem with you moving out of DC for those reasons. I was just pointing out that it was not the appropriate comparison. Some of the things you were complaining about would not be so prevalent in other more residential and middle-class neighborhoods (where whites are in the minority) in DC. But I hear ya, pp. You don't have to justify it to me. |
Anonymous
| I am on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard and I still see only a sea of white. I am not kidding, one AA couple was in line to pick up their tickets and the ticket office could not find their reservation. I will report back after I get to 0aks Bluff. |
Anonymous
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OP's post is such rich evidence of the problems we have here, both locally and nationally.
-- there's so much more to diversity than skin color, but OP and others dont' seem to value that, or only want whites to expand their horizons -- many people value the quality of their school district than the color of their neighbor's skin (or politics or religion) -- and think they are "better" parents for valuing education over other factors like their own personal definition of diversity (i am one of them) -- if someone posted a comment like OP's using PG instead of Bethesda, and criticizing black parents for choosing to live in an undiverse neighborhood (much as a previous poster did re: anacostia), he/she would be blasted out of town. and i would argue that PG is far less "diverse" than bethesda, but that seems to be ok to OP -- OP doesn't question why more people of color (or however she spproves diversity) don't move to bethesda to take advantage of the good schools and other resources, but rather asks why more parents don't subject their kids to mediocre schools or allow their kids to accept less than what they should have in an effort to not be a minority on the block, in the classroom, or at the mall. to me, this attitude (that not as good schools are ok) is one of the many reasons we continue to see the disparities in school and work achievement -- when whites DO move to "diverse" neighborhoods they get blasted as gentrifiers, invaders, and accused of shoving minorities out of their rightful place -- there may be a correlation between "diversity" and crime/poor schools/neglect (of both neighborhood and kids) but until we are willing to admit that the socio-economic problem in this country is bigger than the race problem, we will continue to fight stupid battles like this one |
Anonymous
That is odd. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n9_v44/ai_7698845/ http://www.mvtimes.com/marthas-vineyard/calendar/2009/02/19/black-history-month.php |
Anonymous
| I grew up in Bethesda and my parents still live there. While it's true that Bethesda is not very racially diverse, you can't go anywhere in Bethesda without hearing lots of different foreign languages. Many of my friends grew up speaking a language other than English at home. Diversity is not always about race. |
Anonymous
Interesting... |
Anonymous
As a white person who moved into an AA neighborhood, I can tell you that everyone was very nice to me. It was the warmest urban neighborhood that I have ever lived in and I was delighted to live in a part of town that I had mistakenly feared before. (As one neighbor described it, it was like being embraced by a family.) It was a powerful learning experience for me and quite humbling. But at that point I think most of my neighbors saw me as someone who had come to join their neighborhood, not take it over. However, the tone changed a little when a lot more white middle class folks moved in. Some of it was normal turnover. A neighbor died and a young white couple bought her place. But in other cases it was renters forced out for condo conversion and the fact that the neighborhood is now too expensive for young people who grew up there to rent or buy there. Therefore I think some of the resentment is understandable. Of course no one should make assumptions about the residents of the neighborhood based on the color of their skin, their class background, or how long they've lived there. I completely agree with you on that. But I did want to point out that that people see a difference between joining a community and taking it over. And I will agree with an earlier poster who pointed out that it isn't always easy to be in the racial minority in the neighborhood. My choice is not for everyone. But I did want to share that I found it much easier to be a white person in an AA neighborhood than some people might think. And give OP a break. As I recall, she never said a thing about white people moving to Anacostia or Mitchellville. That came out of the discussion the rest of us were having. |