Reply to In what nuanced ways did you NOT realize you had white privilege?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Surprisingly tv sitcoms like "Friends" and "Seinfeld" were set it NYC. Yet the cast never had any black or Hispanic friends. Ever. Not even a token black or Hispanic date, since they were all single. They did have a lesbian couple.

[/quote]

I lived in NYC as a single white person during that time period.

There were black clubs like Bentleys, Spanish Clubs like Tropicana, Greek Clubs in Astoria, Guido Clubs in Brooklyn, Irish off the boat bars etc.

Nearly all my friends were white. All my friends lived in a Manhattan. How it was. I had black friends from work or go to game with. But coffee shops and bars full of white girls from Long Island not their think.

We even had Jewish white clubs [/quote]

NP: I don't think anyone is questioning that it is POSSIBLE to live an almost exclusively white life in NYC during this time period -- I think the "surprise" is that multiple people must have made multiple decisions for two long-running TV shows to reflect this.  NYC is an extremely diverse city.  It takes willfulness and work to create long-running shows that ignore this characteristic diversity.  So, while it is possible -- as you point out -- to lead an ethnically or racially segregated life in NYC, it also makes sense to wonder why and how the decisions to reflect and market this were made

Single Black person who lived and worked in Manhattan for 15 years. [/quote]

Um it's possible to live an exclusively white life in NYC NOW let alone in the 90s. I lived there from 2005-2015 in Manhattan. Worked in finance, lived in midtown. Not one single black friend from that time in my life. Where would I have met them? I worked 24-7 so the deepest friendships came from work not from hobbies or anything like that; and then there were some friends from college/b school that you'd hang with. No black friends from college/b school as there were minimal #s in both of my ivy schools and those that were there while nice ONLY ever hung out with each other unless they were forced to work on a group project with others; they'd never socially hang out or live outside their black group. In 10 yrs at work in NYC finance had exactly 3 black coworkers. Liked all of them but 1 was very quiet and kept to himself -- would almost never come out for drinks with us etc. and when he did he was politely distant; IDK if he felt uncomfortable or what but no one was gonna ask - hey are we being racist - bc we weren't; he ultimately left the firm after a 3-4 yr stint. The other 2 ended up dating and marrying each other so they ONLY ever wanted to hang out with each other to the point where they'd even sit together during dumb lunch meetings and it felt pretty clear they didn't want other around; they both also left within 5 yrs. Outside of that no blacks in the professional ranks -- not suggesting you couldn't be friends with secretaries but they all tended to be age 50+ so it wasn't the most obvious friend group when you were 25. Day to day the only blacks and hispanics you'd see would be the people working at Pret or Sbux.[/quote]

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