I'm the PP you asked the question of above. My kids are in elementary school. Their charter runs through high school and we expect to stay there for the duration, assuming things stay good. The charter is diverse from both a racial and socio economic perspective. It is truly diverse -- our local public school, unfortunately, is not.

The thread was about racial diversity-- so that's what I talked about, and the reasons why as an affluent white family we have chosen to live in a neighborhood that is not predominantly white or affluent. (Although things are changing fast.) In other threads, I've seen people make assumptions that people like us, who choose to live in what some see as "transitional" neighborhoods, are shortchanging their children. I don't see it that way, for the reasons I talked about above.

I agree it can be challenging to have people from different economic backgrounds in one's life. We definitely do less well on that front, but my kids have a range of friends.

What does diversity mean to you?

Anonymous wrote:My perspective--

I see it as my job to prepare my children for tomorrow's world. Tomorrow's world is increasingly brown. We are white and have a comfortable HHI, Ivy League education, and I didn't want my kids raised like I was-- knowing hardly any black people or Hispanic people.

So we chose a close in diverse neighborhood in NE DC. We send our kids to a very diverse charter school. By choice and by happenstance, because where we love makes this easy--
- our kids' pediatricians are AA women running their own practice
- our kids' dentist is an AA woman
- our kids' principle is an AA woman
- our kids' music teacher is an AA man
- and of course our kids' President is an AA man

We have neighbors who are gay married men.

Diversity and tolerance are core values in our lives. We chose a place that helps us live that, and that helps prepare our children for the diverse, vibrant world they will be living in.

Seems that you turned out okay despite your upbringing. Do you think you were limited in your personal/professional development by the lack of diversity experienced as a kid?

In general, kids who are not brought up to be assholes don't turn out as assholes. It's not the diversity of the environment, but the content of the upbringing.

Anonymous wrote:My perspective--

I see it as my job to prepare my children for tomorrow's world. Tomorrow's world is increasingly brown. We are white and have a comfortable HHI, Ivy League education, and I didn't want my kids raised like I was-- knowing hardly any black people or Hispanic people.

So we chose a close in diverse neighborhood in NE DC. We send our kids to a very diverse charter school. By choice and by happenstance, because where we love makes this easy--
- our kids' pediatricians are AA women running their own practice
- our kids' dentist is an AA woman
- our kids' principle is an AA woman
- our kids' music teacher is an AA man
- and of course our kids' President is an AA man

We have neighbors who are gay married men.

Diversity and tolerance are core values in our lives. We chose a place that helps us live that, and that helps prepare our children for the diverse, vibrant world they will be living in.

my question

How old are your kids? You chose a charter, which tends to draw in a specific group of people. Would you send your kids to your local NE HS?

Living in a diverse 'hood and taking your children to educated experts isn't the same as having them attend the local school.

Diversity means different things to different people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're an AA family living in DC. I disagree with the above poster--yes, I like that my kids is one of several brown faces on the playground, but I also love my diverse neighborhood (AA, white, interracial, international, Jewish, Muslim, two dad/two mom-families, adopted kids of a different race, etc.). I love that our kid is growing up with a broad definition of diversity and doesn't blink an eye at these differences.

I meant I disagree with 19:08.

19:08 here. Obviously, what I said isn't true for everybody, black or white. Your personal preference doesn't invalidate the general pattern.

A few points:

You may be right that this is generally true. However, I'd argue it is less true among people who choose to live in large cities (e.g., NYC, LA). Of course, you'll have enclaves like the Upper East Side but in general people who choose to live in cities are more willing to mix it up with people who are not like them.

Second, even if we take it as a general rule that people want to live in an area with like others, I'd argue that this is less true for AAs historically. For the most part, they didn't have the option of living in anything but AA neighborhoods due to redlining and other discriminatory practices. As a quick anecdote, my high school friend's family was the first black family to move into an all-white neighborhood only a few hours from DC in the 80s--they subsequently had a cross burned on their lawn. This really wasn't too long ago that such practices went on to discourage AAs from living in areas that were not predominantly black.

Third, living in a diverse community is not my personal preference alone--it's apparently the personal preference of many people who have chosen to live in my current community, which is why I mentioned the demographics. In fact, the white citizens here specifically tried to temper white flight decades ago, as they *wanted* to live in a diverse community alongside people of color. So I think that despite the general rule, there are examples of communities in and around DC where people not only tolerate all types of diversity, but they welcome it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're an AA family living in DC. I disagree with the above poster--yes, I like that my kids is one of several brown faces on the playground, but I also love my diverse neighborhood (AA, white, interracial, international, Jewish, Muslim, two dad/two mom-families, adopted kids of a different race, etc.). I love that our kid is growing up with a broad definition of diversity and doesn't blink an eye at these differences.

I meant I disagree with 19:08.

19:08 here. Obviously, what I said isn't true for everybody, black or white. Your personal preference doesn't invalidate the general pattern.

Anonymous wrote:We're an AA family living in DC. I disagree with the above poster--yes, I like that my kids is one of several brown faces on the playground, but I also love my diverse neighborhood (AA, white, interracial, international, Jewish, Muslim, two dad/two mom-families, adopted kids of a different race, etc.). I love that our kid is growing up with a broad definition of diversity and doesn't blink an eye at these differences.

I meant I disagree with 19:08.

We're an AA family living in DC. I disagree with the above poster--yes, I like that my kids is one of several brown faces on the playground, but I also love my diverse neighborhood (AA, white, interracial, international, Jewish, Muslim, two dad/two mom-families, adopted kids of a different race, etc.). I love that our kid is growing up with a broad definition of diversity and doesn't blink an eye at these differences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at housing patterns, pretty much everyone does. Few admit it, however.

Lol. Yes this thread has demonstrated the second part of your statement. "I love and seek out diversity but just happen to live in a 90% white neighborhood!"

Yup. That's where the rubber meets the road for white folks: say one thing, live another.

For everyone, really. Plenty of AAs prefer to live in predominantly AA communities -- someone earlier mentioned Atlanta. Same thing with [name your ethnic group]. Human nature. People generally prefer to be with people like themselves, whether that be based on ethnicity, religion, income, etc.

Exactly. It's hypocritical to pretend this is only true for white people.

Except black people don't flee when the white population rises above 8% (the statistic a PP mentioned). White people seem to have a way lower tolerance than other races for living around "others."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at housing patterns, pretty much everyone does. Few admit it, however.

Lol. Yes this thread has demonstrated the second part of your statement. "I love and seek out diversity but just happen to live in a 90% white neighborhood!"

Yup. That's where the rubber meets the road for white folks: say one thing, live another.

For everyone, really. Plenty of AAs prefer to live in predominantly AA communities -- someone earlier mentioned Atlanta. Same thing with [name your ethnic group]. Human nature. People generally prefer to be with people like themselves, whether that be based on ethnicity, religion, income, etc.

Exactly. It's hypocritical to pretend this is only true for white people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at housing patterns, pretty much everyone does. Few admit it, however.

Lol. Yes this thread has demonstrated the second part of your statement. "I love and seek out diversity but just happen to live in a 90% white neighborhood!"

Yup. That's where the rubber meets the road for white folks: say one thing, live another.

For everyone, really. Plenty of AAs prefer to live in predominantly AA communities -- someone earlier mentioned Atlanta. Same thing with [name your ethnic group]. Human nature. People generally prefer to be with people like themselves, whether that be based on ethnicity, religion, income, etc.

Anonymous wrote:My perspective--

I see it as my job to prepare my children for tomorrow's world. Tomorrow's world is increasingly brown. We are white and have a comfortable HHI, Ivy League education, and I didn't want my kids raised like I was-- knowing hardly any black people or Hispanic people.

So we chose a close in diverse neighborhood in NE DC. We send our kids to a very diverse charter school. By choice and by happenstance, because where we love makes this easy--
- our kids' pediatricians are AA women running their own practice
- our kids' dentist is an AA woman
- our kids' principle is an AA woman
- our kids' music teacher is an AA man
- and of course our kids' President is an AA man

We have neighbors who are gay married men.

Diversity and tolerance are core values in our lives. We chose a place that helps us live that, and that helps prepare our children for the diverse, vibrant world they will be living in.

We are a very similar background, except that we are a biracial family. And I completely agree with you. We live in Silver Spring (near downtown) in a diverse neighborhood.

My perspective--

I see it as my job to prepare my children for tomorrow's world. Tomorrow's world is increasingly brown. We are white and have a comfortable HHI, Ivy League education, and I didn't want my kids raised like I was-- knowing hardly any black people or Hispanic people.

So we chose a close in diverse neighborhood in NE DC. We send our kids to a very diverse charter school. By choice and by happenstance, because where we love makes this easy--
- our kids' pediatricians are AA women running their own practice
- our kids' dentist is an AA woman
- our kids' principle is an AA woman
- our kids' music teacher is an AA man
- and of course our kids' President is an AA man

We have neighbors who are gay married men.

Diversity and tolerance are core values in our lives. We chose a place that helps us live that, and that helps prepare our children for the diverse, vibrant world they will be living in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at housing patterns, pretty much everyone does. Few admit it, however.

Lol. Yes this thread has demonstrated the second part of your statement. "I love and seek out diversity but just happen to live in a 90% white neighborhood!"

Yup. That's where the rubber meets the road for white folks: say one thing, live another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm white. I don't want to be in an all-anything neighborhood because it'll either be too snoozeville (full of hot yoga and dog groomers), OR full of shitty take-out spots and dominican salons

Screw you. Dominican salons are awesome! I go weekly. Signed, African American with HHI of 315K

Not the PP, but I guess this shows that people from different racial groups want different things, regardless of HHI.

Right. Why anyone would view a salon that doesn't suit them as lowering the property values (as PP obviously did -- equating it with shitty take-out) is beyond me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm white. I don't want to be in an all-anything neighborhood because it'll either be too snoozeville (full of hot yoga and dog groomers), OR full of shitty take-out spots and dominican salons

Screw you. Dominican salons are awesome! I go weekly. Signed, African American with HHI of 315K

Not the PP, but I guess this shows that people from different racial groups want different things, regardless of HHI.