The World and I

With the current presidential campaign there as been a lot of talk about race and whether it will be the determining factor. In particular there were questions about whether Americans are "ready" yet to vote in an African American president as well as whether Obama can secure the Hispanic vote. That being said, I was still amazed at how segregated the United States still is, and I get the feeling that it is primarily by choice. I do note however, that this does not apply to the whole of the United States as I have been to places such as New York city which are cultural melting pots.

We went many places and saw African Americans hang out with each other just as hispanics and caucasians. And although they would be at the same venue there was very little if any interracial mixing. Furthermore, interracial marriages do not seem to be as common yet as they are here in Europe and so I was asked how come I had my skin colouring with a European Father (the thought that my Mother is African did not seem to cross their minds).

However, I also found that institutions artificially strengthen these divides. For example, I came across a university for only African Americans. Now I realise that this was probably initiated by thoughts of positive discrimination (I do not want to even begin to wonder what an uproar an all caucasian university would have caused). However, if such institutions still exist how will we ever overcome racial barriers?

On the otherhand I may just be making a huge assumption that interracial/intercultural mixing is beneficial since this is the environment I have always grown up in. Perhaps people feel more comfortable not mixing. But when I think how much I have learnt about other people's culture and societies from my completely mixed friendship group, I do think that you must be losing out somewhere by not having these experiences, or?