How diverse is your background?


P

PNeck019

New Member
....and how has it influenced your views on race and society as a whole?

For example, have you always attended predominantly (or all) black schools, worked with mostly black folks, etc.?

On the flip side (other than college for most here) have you always been among a small minority of blacks at your school or job?

Or is it somewhere in between?

I'm curious to see the different views and attitudes of folks who were brought up and live today in various states of diversity.


For example, I grew up in a small town that was roughly 70/30 white. I'm 33 years old, so I grew up in the 70s and 80s. I won't say it was frowned upon for whites and blacks to hang out together, but some people thought it a bit odd.

I've always been involved in sports and I think that has been a tremendous factor in shaping my beliefs away from the typical small-town Southern attitudes.

I've been the only white person on a team (8th grade basketball) and a part of a football team with only 3 black players (senior year in HS).

I teach at a school that is 99% black (some people often use this figure as an exaggeration....it's not, there are about 6 out of 600 students who are white) and coach a football team that is 90% white (again no exaggeration, 8 of 80 are black).

I think the environments I grew up in and now live in have given me a unique perspective on things concerning race.

I don't have time to elaborate much now (the bell just rang...lol), but hopefully we can get some dialogue going.
 
Good topic PNeck.

For Me, I grew up in a time in Baton Rouge where there was a lot of change taking place. When my parents purchased their first home, they were the first Blacks to purchase on our street. There was one other black family that had moved in just a few months before we did. As in many other cities in the south when this happened more for sale signs when up and the homes were sold to more blacks. This type of change took place in a lot of my surroundings. All of my schools started off Predom. white but over the years they have become 80-90% black with the remainder being a mix of oriental and white.

My professional life as always put me in situations where I was the only of my kind. Not only being black, but the only male. I always took that opportunity to open the eyes of others to see that what you see on tv about "black culture" is not all true. We can't all play basketball, rap, dance or wear our pants saggy or even speak in ebonics. I've only one job where I worked in a majority black environment. I must say it took some getting used to. I found my self being the outsider because I hated to see the way some of the young ladies handled themselves at work.
 



My Experience:

Since growing up some in the 60's, I experienced a little of Jim Crow segregation. I can vividly remember getting used text books in schools that had white school stamps on them along with the former students signatures. Going to the movie theatre with blacks sitting in the balcony and whites down stairs or a black and white waiting room at the Drs' office was the norm. I can even remember black doctors that had the pharmacy adjacent to their office to accomodate their patients. The black business infrastructure was in place and dollars were being recycled in the community albeit not by choice.

At a very early age I was one of the first to integrate a baseball league. The parks at that time were segregated also. It was an uncomfortable situation but I was tired of going miles to play the game. Also, at that time, it was not out of the ordinary to have a white school closer to you but could not attend it. Further the threat of violence could not have been too much worse than where I played (lol). Schools integrated when I was in the 4th grade and many people (chiefly white) felt violated. It was very common to see blacks on one side of the classroom and whites on the other. The percentage of the student body was about 50/50. If you were unfortunate to get a racist teacher, they would only teach to the white side of the class and ignore the black side (you could raise your hand up for days and not get called on). As time progressed, obviously this situation improved. The Junior High School I went to in the 70's was horrible. There was always racial fighting and they even had quotos on the basketball team to keep it as white as possible. You could forget about being black and a quarterback (lol). The percentage would be somewhere to the tune of 50/50 also.

In high school the demograpics changed to about 65/35 in favor of blacks. Some of this had to do with white flight to private schools. The racial climate had improved but one could still feel the racism as many bias teachers and adminstrators were still in place. After 9 years of desegragation in schools, I was very pleased to attend an HBCU. It was not a hard decision to make since both of my parents are HBCU graduates. I became a third generation Southernite. Ironically, the other universities recruited me much harder than the HBCU(s).

My working experience have been 1/2 & 1/2. I have worked at white establishments, black establishments and my own which would be considered black.

H
 
JROCK said:
It was very common to see blacks on one side of the classroom and whites on the other. The percentage of the student body was about 50/50. If you were unfortunate to get a racist teacher, they would only teach to the white side of the class and ignore the black side (you could raise your hand up for days and not get called on).
Click to expand...

LOL, man. I know that ain't funny, but one of my uncles told me about this very same thing hapoening when he was in school..... only it happened to him in grad school at Delta State. He said the professor would literally keep his his entire body turned toward the white side of the room during lectures. :smh: I think this was during the mid-to-late 70s.
 
HBCUs said:
LOL, man. I know that ain't funny, but one of my uncles told me about this very same thing hapoening when he was in school..... only it happened to him in grad school at Delta State. He said the professor would literally keep his his entire body turned toward the white side of the room during lectures. :smh: I think this was during the mid-to-late 70s.
Click to expand...

Some of those teachers will burn in hell. I remember them sending some black students to special ed when their evil asses were not attempting to teach or help. Obviously it was much harder for a child to understand what was happening. If their parents were not on top of the game, then they were really in trouble.
 
I grew up in a segregated town. (although our next door neighbors were white and there were other white families on the street at one time.
Blacks went to public school. (There were maybe 30 white kids total at my high school)
Whites went to the private school (100% white). The whites that couldnt afford private schools went to public schools in other counties that didn't have as many blacks.


Left that setting and went to ASU. Again, on the extreme, as far as race.

Finished there and went to Auburn. On the opposite extreme.
And a real eye opener. The first time that I had been in a setting where my race was in the minority.

Now I'm working in a predominantly black environment.
 
I grew up in a community which was 99.9% black. The only non white person at my elementary/junior high/high school was the librarian. My first experience with white people was the military. Wasn't good at all. Never ever been threatened by a black person...I've had a gun drawn on me by a white boy. Needless to say...you should know my opinion on the others ===>
 
NASTYNUPE said:
I grew up in a community which was 99.9% black. The only non white person at my elementary/junior high/high school was the librarian. My first experience with white people was the military. Wasn't good at all. Never ever been threatened by a black person...I've had a gun drawn on me by a white boy. Needless to say...you should know my opinion on the others ===>
Click to expand...

Interesting
 
I grew up in an all-black neighborhood in Mississippi during the late 70s through the early 90s. We did had one Jewish couple around the corner. I attended predominantly black schools through junior high. High school was mixed, though we were still segregated in some ways.
I attended an HBCU, where at the time we were probably 95-98 percent black.

After college graduation, I worked in an industry (media), where blacks were TRULY the minority (and still are). Surprisingly, the newspaper I worked at had a large size of blacks working in print (reporters and editors). My editors were all females and both black and white.
Later, I went back to my college alma mater to work (all black in my office) in public relations.
Now, I'm working part-time, where I'm the only black person (other than the maintenance staff) working in an upscale, white church.
 
I have gone from a completely desegregate South to so called integration, affirmative action and now back to desegregation. Participated in desegregating of a few things. Although growing up in a desegregated society we were well trained to compete with the conditions. Each generation never accepted the conditions and as I grew up we fought for our rights everyday. I could write a really good book on this subject, because I have been through some battles. I can co-exist with whites but I will not give in until we get parity. I saw the Deacons for Defense Movie a few nights ago and I believe we had the same attitudes as those guys.
 
I am a product of desegregation. It began when I was in 4th grade. I was the first black kid in my county to do an awful lot of things - too numerous to mention here. My sister was a Sr in HS when the new school was built combining one integrated HS with two other rural white HS's under one roof. There was a race riot that spring at the school. Everyone lived through it. When I got to be a Sr 6 years later, I was NHS president (my VP was Black also) and I was voted outstanding student in my class. The only educator that I ever had a problem with was a my Adv Bio teacher who was also Black and I was her only Black student. She discriminated AGAINST me because she was afraid that if my performance was better than the other students she would be viewed as showing favoritism. The only problem with that was all of us had been classmates for several years by that time and knew each others strengths and weaknesses. The racial mix of the school was 97% white - 3% other.

I attended and graduated from Jackson State University where the ratios the exact reverse. My co-op experiences at GM and IBM mirrored the real world. In my almost 22 years at IBM they have remained the same with great experiences with a cross section of Blacks, Whites, Jews, Hispanics, males, and females as managers and co-workers.

Most importantly, I am now bi-vocational and pastor a small and growing church. We are purposely and purpose-fully multicultural. It is fabulous. Black, White, Hispanic, rich, middle class, poor, married, divorced, remarried, with children, empty nesters...we are all the same people.
 
I started off in an all black neighborhood environment in South Louisiana, then started school and it was about 70/30 white until I went to Dillard for college. That was my first experience having 99% blacks in class and home (dorm) life everyday. Then I went to SU which we all know about.

After graduating from SU I went to work in a construction environment in Southeast Louisiana where I was the only black engineer in the company...that was the most racially stressful environment I'd been in. Went from there to Houston working in aerospace where there is a strong black presence, even though it is still probably 85% "other than black". Now I work for a company where I am one of only 3 black people.
 
From my experiences sometimes I really don't know what to think about either side. I wish I knew some numbers on the city I grew up in because there was a pretty big shift in the population during my lifetime. I went to K-1 in a redneck part of town and was in a fairly mixed school. I then went to a gifted/magnet program that was put in place to help desegregate the schools so I was always among whites artificially and didn't realize what was going on in the city.

When I got to high school the program brought me to what used to be the colored schools which was still all black except for the magnet program. The cross town rival program which used to be the white school had moved from being the white school that my sister graduated from to almost a predominately black asian and hispanic school. Most whites were now moving to the neighboring cities.

I then went to PV where it was the first time I had never been around whites period. I went there for a year and then transfered to a PWC near my home town for 1.5 years and thats where things got weird. I was associating just fine with people at PV but at the PWC I found it easier to associate with the white students as the blacks had some sort of aire about themselves like they were the definition of being black. I didn't fit in with them but it was funny to me that I was the one that went to the only black high school in the area and they went to white schools. I was the one that went to an HBCU and they went to a PWC but somehow I was the oddball.

Now I'm here in STL and feel I'm looked at funny from both sides....funny from whites because I'm not supposed to be trying to be succesful...and funny from blacks because I'm not supposed to be trying to be succesful :shame:

So sometimes I don't know what to make of either side.
 



I can remember growing up during the "white flight era" when my street was mostly white then went to mostly black. School wise was extreme to each direction. I went to SU Lab for k-8 which was %100 black. I attended a catholic high school that was %80 white (but was in the middle of a black neighborhood),afterwards finished from SU. I thought I was ready for the real world until I moved to Arizona where blacks are not only a minority but the third minority to hispanics and whites.The one positive about Phoenix is that AA's have some power economically and politically. Big change from just 15 years ago(MLK voting incident). AA's that move here are mostly college educated and that plays a vital role. People only see green out here. You can get to see people for who they really are from religion, race, and culture.
 
My background started out not diverse: I went to a predominately black elementary and middle school.(there were 3 or 4 non black students sprinkled here and there) My high school was a totally different story, there was 1 white chick, (she was 2 years younger than me) and the rest were black. We had teachers who non black but the students were black.

My freshman year in college I went to Sam Houston State and at the time my class what the largest minority class to be admitted, ( I think the number was around 900 or so) That was a culture shock for me. I had a white sweetmate and ulimately a white roommate. I also noticed at that Sam Houston had no black proffessors...that bothered me. I transferred to Texas Southern University that following year and I felt at home. I also got a job in Methodist Hospital and allowed me to be exposed to many races and nationalities of people. By me being a "people person" I tend to make friends very easily regardless of color. So by the time I graduated I was halfway ready for coporate america. I still get "spooked" sometimes when I am in a meeting and notice that not only am I the only woman, I am the only black person in the meeting. But even in this environment I still have made friends with all kinds of people. I attribute this to my personality and not my background.
 
I grew up in Huntsville, in an all Black neighborhood.... I went to private schools for a minute... it was about 60/40... then after 6th grade I went to all Black schools the rest of my life. Huntsville is a city basically divided down the middle... North Huntsville is Black and South Huntsville is white. So mostly all of our schools in the city are ALL Black or all white. The most white folks I have been around has to be at Alabama A&M University. Thats the most whites I have ever been in a class with.
 
Interesting. Good topic.

I don't know where to start. lol pre-K (1971) was a required class in the newly "integrated" district so my class was the first integrated "nursery" going forward class (c/o 1984 was the first integrated class to start together and complete together). The ratio was ~70% white-30 blacks and by the time high school hit, it was easily 98% white-2% minority (blacks/non-whites). I txferred to a larger 5A school my jr year to mainly play football @ that level and I found out that I was the first black QB that their varsity ever had (Conroe) and double-ditto for Montgomery. I was the only black in NHS of course and interesting enough, 99.9% of my best friends were white. That's all I hung around and dealt w/ but I lived in the "black" part of town. In <b>all</b> of my high school classes, I was the <b>only</b> black. Even the places that I worked while in high school, the only black amongst nothing but whites. Whites and blacks alike in the community (from what I can recall) seemed like it was a minor miracle of sorts that a black boy could be very academic (ranked #3 out of 693 students) as well as letter in 4 different varsity sports: football, basketball, track, and tennis while holding down numerous jobs and being <b>positively</b> active in the surrounding communities (Willis, Montgomery, Conroe, Magnolia, Dobbin, Dacus). Both school districts were ~ 99.92+% caucasian w/ regards to staff. Hardly NO, if not none, blacks were evident in teaching positions, etc.

PV was a HUGE culture shock for me in more ways than one. I vividly remember that first day. Although my parents and NUMEROUS other relatives attended PVU/TSU, it was VERY shocking going from "minority" to "majority" while attending classes. Visiting and living there were 2 completely differing things lol. I won't get into the demographics of PV (too obvious) but I can HONESTLY tell you that I was in DIRE straits of NEEDING an environment like PVAMU to find self because I was headed for some bullisht that would've found me @ tamu bryan/college st (not that there is anything ultimately wrong w/ it, it just wasn't in my best interests to do so) and married to Becky living in the 'burbs :rolleyes: dissin' my 'people.'

In my whole life, I'd never realized I was a "minority" lol until some white males overly-stressed that to me in Ohio @ Lucent during their diversity training sessions. :emlaugh: Pounding it into the entire environment from my first day forward. From 1988 forward, I've never worked around anyone of color outside of individuals from India/Asia in any corporate setting. The business trips abroad and even in the states have always had non-blacks. I won't go into the "shock" that some have expressed when they first see me (I guess if you're black you've gotta' 'sound' black or something when talking to someone like those lol). But, unfortunately, I'm overly accustomed to being in an environment like this current one (as I look around, I'm the ONLY black/non-white in this entire HQ office :shame: ). It's a hostile environment and I've learned to matriculate through BS that others spew. It's never personal. It's all business. :)

The area that I live in now, 99.98% caucasian (when we first moved there 10 years ago). Now, I see a 'sprinkling' of blacks every now and then throughout the community. :D The local school district is an <b>exact replica</b> of the school district that I grew up in and I can't stand it. :( My daughter attended private school her first 2 years where she was one of only 5 blacks on the whole campus grades k-12 (total student pop: ~500 students). We're now looking for a more DIVERSE school district if not for her sake, mine. :smh:

All in all, it's been an overly interesting ride to date. One thing that I cannot shake though is my love for Kiss, Def Lepard, John Parr, Boston, Chicago, Tony Basil lol, Bow Wow Wow, Loverboy, ... <b>Those</b> things were a part of the <b>culture</b> that I experienced while pre-18 years of age. Exposure to Whodini, Slick Rick, The Time, Prince, Fat Boys, ... during those undergrad years are also a part of my <b>culture</b>. And as such, everything that occurred while @ grad school @ HU is also a part of my culture (try going from lilly white Ohio to all chocolate DC :emlaugh: and then BACK again).

I've learned not to see color so much and try to understand an individual's <b>culture</b>. Culture is synonymous w/ exposure (my definition). Same argument can be made for country vs urban trains of thoughts, ideologies, learned ethics, etc... My personal culture has allowed me into both sides of the track (literally) and I think I understand both pretty well. :tup:
 
My background is somewhat diverse. I went to elementary, junior high, and high school with about 45% white people. I didn't have alot of black teachers in school. High school was the same way. We got along great with the white students. I was invited to the graduation parties in "North Greenwood" and even went to a few slumber parties.

I went to a predominately black university (Southern University). My first job out of school, I work for a city government that was predominately black. I then worked for a 95% white company. I was the only female and the only black in my office for a long time.

I am now back working for the city government agency where it is still predominately black. I live in a mixed community.
 
My background is not as diverse as some of you.

I was born and raised in Atlanta. The neighborhood(Greenbriar-Campbellton Rd. Area) I grew up in was predominantly black. The elementary school(West Manor K-7th)I went to was 100% black; the High School(Frederick Douglass 8-12)I went to was 100% black; and last but not least, College(Alabama A&M University) was 90%? predominantly black. Everything school related and other activities I participated in were only with black folks; i.e. classes, band, social clubs, athletic teams, church, cub scouts, etc. When I went to college, for the first time, I experience having classes with one or two white people in them. I never had white friends until I started working; so as you see, my background at the early ages of my life aint got much relations with white people.

Being that my background affiliation has been mostly black influenced, it has helped me a whole lot on how to deal with black folks on all levels. I can relate to all kinds because I've seen it all.

Presently in the working world, that has changed a little bit. I work in State Government in which the Agency I work for is about 70% white. I'm in senior management therefore, my bosses and the people I report to are Directors, CFO's, Commissioners, etc. and you know they are WHITE! So of course I learned to play the game and that helped me to move up within the ranks. It took me a while to "relate" and speak the language; but just because my background was all black related, didnt mean that ain have know sense.

Good Topic!

"Snake"
 
I usually don't come in here, but this is an excellent topic!! :nod:

I come from a military background (Army brat), so I was exposed to all kinds of races or ethnic backgrounds (black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Samoan, German, etc....).

I attended Elementary school in Germany and at the time, it was bout 35% black; I finished the 4th grade at an elementary school in Columbus that was about 90% black (I remember the kids didn't like me because I "talked" funny :lol: ) I attended middle school in Ft. Benning, GA and high school in Columbus with other military students and both were very diversed- about 35% Black, 35% White, and 30% other (Asian, Hispanic, Samoan).

I didn't participate in sports, but I was in the band.......everytime I made All-City or All State finals, I was always the only black trombone player and the only female. :D

Needless to say, ASU was somewhat of a culture shock for me because I've never been around so many black folx!!! :lol: But I loved it, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. :nod: It fact, I think it kinda prepared me for living in Atlanta because many of the areas I lived in were about 90% black (Decatur, Clarkston, Adamsville). But I had to make another adjustment once I moved to Alpharetta, which is 7% black. :smh:

I presently live in Roanoke, TX (just north of Ft. Worth and 30 miles west of Dallas) and uh.........I'm probably the only black person out here!!! :lmao: But I love my job because it's somewhat diverse, although the number of blacks is a bit lower. But it's cool because I really like the environment and get along with EVERYONE in my department. I really believe that coming from a diverse background has helped me in the long run because I am able to get along and interact with all kinds of people. :tup:
 
yvette23 said:
I presently live in Roanoke, TX (just north of Ft. Worth and 30 miles west of Dallas) and uh.........I'm probably the only black person out here!!!
Click to expand...

...you aint lieing cause we were the only blacks driving around whenever we went out; but wait!? You aint black, yo azz Indonesian! :lmao:

"Snake"
 
Aside from kindergarten I have been in an intergrated public school envrionment.

I went to a HBCU (JSU).

I have participated in at least 7 bar/club fights.

I have visited 34 States and either lived or had extended stays in 8.

I have lived in 7 different countries and visited 20.

I have made several jumps from a high performance aircraft as an army paratrooper.


I have two combat tours in the Persian Gulf.

I have commanded up to 300 personnel at one time.

I have had actress Michael Michele in my home (I'm friends with her cousin).

I have been to Mecca and seen the Kaaba.

I own 17 firearms.

I have worked for, or helped manage 9 political campaigns both Dem and Rep.

I am a delegate for the Hinds County Executive committe of the Mississippi Republican Party.

I have met Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George H. Bush, and George W. Bush.

I am a self-taught graphics designer.

I build my own personal computers.

I have gotten drunk and won at least 4 karaoke singing contests.


I guess I have a diverse background.
 
LMAO@Mak!!!! :emlaugh: Yep Maka, you most def are diverse brah! :tup: lol

Rrraaaa, yvette, gul :uhoh:, I presently work out of Roanoke from time to time. :uhoh: Oh my!!! And, stop lying gul. Isht. You know it ain't no blacks out here in Solana. :retard: :emlaugh: ;) We can't afford this isht. :uhoh: ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top