White Priviledge and Racially structured Communities

The community I grew up in was a white upper to middle class suburban neighborhood in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, IL.  I grew up in a racially structured community with primarily whites and few minorities i.e. Hispanic, African-American, and Asian.  I recall an African-american family moving in our complex. They were placed in our neighborhood with Section 8, and they were the only AA family living there.  I remember our neighbors, and even my own mother, were questioning and asking why this "Black" family was placed in our neighborhood.  As a young, adventurous free spirited, smart 12 year old girl, I questioned why this family was being treated so poorly, but I also did experience a fear of this other race.  Social distance between black and white was present resulting in friends and neighbors feeling threatened by AA and concerned for their safety. 

What is interesting is that I do not consider myself white rather I am of mixed race. My mother who I grew up with is white, and my father is Indian.  My mom grew up in a very suburban Upper class racially structured community and perhaps this contributes to her moving my brother and I into a racially structured community. With my mother being a single parent and working two jobs, I did not feel this“white privilege,” but I was surrounded by it.   I left at age 17 because I could no longer live in such a community that did not embrace diversity whether looked down upon it. I believe my white friends that grew up in nice homes, with two parents, with their college education paid for had no idea how privileged they were and they took their white experience for granted, but maybe some of this was against their control.

In my Ways of Knowing class, we watched a video on the Suburban neighborhoods and real estate and how difficult they make it for a person of color to get a home in these neighborhoods.    This racism is socially constructed by our society with money and white privilege taking precedence over diversity in specific neighborhoods.  Many may want to place blame on the members living in the community, but is it their fault? When you grow up in a community your whole life with primarily the white race and next door a Black family moves in, one may feel fear because they are not used to interacting with this culture and instead of questioning and learning from them, they are scared.  Fear created by discrimination and lack of cultural opportunity and education.