by Charles Ray

Created on: April 14, 2009

It is an unfortunate fact that segregation continues to exist in the United States. Jim Crow is dead, and few organizations or political jurisdictions would dare try to bar anyone strictly on the basis of color or ethnicity, but in many respects, we remain as segregated as a society as we were before the civil rights movement.

Some of the segregation is self-enforced. Minority students attending integrated schools gather and associate with their own kind; sometimes out of a sense of not belonging, sometimes in an attitude of exclusivity. Housing in many parts of the country is still largely monochromatic. In the nation's capitol, Washington, DC, the southeast section of the city, and that part east of the Anacostia River is still largely black, while the prestigious Capitol Hill and Georgetown neighborhoods are overwhelmingly white.

Segregation in housing can in a very small way be attributed to realtors or sellers who discriminate, but in large it is eithar economic or historical. Minorities either cannot afford to buy or rent in other areas, or they chose to live where they have always lived.

Educational institutions are technically and legally integrated, but in many areas, the white flight after anti-segregation laws were passed has created schools that are more segregated than before. Only in the smaller areas, where the private school option or moving were not readily available, has there been truly integrated primary and secondary schools. In many of the towns of rural east Texas, for instance, the black schools were demolished and all students enrolled in the former all-white schools. Housing in these areas remains strictly segregated, and there is little social interaction, but children learn (or not) together.

The segregation of yesteryear was terrible. It was an attempt to formally dehumanize and demean a whole people simply on the basis of race. It denied a significant percentage of the American population the right to decent housing and a quality education. The de facto segregation of today is no less damaging. Whether it is from economic reasons, or simply the desire to be among people of one's own kind; cutting yourself off from the rest of the population inhibits growth of the individual. There is nothing wrong with wanting to commune with like-minded people, or wanting to feel comfortable in social situations. But, this can be done without putting a wall of race around yourself. Everyone, every culture, has unique attributes and values from which we all can benefit.

Yes, there is still segregation today, and we as a people need to end it.

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