I believe we in the US are still segregated in many ways. I am not just speaking of a black/white or Mexican/Hispanic type of segregation but of what segregation really is. Segregation is the separation of one group, race, institution, church or any other organization from another because of some type of difference of skin color, opinion, choice or reason.
You can call the separation between the rich and the poor segregation. Do not the well to do live in different neighborhoods than the poor, do not the well off drive better cars, go to different places, eat at more expensive restaurants than the poor? We pull away from what is different than what we are or what we believe or know to be true. If someone thinks differently or acts in a different way or wears different clothing or even eats different food than us we tend to draw near to the ones who do what we do most often.
Soon our health care system might be segregated because some people will have one type of insurance because they are wealthy and some will have maybe something else because they can't afford a better policy. Is that not segregation?
We segregate in our communities, in our churches, in our schools and just about everywhere in the US we segregate and congregate with what we feel comfortable with. The problem with all of this is that it leads to shallow thinking, limited intellectual experience, minimal life experiences and just not a well rounded all inclusive life. If all you ever eat for dinner is fried chicken or curried rice and only eat that with people who look like you and speak like you how then will you know what I am about if you never experience my food, say steak and potatoes or chocolate pudding?
Our schools are the same, we put the really well off and highly educated mostly in schools like Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Others with less ability or money can go to another school where maybe the less elite attend, thus limiting the less fortunate from being all they can be. Yes, those that really persevere and tackle all obstacles and have the support groups behind them and the grades to match perhaps can sneak into some of these more elite and high priced schools but it is not the norm. It has to be an exceptionally "gifted" child who may get a scholarship or grants to go to a better school because everything just fell into place for them so they will experience all they can be and probably obtain a real high quality education and possibly attain their greatest dreams but more times than not this will not happen for the average lower income child in an impoverished family with a mom and dad who work paycheck to paycheck just to feed them and keep a house for them to live in.
We want to believe that segregation is a simple white/black issue, but segregation is an attitude and a way of thinking. Segregation is how we sort ourselves out usually losing something in the sorting, like throwing out the baby with the bath water like some would put it. By segregating things in life we miss the wonderful aspects of life that we need such as having your best friend be an Indian, Asian or Caucasian instead of you being black and your best friend is black and your church is all black and your school is mostly black and you live in a neighborhood with maybe one or two white families. If you are Mexican and live in a mostly all Mexican town all you know is Mexican culture unless you interact with another ethnic group you never get the best of both worlds. Somehow you are slighted in your experience and your thinking.
Until we get truly not segregated we will never be "well rounded" people in our world with truly whole thinking not slanted thinking that has been gleaned from years of living in our "own" what we believe to be culturally correct societies. A utopia viewpoint, yes maybe, but nonetheless it is something to aim for a lot less "segregated thinking" and allot more "integrated thinking" in the US and the world. We would all be a lot better off, I am pretty sure of that!
Segregation can and has been legislated, but it's like love you just can't legislate love. It has to come from the heart and be real and it really is a moral choice we make each day to be integrated people or be segregated people. We make the choice everyday by the way we treat others who may talk, look, act or live differently than we do. Segregation is a heart issue and will be solved by ending bigotry and hatred and indifference and truly loving people for who they are. The Golden Rule comes into play here foremost, treating others the way you would expect to be treated, fairly and not judgmental, looking at others through clear and not cloudy and muddied glasses, leaving our personal ideologies or parent and family thought perspectives, especially the wrong ones, out of the equation and relationship will go along way to develop us into integral and whole beings in this very complex and diversified world we live in today.