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Enders_Sack t1_jamwtsx wrote

People don't realize how POC rarely interact with white people before college, if they even get to attend. I grew up here and the only white people I've ever interacted with were my teachers and maybe medical professionals.

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LongIsland1995 t1_janlt3h wrote

Yeah, I have asked a lot of black and Hispanic New Yorkers about this. They said they either knew literally zero white people growing up or maybe 1-2 token white kids.

Huge swaths of the city are like this, you can walk for probably miles in Eastern Brooklyn or The Bronx withour seeing a single white family.

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Due_Masterpiece_3601 t1_jar1801 wrote

This is me. No white people until college and working in an office. As a result, I know nothing about their interests and even if I do, I'm not interested. Makes for very awkward water cooler conversations.

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LongIsland1995 t1_jasq9lf wrote

Well there's always the transracial interests like sports and TV shows

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Due_Masterpiece_3601 t1_jasrnbz wrote

Was never exposed to those American sports growing up. The TV shows thing I kind of get but it's different interacting with the culture vs seeing it on television. I don't think there's two people that are the same in this thing, depends on how deep in your enclave you are.

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shikitohno t1_jaw2djf wrote

Yeah, this was me when I moved to the Bronx. I was in the same apartment for 11 years, and the only other white people I saw in my neighborhood were police, the odd school teacher commuting and the Mormon kids that got sent to evangelize around Highbridge and Mount Eden instead of at least getting a trip overseas out of their mission.

I would also say this study conflates living in the same neighborhood with actual diversity and integration in the community. Sure, my neighborhood had Dominicans, Mexicans, Africans, Haitians, African Americans, etc. all living in the same buildings, but they largely maintained their own segregation. One thing I think gets overlooked by better off white people who never actually live in these neighborhoods and only speak English is the amount of flagrant racism between minority groups. Hispanic groups vs Black people, Africans versus African Americans, then disputes within those groups as well.

A lot of the Bronx "gentrifying" just seems to me to be the real estate industry trying to manufacture it and raising prices hoping to get some idiots who'll fall for it. When I worked in Mott Haven, there were already buildings going up trying to charge $2500/month for a studio to live 6 blocks away from the train in the hood. There have been some hip businesses that opened up on Alexander and Bruckner, but you have literally a single hipster block where you see white people, then they hop in their cars and disappear.

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LongIsland1995 t1_jawt1ka wrote

Yeah for the white gentry crowd, the Bronx doesn't really offer anything that Brooklyn doesn't. It's no longer cheap.

That could change eventually, but right now I don't think it will gentrify the way Bed Stuy and Bushwick have.

And I agree with you that a lot of white people are oblivious to what race relations are actually like . It's like when boomers act like their neighborhood growing up was like Sesame Street, but fail to mention that this was because of white flight happening at an unthinkable pace.

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shikitohno t1_jawv38z wrote

It isn't cheap, and perhaps more importantly, it doesn't have the social life and other draws that Brooklyn does. Unless hipsters suddenly get into bachata and reggaetón, the Bronx largely lacks the sort of nightlife and businesses that might otherwise attract them in spite of the price.

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LongIsland1995 t1_jaxdqup wrote

Correct. There actually seems to be a lack of regular bar/pubs in most of the Bronx. That could change, but as of now it's nothing like even Bed Stuy in terms of nightlife.

Another thing is that most of the South Bronx was destroyed during the 1970s arson wave, and the buildings were replaced in the 80s and 90s with cheap looking Fedders houses. So it doesn't have that homey feel that Bed Stuy, Bushwick, Harlem, Washington Heights, etc. have. That's also why, in my opinion, Brownsville is of little interest to gentrifiers.

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Due_Masterpiece_3601 t1_jar11lm wrote

This was me. I had to learn white people culture when I started college in Manhattan. In my neighborhood you literally don't see white people unless they're sightseeing or traveling to a sporting event.

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