Asian Segregation
I was watching a Netflix documentary last night about a young black man living his life in North Omaha. The town is and has been very segregated and they had some historical images during the show. One of was an old RE deed that stated something alone the lines of "don't sell to negroes, japanese, or chinamen".
I think we can all agree that the Asians as a whole try to live in the same vicinity as each other, especially in the larger cities. But is that a coincidence or a lasting result of the aforementioned segregation deed? Just like how large groups of black people still live in the same, segregated towns their families did 150 years ago.
I guess there's no real question here, rather a thought I had last night - that perhaps asian segregation still lingers today. Think of all the chinatowns, koreatowns, little japan's, etc there are all over the US, even in small-ass towns. Does anyone have real evidence that tells us why? Besides that asians may or may not enjoy living with and next to one another.
What, people want to live with other people who share the same origins, culture, traditions and way of life than them? Must be some society-induced racial segregation, no doubt about it.
Such an insightful comment, thanks. If you read, I was asking if the historical property segregation laws aimed at blacks and all asians, are still prevalent in today's asian communities.
That's not what he said man and you know it. Could one say that Asians deciding to live with other people who share culture, traditions and everything are racist in that they don't want to embrace the American culture? They presumably moved here for a better life, so why not take in what America has to offer? Or is their culture and traditions more superior than ours?
Those are rhetorical questions. Obviously they would want to live with those who speak like them, know their traditions, and can confide in them when they couldn't with say, a frenchman. But, to the OP, I don't know history enough to give a definite answer, but it wouldn't be a far out guess to say that the Asian pockets you see now are the historical red-lining policies made way back when. And the Asians see no need to move out because they have their own thing figured out.
Also, OP - the Asian struggle compared to that of black people or hispanics or muslims is nothing. Not to say it's not worth mentioning, but want to make you aware.
Personally, I'd be very tired of living with one culture for many years, so I'd try to absorb as many new cultures and experiences as possible, meaning - try not to settle near your ex-compatriots. Cuz life should be interesting, shouldn't it? When I lived in Western Europe, I literally marked the places on the map where people from my region live and tried to avoid them. Why? Because I came to experience a new culture, new cuisine, new language - not the old stuff I am already familiar with.
Such a perfect Dunning-Kruger response
Chinatowns, areas where mostly Arabs live, etc. are very common in Europe as well. You don't have them in "small-ass towns", but every big city has them.
Empirically, there are two types of immigrants - those, who embrace their origin and try to stick to immigrants from their ex-motherland, and those, who accept the culture and mentality of the country they moved to. The first ones are those who would usually create such small nation-towns. Seen it both ways, neither way is good or bad, just people's choice whether they want an entirely new life or not.
Thanks. The "small-ass towns" comment was referring to mini-asian communities, like Chinatowns, that are located in smaller towns. I mean there are Chinatowns in South Dakota and Maine okay? Lol they really are everywhere.
I agree with your second statement. But with the US Chinatowns and the like, do you think they were originally communities from the result of red-lining? That's the picture I got when I saw the image of the RE deed
I think that the world wasn't that much globalized than it is now, so just imagine the culture shock in, let's say, 1950s, when those immigrants were coming to a country with an entirely new culture. It is now that we have Internet and are (mostly) aware of how the things are, can google such stuff like differences in etiquette, etc.
I was totally okay when I came to Europe already speaking the local language fluently and being aware of their culture from reading and TV, but I imagine that my great-grandfather would have much more difficulties adapting to a new culture even if he'd be fluent in the local language, if he'd moved to Europe back in his days.
My point is, I'd rather think that in most places people tended to create those small communities as it was much more difficult to adapt to a new culture back then, and I also think that people back then weren't as tolerant as they are today.
Funny that you mention it, there was an article a while back about Chinese restaurants closing and shrinking Chinatown across the US since most of the small businesses were used to fund their childrens' educations and as more and more of their kids moved onto white-collar professions, these areas and businesses are now shrinking and being shut down.
As an expat who lives abroad (born in and grew up in US), I can say this same thing happens on the other end. Westerners like to cluster together and you often have westerner neighborhoods.
I live in one. I can tell you it makes sense as it makes life much easier and it's mostly a language and cultural thing. Imagine you living in a completely foreign place (e.g. China) and think about the following: how would you rent an aparment and understand the lease terms, where would you shop for groceries to cook food you are familar with, how would you get a gym membership and negotiate a good price, and how would you make new friends who you can ask important questions to (e.g. what's the best health insurance to carry here or the best hospital to go to in the area).
I understand the need to assimilate into new surroundings as my parents are immigrants. However it's not really as easy as it sounds once you are placed in the same situation. Most expats where I live have zero clue as to life outside of their little area.
Is it news that people like to live by people that they have something in common with? We are pattern recognition machines.
I recall reading a study on how most groups pick where to live. The standard criteria for most people is to stick to their own ethnic group. Even white liberals, who go out of their way to demonstrate how they love diversity, when it comes to picking where to live, regularly avoid Asian neighbourhoods because Asian kids are too competitive in school.
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