“I could never live out there,” says my neo-bohemian
friend, his words conveying a profound sense of horror. “It’s too
white.”
“What have you got against white people?” I ask. My friend
— to quote Fitzgerald — is also of a nebulous hue.
“What I mean is,” he sputters, “is there’s no diversity
out there.”
I tell him there is no diversity in my neighborhood either
and I live right smack in the middle of St. Louis. Nearly every one
is poor and black. My wife and I are about the only middle class
white folks.
It’s getting harder and harder to find good diversity
these days.
I have heard such sentiments expressed more than once by
the flip, college-educated crowd. They issue such statements in an
attempt to flaunt their moral superiority, the way a star athlete
would publicize his batting average. Masters of passive virtue,
they hope to score points for their politically correct beliefs
without expending any real effort. Why not? It’s a heck of a lot
easier than getting up Saturday morning to volunteer at a soup
kitchen.
By “out there” he means beyond the metropolitan area. The
dull, crime-free suburbs and rural areas. I suspect there are other
reasons he would never live “out there.” No trendy Himalayan
restaurants. No outsider art galleries and mid-century modern
furniture shops. No meeting exciting new people with dubious sexual
orientation. No exhilarating feeling that comes from knowing you
could be violently murdered at any moment. All the things that make
life worth living for some people.
Let’s face it, I want to say. You despise average, middle
Americans. I don’t say it, though. I have to work with this guy.
But I know his kind all too well. Many people who live in cities
have “escaped” small towns or the suburbs. They flee to the cities
because they cannot abide average, small-town Americans. They hate
their hobbies (bowhunting), they hate their music (Dierks
Bentley), they hate their imposing vehicles (Ford
Raptor pickups). For all their pretense at inclusivity, city folks
are remarkably exclusive.
They reside on select streets or in neighborhoods where
there is little if any diversity, and where multiculturalism is but
a slogan and a vague ideal. They frequent what may as well be
“whites only” tea houses, used book stores, and art gallery
openings in edgy urban neighborhoods where the lack of diversity
stands out like a missing thumb. They dine in expensive ethnic
restaurants where the patrons are mirror images of one another.
They pack their kids off to private schools that 75 percent of city
residents cannot afford. That apparently doesn’t count. What counts
is that the city itself — in its totality — has lots of
diversity.
ONE ACQUAINTANCE, a young Asian woman (“We are the one
acceptable minority,” she avers), has had enough of
the hypocrisy of her fellow neo-bohemians. No more will she
patronize any place in which the clientele, audience, or guest list
is less than 10 percent “of color.” Should she find herself in such
loathsome, monochrome surroundings, she immediately turns round and
makes for the exit. What’s more, she carries in her purse little
cards that chide the restaurateur, gallery owner, etc.,
for his lack of diversity. These she places on a table or at the
counter on her way out. Just what the owner is supposed to do (Pull
in random minorities off the street? Offer free refills to
Hispanics?) remains an open question.
It seems to me that she is targeting the wrong people. The
owner of an inner-city coffeehouse has little control over who
comes in to sponge off his free Wi-Fi. If poor minorities avoid
espresso bars it is probably because they think it
absurd to spend $5 for a cup of decaf and $3 for a banana. The same
goes for the Bedouin cuisine at the local Jordanian restaurant. It
is simply a luxury they cannot afford.
Such people can only see people as members of groups,
never as unique individuals. They are forever counting and adding
up percentages. It could be that “out there” there are some very
interesting and kind spirited people. My city friends will never
know, because they refuse to go “out there.” Anyway until the
percentages improve.
