Jaclyn Huelbig,
Edison, NJ.
I’m white. When I was a child, I lived in a city (the type that hipsters remain uninterested in!) and I had friends of all races and religions. I had the benefit, for example, of having a conversation with my friend when she chose to don a hijab (her older sister, on the other hand, had chosen not to wear one) and these childhood experiences heavily inform my worldview. However, as I got older and my family moved to the suburbs, it increasingly felt like I was being sorted. Although I moved to a diverse suburb, people tended to hang out with others from their own demographic group. When I went to one of the most diverse colleges in the country it seemed much the same. Was it me? Was I choosing this? Certainly not consciously. I have my degree in sociology, so, in addition to analyzing my own individual behavior and motivations, I also see this through the lens of my discipline and can’t help but feel as though society sorts us. That deeply saddens me. This gulf that divides us is what makes people fearful of others unlike them, if they only knew how alike they really are they may find their fear melting away.
