Cohousing-L Mailing List: Diversity

[Liz Gewirtz (liz.gewirtz]

This is helpful insight and maybe not the whole story.  I bet there are a
good deal of people of color who are alienated.  I am white, but until the
last 10 years (I'm 54), I lived in diverse neighborhoods.  I grew up, poor,
in a Puerto Rican neighborhood.  I dislike the idea of buying into an all
white community and I hope there are others like me - people of all colors,
who would like to create a community, or perhaps one that already exists.
Do the urban co-housing communities tend to be all white too?

Liz Gewirtz


>
There are many ways to have community in your life, and when I'm in our
booth at a farmers' market and talk with a cross-section of people, the
theme that emerges is "That sounds great, but I already have community
in my life." And when I press a little, I find out it's true. "I've got
three aunts, four uncles, and two sets of grandparents within a block of
where I live." "My church is my community. I'm at choir practice twice a
week, two services on Sunday, the sewing circle on Wednesday afternoons.
How much more community do I need?" "Everyone on my block comes from the
same village in Guatemala. We all grew up together."

What does this tell us? Cohousing is a healing balm for people who grew
up alienated in suburbia. It provides community for people who don't
already have it. The demographics are what they are.





-- 
Liz Gewirtz