Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Racial Diversity in Cohousing

[carol collier (doctor5622no]

 Kathleen, maybe because I am tired, but I guess I am missing your point.  What 
“different culture?” I was trying to respond to what the Black minister 
allegedly said about his culture. Maybe that wasn’t clear in my message. Or, 
maybe my message got sent just to you. I’m not sure. 
    On Saturday, February 18, 2023, 01:55:19 PM HST, Kathleen Lowry 
<kathleenlowrylpcclmft [at] gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Carol, thank you for speaking up. I am sorry- I didn’t really know that to 
some people it is offensive to talk about a “different culture” Thanks very 
much for the education! Kathleen

> On Feb 18, 2023, at 4:35 PM, carol collier via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
> cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
>  As a life long African-American, I really take offense to whomever 
> described us this way. I say shame on them for stereotyping their own people 
> in such an ignorant way.  We come in all flavors. No one in my family talks 
> that way. Actually, no one I associate with talks that way , except people of 
> all ilk that I see in the criminal justice system, and very few of them would 
> dare to do this around me. The majority of my African-American children are 
> vegan/vegetarian. I can well afford to live in cohousing. Yeah, I have 
> Boulder income. We can talk about the biases that have been ingrained in ALL 
> of us about African-Americans. There is some testing from Harvard University, 
> The Implicit Association Test, that one can do for free. For me, I don’t need 
> a certain percentage of POC around me. I just want to feel welcomed, not an 
> outsider. There are things, sometimes subtle, that suggest to me that I will 
> likely or unlikely be welcomed. 
>    On Saturday, February 18, 2023, 04:46:18 AM HST, Zev Paiss <zevpaiss [at] 
>gmail.com> wrote:  
> 
> Friends,
> While I applaud the desire to have racial diversity in our Cohousing 
> communities, what is required for this to happen is typically far beyond the 
> ability (or comfort level) of most current residents or development 
> professionals. I do not say this lightly as diversity is something I have 
> worked to achieve for the past 30 years.
> 
> Racial diversity appears to be a desire of the mostly white upper middle 
> class college educated residents. Why is that?
> 
> I worked on a Denver Cohousing project many years ago where low income 
> residents were the primary demographic. A comment from a black pastor 
> highlighted the challenge. When white folks think of diversity, they imagine 
> having at least one black, Hispanic, and Asian household in their community 
> to help satisfy their desire for racial diversity. From the perspective of 
> the black community they would begin with 50% black households and go from 
> there. I am curious how us lilly white residents would feel living in a 
> cohousing neighborhood where 50% of your neighbors are black, use language 
> you might consider offensive. (Yo nigga wass up?) and sharing meals where 
> vegan and vegetarian options are nowhere to be seen?
> 
> As much as we would like to add this kind of diversity I do not see existing 
> coho residents being up for the task. My opinion only.
> 
> Zev Paiss
> Nomad Cohousing, Founding Member
> Boulder, CO
> 720-232-3826
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