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

[Kathleen Lowry (kathleenlowrylpcclmft]

Carol, I’m tired too- didn’t use enough words I think. Such a complicated 
topic. Thanks again- I’ll remember what you said. Kathleen

> On Feb 18, 2023, at 6:15 PM, carol collier via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
> cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
>  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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