Many problems in the past resulted from ignorance. Presently, greater
strides toward the understanding of other cultures have reduced racism,
and people of all races and religion populate "old" Greenbelt.
Nat Shinderman remembers when a financially stable,
nice, black couple applied to live in Greenbelt in the mid 1960s. The
neighbors of the vacated house in which they wished to live "expressed
reservations" about living next to a black family. Nat, being on the
Board of Directors, decided with the other eight Board members that there
were no reasons why the couple should not move in, and they accepted the
couple unanimously. The ironic aspect is that the neighbors eventually
got "very friendly" with the new couple, who later moved out after a year.
Nat
believes they were part of some test to determine if Greenbelt was fair in
its choosing of residents.
Susan Smithers, a (white) librarian at Greenbelt
Public Library, has lived in "old" Greenbelt since 1981. During the past
five years,
she's noticed "the blossoming of cultural diversity". There has been an
increase of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Russians, etc. living in the
community. When asked if the different ethnic groups mixed, she responded
with uncertainty. "It really depends on how involved you want to get,"
she concluded. Her inablility to provide a definitive answer led me to
believe that the groups really do not intermingle. I think that the
recent influx of people of different nationalities has not provided enough
time for the different people to really understand and get to know each
other. Susan assures me that there are annual community activities that
encourage residents to find out more about each other and their ethnic
origins.
Despite the open minded attitudes of most of the residents of Greenbelt,
Mary Wirick, a resident of Greenbelt for the past
15 years, feels that prejudiced views linger, especially among the older
citizens of the town. Her general impression of the town fourteen years
ago was that no blacks inhabited the town. The town continues to be a
"lily white, white community" although she does see more black families
populate the town and mingle with the local residents. As recently as
twelve years ago, some of her black friends were reluctant to send their
children to the local Greenbelt schools because of the different treatment
non-white kids received from the white kids. In terms of race, she now
sees that her daughter feels excluded at school because she is not black
as the black population increases at a nearby high schools.
On the other hand, Jones Corita, a (black)
seventeen year old high schooler, who has resided in old Greenbelt all of
her life, has experienced absolutely no racial tension. She's had lots of
opportunities living in the area to join all sorts of sports teams and
camps, and extra curricular activities, and great schooling. Her outgoing
and accessible personality leads me to believe that she is able to
befriend people of all races and dispel any racist thoughts people might
think, therefore resulting in her successful experiences in Greenbelt thus
far. Also, youths tend to be more open minded, especially when exposed to
people of diverse cultural backgrounds, thus reducing ignorance.
Nonetheless, she does observe the tendency of people to hang out according
to their ethnic groups, which can be seen everywhere, not just "old"
Greenbelt. This breaking off into groups can be ascribed to the comfort
one feels in grouping off because of similar backgrounds (such as similar
racial backgrounds). "It's not like a group says 'you can't be with
us,'" Jones explained. Her parents, who have lived in old Greenbelt for
the past thirty five years, also did not complain of any racially
motivated incidents. Although the Corita family is the only black family
I interviewed, their general satisfaction with living in Greenbelt
suggests that exclusion (if any) in Greenbelt is not really based on
race.
A (white) man, who will remain nameless,
has been a denizen of Greenbelt since the late 1970s, was not aware of any
black families in the town until the past five years and claims that he
has not noticed any racial exclusion. He mentioned that the black
families moving into the area are "fairly well off" because they can
afford the more expensive houses. He predicts that more black
families
that are economically better off than the white families will continue to
populate Greenbelt. He sounded a tad resentful but did not explicitly
state what he was attempting to convey to me by providing me with his
observations. I remember reading a Washington Post article about a
year ago about Prince George's County. Some citizens were annoyed that
the blacks seemed to be getting more rich and more powerful than the white
people, which they felt was wrong. I am not accusing my source of
being racist in any way, but I am pointing out that his statement seemed
to echo what was said in the article. In William
Geist'sToward a Safe and Sane Halloween and Other Tales of
Suburbia, there is a story about peeved, old white guys who cannot
afford to patronize a golf club anymore because the new Japanese ownership
hiked up membership fees. Some racist sentiments against the Japanese are
expressed. I can't help but wonder if some white people feel the same
type of resentment toward the black families that can afford the high
priced housing. Would they feel the same way toward white families?
Mary Lou Williamson offered me a caveat before I
began asking her questions: "Because I am white, I may give you biased
answers." In general, she does not see Greenbelt as exclusionary. In the
past, most of the negative incidents were carried out by uneducated
people. She recalls printing a story and a photo of a black girl in
The Greenbelt News Review many years ago. A young man was incensed
at her decision and told her so after the story was run. Also, about 15
years ago, there was a cross burned in a black family's yard, and the
first black principal at the elementary school in Greenbelt received some
death threats, resulting in her eventual resignation. Despite these
racist incidents, these are all she knows of since moving into the
neighborhood in the 1960s. As Greenbelt was integrating, she recalls many
Greenbelt parents volunteering as escorts to protect the black and
white
kids that were bussed into the community. From her own personal
knowledge, the other two "green towns" have not been successful at
(or have not attempted) integrating as recently as the past ten
years. She ascribes the low number of black families living in Greenbelt
to the small houses available, not to an exclusive neighborhood. When the
families can afford to move out
from the apartments, moving into one of the historic Greenbelt homes would
be
like moving into an apartment again, so usually, they choose to move into
the bigger houses near historic Greenbelt.
The eradication of racism is far from over, although race
relationships
have definitely improved. Greenbelt is not really different from any
other part of the United States: they have problems, too. But, most of
the local citizens really seemed to make an effort to see and understand
the cultural diversity the community houses. As I walked around the
neighborhood, I saw families of all races playing together, eating lunch,
and taking strolls around the neighborhood. I don't think many
suburban neighborhoods, including mine, really attempt to understand
the ethnic origins of their neighbors. Instead, everyone seems to
conform to the existing norms regarding how to behave, act, dress, and who
to
associate with. Those not in keeping with these predefined criteria are
excluded, whereas Greenbeltians seem proud of their diversity and
encourage their residents to teach each other about their ethnic origins.
The general consensus is that Greenbelt is very open and idealistic, with
the same beliefs that they had when Greenbelt was first constructed.
Tariq
Dahmas
sees the degradation of these ideals as Greenbelt became more developed,
however.
Carlos
Delasobera concludes
that Greenbelt was more progressive than the rest of the country and his
observations still seems to hold true.