Diversity???

As I research the parks I plan to visit and develop criteria for my research, the subject of diversity keeps coming up. I was born and raised in Seattle WA. in the cities Central District and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. Both areas are known for their cultural and racial diversities. The people I grew up with are from all types of races and cultural backgrounds. My religious background is equally diverse. Both my grandmothers are fundamentalist Christians, I went to a Lutheran school for 12 years,my father almost converted to Islam (a lot of his friends are Muslim), and I went to catholic mass with my stepmother regularly for ten years. On top of all of that, I,m Black/African American. I thought my life was a text book example of "Diversity". However, my diverse background is not economically diverse AT ALL. My research on diversity in parks in big cities has made it clear that real diversity involves economics. The goods and services in a community usually reflect the economic majority in the community. People who live in communities with money have better schools, stores, and access to the environment. People in poor communities usually have poor quality goods and services, and limited to know access to the environment. I'm realizing that even in big cities that are not geographically huge and most of the residents live relatively close to each other. The neighborhoods they live in are not economically diverse. Urbanites are some of the most economically segregated people in America.
Whenever I talk about cultural and racial diversity people are all over it. We have come a long way in the past 50 years in this country when it comes to respecting peoples differences. Race, gender, and sexual equality are a big part of our current national cultural debate and tolerance( I hate that word) for people who are different has become our politically correct societal norm. As soon as I start talking about people of different economic status living together, I can here the fingernails clawing the blackboard written all over their PC faces. The divisions between rich and poor in America is rapidly expanding and most people don't want to be associated with the poor side.The city of Seattle is turning what used to be lower income housing projects into mixed income communities. The idea is that people from upper to lower class income brackets will 'buy' homes in these developments to promote diversity and upward mobility. If the idea works, it could be a model of real ecological democracy. I had a conversation about this with my mother, who is a child of the civil rights movement, single mother, dreadlock wearing feminist, who ironically was raised in one of the projects being renovated." who really want's to live with poor people" she said as her eyes rolled . I couldn't believe that she actually said it even though her attitude is the prevailing one. From militant black folks to liberal college professors, many eyebrows have raised when I talk about the have and have nots cohabiting. A lot of people want to end poverty, but have no interest in poor people, especially living next to them.

Economics are a big part of diversity that our bling obsessed society loves to overlook. We think the best way to give poor people a voice is to eliminate poverty through charity or other subsidies. These efforts are well intentioned , but they do not facilitate true democracy. Whether we chose to see the poor people amongst us or not, their voices and needs are vital to real diversity and ecological democracy. We are diligently working for equal rights in this country and marginalize the poor at the same time, as if they don't count.

Yes I was born a poor black child to an unwed mother in the ghetto, but my upbringing is more middle class than impoverished. Seattle is home to some of the wealthiest people on the planet and the community's attitudes reflect that. More and more of the city is being designed for upwardly mobile residents, marginalizing the poor and low income. The fear of being "poor" is palpable these days so people run from it as fast as they can. When the poor have a place at our collective table and we acknowledge the real economic differences between us, only then will we achieve true "diversity" and maybe that will put us on a path to ecological democracy.