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Not just ‘self’ segregation

March 5, 2003 Articles, Princeton writings
The buzzword du jour on campus is "self-segregation" so I too will add my two cents. Although the recent discussions have centered on self-segregation by Asian Americans on campus, I hope to speak to a larger audience. After all, at the end of the day, we all put our pants on one leg at a time. Should we expect that in a colour-blind society that roommate draws will reflect a random selection from the population? This would seem silly since the friends that one keeps would be correlated to one's ethnicity, since people of similar backgrounds would share some common values, experiences, culture, etc. In any case, just to look at the phenomenon of room drawing misses out on the greater point of social integration. What about on the Street? or whom one befriends? I think the notion of "self"-segregation is insensitive to any person who has been excluded from a group. How you perceive yourself and how you want to fit into society is secondary. What probably matters more is how others perceive you and where they allow you to feel comfortable. And this is the crux, since one can only peripherally influence the views of society. Even as…

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