What is a black or white community to you?

No such unified thing exists, in either case.

A white community is where the residents are mainly white skin people and same for black skin people. I have a mixture of skin tones in my neighborhood and we see each other as the individuals we are.

A community to me, be it ethnic, sexual orientation, or whatever, is a group of people who come together for friendship and support, sometimes based on having a shared experience or ‘thing’ in common.

I think of North Philly and Society Hill. I think of schools where not a lot of learning goes on and schools that provide an excellent preparation for kids. I think of economic disparity. I think the legacy of slavery has incredible staying power. I think of researchers studying these things and making careers out of it, and I think of how hard it is to make progressive change in this culture.

NYC

This may be way off base, but the first thought is of a community or association with strict adherence to rules, e.g. building codes, length of grass, parking on the street.

My neighborhood is very white. Parts of Memphis are very black. I live about 25 minutes from downtown Memphis. In between there are neighborhoods that are more mixed. What I miss is very diverse communities since I have moved here.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Why did you answer? It was evasive and a denial of what really is?

I think of communities where the majority of residents are one or the other color. Good communities exist [@Pied_Pfeffer] with black residents that are just as meticulous. The same goes for various Latino, Indian, and various Asian communities. We should stop looking at the world as a two color place, and get rid of the phrase black/white…. even though those two have been at odds the most throughout human history.

On the other hand, there are communities with many different racial backgrounds. I think I am happiest when I live in these locales.

@squirbel I’m not clear on why you mentioned me. My original post had nothing to do with skin color. It stems from having friends that live in gated communities. Another example is the town Dublin, Ohio, where some commercial buildings need to be brick and the signs green and only posted at certain heights. In both of these instances, there is no flexibility; it is either black or white (right or wrong).

Like JLeslie, I also live in the Memphis area. However, the neighborhood I live in has a pretty decent mix of blacks, whites and Muslims. Personally, I like it that way.

Oh, were we supposed to explain what we think of in terms of what the neighborhoods look like? Previous to Memphis I did not think in my mind whites live in one kind of neighborhood, and blacks in another. Like I said I lived in very diverse communities, have always had friends from practically every corner of the earth, and came in ever skin color shade, religion, etc. Now here in Memphis it seems very black and white to me, and the very black areas generally are impovershed and bad neighborhoods. I live in an upper middle class neighborhood. The areas that are more mixed, more balanced in the ratio of white and black, I honestly don’t know their socio-economic situations or what they are like, I am so removed from it. I find that depressing. I have heard too many people refer to Memphis negatively as Memfrica and I find it disgusting and shocking.

@squirbel I gave my answer to the OP’s question and I stand by it – there is no such thing as ‘all black people’ or ‘all white people’ whatsoever – groups differ by city, parts of cities, ethnicity, religion, communities. You can’t say ‘all black people like xyz’ and so forth and so on. The OP asked my first thought that came to mind and that’s what came to mind. Are you saying that my first thought is simply incorrect because you think otherwise?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: The OP wasn’t asking what people of a general color liked – s/he asked “what comes to mind when you hear ‘black’ or ‘white’ communities”.

What I was saying was incorrect was the typical response that says “don’t put people in a box”, because it didn’t fit in this situation.

@squirbel That’s what came to my mind, typical or not. I disagree that it didn’t fit the situation. But thanks for the concern.

No problem. I hate it when people say things sarcastically.

@squirbel Yeah, you don’t like a lot of things.

NEIGHBORS.