Tribal Chicago

I get comments from outsiders that live in Chicago that Chicago is "racist and segregated." While I agree to some level of this, I think that this issue is too easily passed off with these terms. I want to ask a little bit more of a deeper question: "Why is Chicago this way?" Someone I know, whose Mother is from Texas, told me that Chicago is even more segregated than the South. This makes little sense at first because the South, historically, has been associated with slavery.

The questions that must be asked is: "Who is racist to whom?" and "Who is segregated and who isn't?" The answer, although changing for the better, is everyone. Whites want to live with whites. Blacks want to live with blacks. Hispanics want to live with Hispanics. Asians want to live with Asians. Keep in mind, I'm generalizing: My point is that similar races want to live with similar races and cultures.


Chicago is an ethnic city. Many people are either straight off the boat or only a few generations isolated from their parents' country. They all have racial terms for each other: Mick, Deigo, Spic, pole lock, one for Puerto Ricans a Mexican told me, shovel head, dot head, wanker, niggers, kiks etc... You may be more likely in Chicago, than other places, to hear these terms thrown around like nothing. The reason for this is because these cultures live in such a close proximity, land area wise, that it was probably ingrained in them from birth. Keep in mind these terms are not always said maliciously and I have honestly seen people be called these names and laugh about it. Although this is diminishing, for the better, it still may shock outsiders. Some races and cultures are more compatible than others. For example: Mexicans, Irish, Italians are all, for the most part, Roman Catholics so you will see a more fluent, although not always, merging of these cultures.


So unlike the South, Chicago has many races, cultures and religions in the same place at the same time. This may appear to magnify the racial issues in Chicago, but I believe this still doesn't fully explain Chicago's racism. There just seems to be an overwhelming population of scumbags, across the board, which prevents Chicago from doing anything great to put it on the map with more important cities its size. Perhaps, this is the problem of the schools, but the schools are only a reflection of culture. I look to nature for the answer.


Besides, the summer which I enjoyed, Chicago is a cold, dark cesspool. People need to band together, at least historically, to survive. People will naturally bind with people like them and fight people that don't for resources. This isn't California or the South where people have mild winters; people are on edge for survival. Chicago is a Tribal city in battle for resources.