I believe that the distinguishing factor is the noise and the particles in the air. I know I'm in the inner city when I can't get away from noise, whether in a home or a park or garden. I hear traffic, trains, conversations, sirens, industrial loading docks, and the obnoxious buzz of electric parts constantly-- until I reach some pocket or edge of outer city, where crickets can chirp louder than the traffic, and solace is easier to come by.
It's harder to measure the particles in the air by myself, but I know that inner city environments create asthmatics according to generational studies that have been done. I know the inner city absorbs commuters' exhaust and the drafts of industrial fumes and particles from nearby commercial zones, without an amount of vegetation necessary to cleanse some of the carbon from the air. In the outer city, people breathe a bit easier, and property is allowed to be overgrown more often than in the inner city, so vegetation can help with noise and smog.
But besides those things, I don't think we should differentiate inner city from outer urban or suburban environments too much. There are parks & playgrounds in both places; poverty and riches take residence in both environments; there are stupid and mean people to be found anywhere; homes are crowded and homes are abandoned in both realms; safety and power are illusions regardless of the setting; people are accomplishing amazing things in both settings too.
Now.
What distinguishes someone white from someone European or Euro-American? Have you ever even thought about what makes someone white before? If you are white in America, you likely haven't.
I say being white is a mindset. Being European or Euro-American is a general ethnicity. The latter would know and care what their heritage is.
The white mindset is:
- taking racial privilege for granted
- questioning 'people of color' and not seeing any of your own color
- expecting to understand and be understood in every context
- waiting for someone to ask 'How may I help you?'
- never having to go to a special barber because you expect everyone to understand your hair
- identifying with the majority of your country without thinking about it
- considering crime a problem only when it happens to people like you
- having no pride or curiosity about your background, recent or ancient
- trying to figure out who's 'ethnic' and who 'passes'
- referring to your way of life as 'dominant society'
- never questioning your very identity because of biological factors
- thinking of the 'melting pot' as progress
If we could take pride in these little differences that make us uniquely who we are, then that would better unify the human race than assimilation, conformity, or hegemony. We could say 'We are truly all related,' and actually act like it.
Until then, I am researching my heritage and refusing the Caucasian label.
My ancestors didn't exactly come from the Caucasus, I'm not Caucasian, I'm Irish-German-Norwegian-Danish-American.
All of that is supposed to fit into the little 'Caucasian' box on every survey that asks your race. And what is with that extra box saying 'Hispanic- not Caucasian'? Why are they singled out for the separation of the Hispanics?
Anyway, I just check all the racial categories, every time. We are all related. And if the census-taker comes to my door, I'll say I belong to all races and all religions. My specific identity belongs to me, but I belong to the oneness of humanity.
