I didn’t even think about race when I was younger. There were black, brown, Asian and then like one white person in our school. It wasn’t until like high school when I noticed segregation. A lot of the separation was grouping based on cliques and popularity but it does often fall back to what you look like and what is relatable to you.
I don’t keep count, but I definitely have black friends. I have friends of Chinese descent, Japanese descent, Salvadorian, and Irish. I don’t pick my friends based off race. Do you pick friends off race? I think racist people do that. I base the relationship on how we communicate and how we hang out. If you’re a black person who mostly hangs out with black people because there’s a huge African American community where you live, where you work, and where you hang out then of course that’s what happens. That’s different. That’s how it was for a lot of people.
I think that the higher educated you get the more you realize people that don’t look like you aren’t as scary and not everybody that looks like you wants to relate to you. You might have to branch out and get out of your comfort zone. Our city has been changing. San Francisco, as we know it, is becoming less and less diverse. There are more black people outside of San Francisco than in the heart of the 7x7 San Francisco city where there’s not many at all. I definitely see a lot of Asians and I still see a lot of Latinos in their same neighborhoods, but the black community is definitely lacking in the city. A lot of the people I grew up around are not here.
Isiah Ball
Standup Comedian and Writer