The Journal

Issue date: 10/27/05 Section: Opinion/Editorial

Latreecia Wade

St. Louis is finally becoming more culturally diverse. When I was a kid, I attended a predominately black elementary school. My classmates and I thought it was the coolest thing when two Asian sisters enrolled. During recess we circled around the girls. Everyone wanted to be their friend, have them on their team and learn more about their culture. It was unlike anything we'd ever seen.

Now, whole neighborhoods within the metropolitan area are becoming Asian social venues. In fact, University City has several restaurants, grocery stores and shops selling Asian or Pacific Islander specialties. The St. Louis Hispanic, Jamaican, African and Middle Eastern populations have risen dramatically over the past five years.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, St. Louis was made up of 43 percent white, 50 percent African American, two percent Asian, two percent Hispanics and two percent other races. This means the majority of St. Louis is made up of non-whites, and it is definitely starting to show. St. Louis already leads the way in Bosnian immigration. But the city is still behind other American cities in addressing diversity issues.

Unlike Los Angeles and New York, St. Louis is not a coastal city; therefore, we are one of the last cities to embrace new trends in fashion, art and cultural integration. Other cites have even held specific events to celebrate the diversity in all Americans such as the incorporation of the Miss Ethnic USA pageants. In the pageants women of varying cultural backgrounds are featured and acknowledged.

In 1982, former New York Mayor Edward Koch passed a Percent for Art Law, which allowed for one percent of city-funded construction projects to be spent on artwork by artists from different cultural backgrounds, reflecting their traditions for city facilities. These are the types of cultural advances St. Louis has yet to even think of.

I have a couple of friends who are from the East and West Coasts and currently reside in St. Louis. Even though they are from opposite ends of the country, both agree that this river city lacks racial integration. One of them, who's Caucasian, said she had never paid attention to the ethnicity of her friends until she came here. She said no one even gives it a second look where she's from. How did St. Louis fall through the cracks?

Initially, this city was founded on the principles of diversity when French and Spanish settlers traded fur along the riverbanks. Back then, a boom in Irish and German immigrants lead to a meshing of cultures, some of which we still share today.

Neighborhoods were also divided. The majority of blacks lived in North city and county, while most whites and other races resided in either South city or South and West County. Here there was no black and Spanish Harlem, only black and white sections.

Today, with the increased population of ethnic groups moving to the city, it is starting to feel more like the famed New York neighborhood. Bosnian and Hispanic families are living next door to black families in the city. A number of white families are starting to see the advantages of living in the city as well and housing projects aimed at diversifying neighborhoods are underway. Move over Manhattan.



Latreecia Wade, a senior journalism major, is a staff reporter for The Journal.

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