Diversity. When it comes to race, depending on who's asked, you may get mixed emotions about the word, ranging from embracing the idea of racial diversity to fearing it.
Welcoming people who don't look like them or share their beliefs makes some people uncomfortable. They may even feel threatened. I fall into the embracing category.
When I was growing up, as far as I was concerned, there were only two races in the world — Black folks and white folks. Period. During my school days at Eureka Elementary, when segregation was still the norm, my classmates looked like me, in that we all had the same skin color.
As one of the earliest students to integrate the Hattiesburg Public Schools system, I discovered what it was like to be a minority in my classrooms. That would have been 1967, the second full school year of "Freedom of Choice" in Mississippi, where students were free to attend the public school of their choice. I chose Hawkins Junior High School.
At Hawkins, there were maybe 50-60 Black students out of a population that numbered into the hundreds. In 1970, my high school years began at S.H. Blair High, where I remember having, maybe, three Asian American classmates. I can't remember even one Hispanic. I still lived in, basically, a Black and white world. My college days at the University of Southern Mississippi meant seeing more people of different races and nationalities but I had little interaction with them.
My world view on race evolved exponentially in the 1980s when I moved to Los Angeles. Living there was like having a room at the United Nations. Name a race or nationality and, absolutely, you saw members of those groups every day. I'm happy to say I met people from every continent on Earth when I lived in Southern California. I consider myself privileged to have done so.
Upon returning to Hattiesburg in the 1990s, racial diversity would be something I'd miss about my Southern California experience. Getting to meet and befriend people who did not look like me was an education all by itself. But the times, they are a-changing.
In 21st century Hattiesburg, we're seeing lots of new faces, and they don't fit into the Black and white categories we've been used to most of our lives. Hattiesburg is no exception to America's fast-changing demographics. We're becoming a more racially diverse city.
An increasingly eclectic mix of minority residents are calling Hattiesburg home. Our largest new minority, as in the rest of the United States, is our rapidly emerging Hispanic community. In fact, Hispanics have eclipsed Blacks as the second largest minority group in this country. Many of them have been drawn to the Pine Belt taking advantage of employment opportunities, including those in our burgeoning poultry industry.
Forget those "build the wall" cries, too. In addition to the many other contributions they make to this country's economy, you can thank Hispanics and Latino Americans (who may belong to any racial group) for bringing a wide variety of the foods that end up on our dinner tables. This country's economy would come to a halt without their hard work, often performing jobs many Americans take a pass on.
Hispanics aren't the only ethnic minority showing up in and around Hattiesburg. If you've stopped at one of our local convenience stores lately, you're bound to have noticed those stores being owned and operated by people of Middle-Eastern or Indian descent. One of those stores even has a section for prepackaged foods you'd expect to see only on the shelves of a food store in India. Several neighborhood markets dedicated to carrying Hispanic foods now dot metro Hattiesburg, too.
Back in the day, you could count the number of Asian restaurants in Hattiesburg on a finger or two. Unschooled as we were on such things, they were simply "Chinese" restaurants to us. Today, Hattiesburg offers a variety of authentic Asian eateries, including Thai and Vietnamese. A growing number of members of those groups now live among us.
Like most cities in this country, and particularly in the South, Hattiesburg has its share of racial conflict in our history. There's no point in shying away from that truth. Still, the Hub City seems to have always been a step ahead of the rest of Mississippi when it comes to race relations. It's encouraging to see how we're working to meld a changing demographic into our city's social fabric.
Drive safely past Sacred Heart Catholic Church on any given Sunday. I say drive safely because you'll encounter dozens of Latino families crossing Walnut Street headed for that church's Spanish-speaking Sunday services. Also, just around the corner from Sacred Heart, you'll discover the Korean Presbyterian Church.
The corner of Bouie and 7th streets, my old neighborhood, the Goula, was once home to a grocery market called Hiatt Brothers. The store was owned by a white family, serving the shopping needs for our predominately Black neighborhood. As more people gained access to automobiles, neighborhood markets slowly disappeared, with shoppers driving to the big-box retailers on the west side of town. Long ago closed, the former Hiatt Brothers store is now home to a Spanish-speaking Pentecostal church congregation, in the heart of the Goula no less. Who would have ever thought?
Hattiesburg is becoming more of an international city, much like our big city southern siblings New Orleans and Atlanta. As we meet people who don't look like us or believe as we do, it presents an opportunity to learn about them and their cultures. During my years in Los Angeles, one thing I discovered is that while our upbringing and beliefs may not be the same, one thing is universal. We share the same hopes and dreams for the future.
Apprehension about meeting someone who doesn't look like you is self defeating and, quite possibly, a missed opportunity. The more you get to know people who are "different" from you, the more you're bound to realize we're really not that different after all.
So, extend a welcome to that new neighbor who just arrived in Hattiesburg. We will all be better for it.
Elijah Jones is a proud Hattiesburg native who enjoys writing. Email him at edjhubtown@aol.com.
