I grew up in the great state of New Hampshire ("Live free or die") which is one of the most racially homogeneous states around. NH is 0.7% black, compared to 12.3% nationally, which puts it even behind Utah, and slightly ahead of North Dakota.

My best friend when I was 5 was a black kid in my neighborhood named Jamie (who had white parents) but aside from one black student in my high school, that was the entire population of black people I ran into in 13 years as a NH resident.

Diversity policies at universities were meant to benefit people like me: a white kid from a very white state. What did I know about people of color?

Indeed, nothing. But the homogeneity of New Hampshire did not give rise to xenophobic-type racism (as perhaps it does other places). NH is tagged as a conservative state but it's libertarian-style, not wingnut-style. People enjoy being left alone to do their thing -- live free or die, man. That translates into a respect for other people's privacy, and a respect for differences.

For example, there are a surprising number of gay people around Manchester NH (where I grew up). Nobody would think of it as a big gay scene. But the gay people I've met who live in NH enjoy that aspect -- they can just be gay in their own (often extremely boring) way. They don't have to conform to some prevailing culture of urban gayness.

Surely, there are homophobes and racists in NH, like there are anywhere else. But culturally NH is oriented towards a kind of social quid pro quo -- I won't express an opinion about how you live your life, as long as you don't insist that I have to take an interest in it. As an adult, that seems like an eminently fair exchange.

As I've proceeded through higher education & later the world at large, the 'As White As New Hampshire' test has always been my benchmark for diversity measurement. I look around environments that ought to be 'diverse' and say 'why is this place as white as New Hampshire?'

Here's an example: the Bay Area technology industry. There's a large population of blacks in the region, mostly in the East Bay. I worked in technology for six years and dealt with hundreds of people at dozens of companies. I met exactly ONE black person. He was a graphic designer at a software company. I met exactly ZERO black engineers.

Why is this place as white as New Hampshire?

04 Nov 05