It is interesting to look back. I asked some family members last week if they ever had African American friends. None of us had. One is a former Navy Captain and he said he had never known any black officers.
I went to high school in Cupertino, CA and there were no black students. There were Asians and some Hispanics (although the "beaners" as I unthinkingly referred to them mostly attended a school across town). The 60s were before the time when the wave of East Indians migrated to Silicon Valley.
Throughout my career, I worked with some minorities (but not a lot). I was friendly with them as co-workers, but not close.
I lived in Polynesia and Melanesia for a decade where only about 5% of the population was Caucasian. Even so, I primarily congregated and made friends with the other foreign contract workers in our compound. I still keep in touch with some of them but none of the Samoans, Tongans, Chamorros, Fijians, etc.
Throughout my life, I can honestly say I've never had a close friend who wasn't Caucasian. Never been to the house of an African American. Never lived in a neighborhood that wasn't overwhelmingly white. Certainly not in North Dakota.
Was any of that deliberate on my part? I don't think so, but it is a fact.
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