JUNE 2019 // CHARLOTTE 17
JARED MISNER is a writer for this magazine.
His work has also appeared in The Chronicle
of Higher Education, LOGO, and The Knot.WE TALK ABOUT SPORTS. We talk
about movies. We talk a lot in the South
about recipes. And those are really
important—we should know recipes—
but we also must be willing to have
harder conversations with our families.
We’re less likely to have conversations
with those same people about issues of
race and dierence, and we need to go
there, and we have not.
ONE THING THAT’S REALLY PRESENT
in Charlotte is good intentions. Good
intentions are not enough to change
structures.
WE KNOW WE LIVE in a hyper-seg-
regated community, and that govern-
ment regulation was a large part of
how we got here, but we don’t know
what the solution is to that. We don’t
hear about legislative change that
could change that outcome. How do
we get from where we are to where
we want to be? How do we correct the
injustices of the past? That’s not just
creating an even playing eld going for-
ward, because some people are so far
behind that that’s just not gonna work.
They’re not gonna catch up.
PEOPLE HAVE A LOT of neighborhood
prejudice and a lot of preconceived
notions of what’s a good neighbor-
hood and what’s a bad neighborhood.
Is a good neighborhood one that looks
leafy and green but that’s harsh on the
environment? Or is a good neighbor-
hood one that’s easy on the environ-
ment? You have to stop yourself as you
think what’s good. What is your value
system? What kind of neighborhood do
you want to live in? Do you only value
the wealth of your neighbor, or are
there other things you might value in a
neighborhood?
THE WORLD ALWAYS PAYS you back.
It may not be from whom you gave
something to, but the world pays you
back. So give generously, and it comes
back to you. It may not be in the same
form, but it comes back to you.
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