How Black and White is the Roomie Racial Divide?
If you’re not a millionaire or living with family, chances are you’re currently sharing a dorm or an apartment with roommates. Bets are you chose them (or they were selected for you) based on living compatibility: likes, dislikes, level of cleanliness, habits etc. But have you ever really analyzed them based on race?
New studies by several universities have, with several surprising results. Living with a roommate of a different race will decrease your prejudice levels. If you’re a white student (who statistically enters college with the least diverse friendship group), you’ll become the most likely to develop cross-racial relationships, whereas the opposite occurs with black students (they enter with diverse friendship then experience a decline as they seek out people from a similar background). Hispanic and Asian students maintain the same levels as they had before entering freshman year.
On the other hand, cross-racial relationships are more stressful than homogenous ones—they spent less time together and shared fewer friends. However, if they managed to tough it out for 10 weeks, they would both experience an “improvement in racial attitudes.”
Which is all very interesting. Come to think of it, I suppose I had a cross-racial roommate experience in freshman year, as I lived with a girl who had an Indian heritage. Honestly though, I never thought of our cohabitation in racial terms. I don’t remember her as “that-Indian-girl-who-improved-my-racial-attitude,” but rather as an annihilator of fire alarms, a lover of jumping on streetside couches, and an all-around amazing person to be around. In other words, I see her as a friend, not as a member of any particular race. And isn’t that the way the world should be?
