Everyone gravitates toward people and people groups that are “like us”. We see it in all facets of life. The tendency to associate with our “own kind” begins early in life, on the playground. Kids tend to form cliques. They give themselves names like, jocks, nerds goths, burnouts,  and so on. Consider the classic “no girls allowed” sign under the treehouse.

This tendency is very human. The athletes stick together; the smart kids stick together; fraternities and sororities stick together; Italians, Irish, Mexicans, whatever people make up the current immigrant wave, stick together. The poor associate with the poor, and the rich associate with the rich.

The racial divide is, perhaps, the most ugly example of this tendency in our country, and one that we still deal with after many years of “equal protection under the law” and civil rights movements and ant-discrimination statutes. Continue reading →