“And I think there is a big difference between seeing people of color and interacting with them, ‘knowing’ them’. I grew up in a small town of about 20,000 that had a small university. The town was all white, but the university had an exchange program with a few African countries and Vietnam Nam. I happened to go to the university lab school so I saw some of these student, but I did not interact with them (I was 10, they were college students). The rest of my family probably rarely saw them because they weren’t on the college campus. I had no friends who were minorities, no classmates, no neighbors.”
Years ago I dated a girl in high school who was from a poor family and lived in the inner city. She then went to a HBU college and earned a degree in math. She did not have any interactions with white people until she hit the job market after college. She felt uncomfortable for several years until she got adjusted. It does not surprise me that you have blacks and whites who have grew up with people like them their entire childhood and only mingle with different races once they become adults.
Well, I did make reference to greater New Hampshire and New England. Apparently, the kids from Chichester go to high school in Pembroke, which is, as I pointed out, over 90% white. Other neighboring towns are Loudon (98% white), Pittsfield (97% white), and Epsom (99% white). Concord is the nearest city and the capital of New Hampshire; it, too is 92% white. Neighboring Vermont and Maine are both 94% non-Hispanic white. Even neighboring Massachusetts is 84% white. Yes, I could totally see how a kid who stays mostly within the purview of neighboring cities in NH might not know any people of color.
@sseamom - I chose Pembroke almost randomly! 
I was reading an article about NH to get the Census data and saw the name of the town (and Chichester).
@Grainraiser - Yep, it definitely goes both ways! I’m black; when I was younger I lived in more diverse environs, but when I was 12 I moved to a majority black town outside a majority black city (Atlanta). Because of voluntary residential segregation, I went to a 98% black high school - I had one white friend throughout middle and high school. Then I went to an HBC for college. There was definitely an adjustment period when I went to graduate school at Columbia and was in a more diverse area again, and another one when I moved to Seattle to work (I’m very, very often the only person of color in a room. Big rooms). It wasn’t that I never interacted with white people between ages 12 and 22 - I had white professors, and saw white people out and about in stores and other public places - but I didn’t have any meaningful social or professional relationships with very many white people (and seriously none with Asian or Latino people). I’m going to be frank and say that I grew up learning a lot of weird myths and stereotypes about white and Asian people transmitted to me by the adults in my world. There were a lot of things I had to (re-)learn when interacting with more diverse groups of friends and coworkers as I grew up.
And that was in a town that was 84% black, in the metropolitan area of a city that was only about 51% black (majority just barely). Many of the surrounding towns and suburban areas were majority white or a more diverse mix of white and black, and I still had very little meaningful social interaction with white people and families. All of my parents’ friends were black and my entire church congregation was black. Geography and voluntary segregation/behavioral patterns combine in these situations. I can only imagine how low meaningful interaction with other races would have been, for me, if the entire surrounding area within many miles was majority black.
Years ago I read and loved a book by an author named Patricia Raybon,* My First White Friendi*. I am reminded of that by @juillet’s mention of ‘‘one white friend’’.
It has been many, many years, but I remember thinking all the adults in my life should read it. I know she wrote with elegance on being raised to know her worth, to respect her right to be right where she stood, and understand that others must also respect a person who acts in this vein.
The correct acronym is HBCU. Is it possible for a moderator to change the title to accurately reflect how Historically Black Colleges and Universities are to be referenced in informal and formal conversations?
@imwiththeband I asked that it be changed to no avail very early in this thread, post #60.
@imwiththeband Flag it with an explanation of you really want it changed. Mods don’t always see post requests.