<p>“… and there are some black people around” lol ftw. If anyone honestly has a problem with that they shouldn’t go to college anyway. Not every black guy is going to rob you! I’m tired of these frieken steretypes. No matter what i do, where i go, I’m always just BLACK. What am i supposed to say? I’m sorry i look this way? ANd i love how you only said “black people.” No hispanics, asians, indians, arabics, etc. If you’re just refering to mixed races, i don’t see why black people should be the only possible problem. </p>
<p>^^ I’m being very blunt here for a particular reason. When I said Hyde Park is a mixed race community, I meant that it has a significant black population. According to wikipedia, it’s 43.5% white, 37.7% black, 11.3% Asian, 4.11% Hispanic, 3.39% other. </p>
<p>I’m willing to bet that most students who arrive at the U of C don’t come from an area with this much racial diversity or socioeconomic diversity, so this change can be startling to them. That’s not to say that they are willingly racist or that they think all black people are going to rob them, but rather that anybody who comes here has to learn how to manage their expectations for what they are going to see when they walk down 53rd street. </p>
<p>Sometimes when people beat around the bush on the safety issue-- they ask about Hyde Park being “comfortable,” or “urban,” or whatever, I get the sense that they are really asking how many black people they are going to see if they walk off-campus. And the answer is you’ll see some, so get used to it!</p>
<p>I didn’t mean that comment to be offensive-- believe me-- but rather truthful to the situation that many people are asking about.</p>