Anchorage's centennial year is drawing to a close, and the remarkable summer with it. The concerts, parties and plays are over, and the golden hues of the birch leaves signal closure. It was entertaining, for sure. Was it illuminating?
If one thing stands out as a conclusion about who we are, it seems to be diversity. UAA Professor Chad Farrell's analysis of the ethnic and racial composition of Anchorage schools and neighborhoods over the last few years set the stage. As most know by now, Anchorage has the three most diverse high schools in the nation: East, Bartlett and West. Mountain View is the most diverse neighborhood. Todd Hardesty celebrated that diversity in his centennial film "Anchorage Is," as did Charles Wohlforth in his marvelous centennial history "From the Shores of Ship Creek."
One interesting feature of the community is how physically integrated it is. At least in the older parts of the city, housing itself is diverse; small bungalows sit next to high-rises and McMansions. Lots on many blocks are not uniformly zoned, so commercial properties abut residential ones. Planning and zoning came late to the city, and have been modest compared with U.S. cities of similar size. The variegated housing has encouraged integrated neighborhoods, where residents of different income levels, educational attainment, career paths, social networks -- and ethnicities -- live close together, and interact with one another routinely.
Moreover, with the continuing work of redefining equality generated by the civil rights revolution, minorities are more fully integrated into the economic, social and political structure of Anchorage life. In fact, collectively, they're not the minority anymore, at least not in Anchorage schools. Anyone wishing to see just how diverse the town is need only stop by the main office of the Division of Motor Vehicles any afternoon.
As should be plainly evident, the integration is not complete; culture change takes generations. There are still some in the community who don't understand that people living in poor conditions often do not choose to live where and how they do, but don't have the money to live elsewhere nor the effective education to live differently. And change is uneven. Columnist Mike Dingman is right to call out those who claim sympathy with people who are different from them but can't overcome their discomfiture when around those not like themselves (ADN, Sept. 16). Income inequality is growing in the U.S. when it should be shrinking. The number of homeless schoolchildren is exploding nationally, though that number has come down some in Anchorage recently.
But the fact that people of different ethnicities, nationalities and backgrounds choose to live in Anchorage suggests that they're comfortable here. Some argue that the Permanent Fund dividend draws people here, but the low annual inflow and outflow of population doesn't confirm that idea. And in any case, the dividend can only be regarded as supplementary, even for a large family. Actually, Anchorage has always been a city of immigrants of various kinds, and it's becoming more so.
But physical integration did not always characterize Anchorage's diversity. Before the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which seems like it should have come earlier but didn't, redlining characterized some Anchorage neighborhoods. Redlining was the practice of banks and real estate agencies segregating housing by refusing to sell mortgages and homes to African-Americans and other minorities in certain neighborhoods. Bankers might have objected to the practice, but to sell their mortgages in segregated America, they had to go along with the practice. Paradoxically, minority members of the community often expressed positive feelings about Anchorage, but they couldn't live in some places they might have wished to. Hopefully, any vestiges of such segregation are gone, or should be.
In fact, diversity is complex. As the present debate over immigration here and abroad forces us to recognize once again, it's one thing to proclaim inclusion and quite another to live it. We can't have our cake and eat it too; it's both churlish and illogical to say we're a nation of immigrants and close the door on those who've come late. Our diverse neighborhoods and schools are a positive face on the immigration issue, a good start for the next hundred years.
Steve Haycox is professor emeritus of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.