Come visit Interrupting Privilege at the Northwest African American Museum! Click here to learn more about the exhibit

We Don’t Know Our Neighbors

In this clip, two Black men describe how dispersed the Black community is compared to the 60s and 70s. They begin by talking about how neighborhoods and homes are constructed nowadays to emphasize a backyard as opposed to a front yard. One of the men recalls how in the 60s and 70s the front yard was a place to connect and form community and to spend time with one another. The backyard doesn’t allow that kind of connectivity and instead prioritizes privacy and enclosure. The other dialogue partner responds that some of the disconnection is due to class separation.

Some of the socialization and the changes that has happened… has kind of caused us to be not as close as we could be or should be in that regard