ChiKat

I think our talk about a house is shelved for awhile. The homes we could afford all needed work. If we were already stretching ourselves with a mortgage, it just doesn't seem feasible to afford home repairs in addition to the mortgage.

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I am still very happy with our neighborhood. My husband is pretty sick of it, with the violence and the long commute, but I love our condo and our access to the lakefront. I could be happy here for a few more years, and I think we could even fit another baby into this space. It would be snug, but cozy.

On the other hand, I was excited about the new neighborhood. It was a racially diverse neighborhood, rather than the homogeneous white suburbia I grew up in. I liked the diversity, but what mattered even more to me was the economics.

My current neighborhood has a median household income of $21,000. Over half the residents are on public aid.

The potential neighborhood has a median household income of $59,000.

From living in this neighborhood, I've learned that race doesn't divide us as much as income.

I live in this neighborhood, but I'm not running into my neighbors at the currency exchange. I'm not meeting them at the public aid office. I'm not shopping at the dollar store or eating at the fast food chains.

Just by being here, I'm driving up the cost of housing in the neighborhood. And at some point, I'm going to save enough to move out of this neighborhood. One day I will be able to afford that house with the yard. And I think that luxury, that economic luxury, keeps me segregated way more than race does.