“40% Caucasian, 40% Asian, 20% Other” I read in my high school’s newspaper, it was the “demographics” of our school population. The other 3 public schools in my area had similar numbers, except for one, where the demographics read “30% Caucasian, 20% Asian, 50% Other”. They then displayed the average test scores, with my high school scoring an average of 1900 on the SAT, and it was even higher for the other schools in my district. However for that one school again, the SAT score was significantly lower, at 1500. This demographic and test score average survey was my wakeup call to the “diversity” that was around me.

As a junior in high school, I was already used to walking into a classroom, and being the darkest person in the room, “that’s just life” I told myself, until I read that survey. Most of my classmates didn’t bat an eye, nothing stood out to them. The fact that the words “Hispanic/Latinx” and “Black” were labeled under “Other” wasn’t enough to convince them that something was wrong about it. I couldn’t figure out what exactly was wrong with it until I got home and had dinner.

After attempting to do my Algebra 2 homework, I found myself staring out the window, losing myself completely in my thoughts. I lived in a neighborhood where a lot of houses were obscenely overpriced, and a small number of apartments. However, while pondering deeper and deeper into my thoughts, I recalled the school that scored low on average for the SAT, the 1500 school, Jackson High. The area around Jackson instead of being filled to the brim with houses, was mostly surrounded by apartments. Ellis, my high school, placed in the top 200 high schools in the nation, with Jackson, not even in the top 1,000. I then suddenly recalled my darker skin tone and latin background, then it all hit me.

Ellis, despite being acclaimed as one of the most diverse schools, was diverse, but not diverse enough. While the variety of Asian culture clubs and others clubs were very prominent on campus, the Latino club and Black Student Union, were hardly visible at all. Plus, many of the students at Ellis were Upper-Middle to Upper Class, which definitely contrasted with the middle to lower class population at Jackson. Jackson also happened to be the place where there were more people of Latin and African descent, this is where the “50% Other” comes in.

“Not in the liberal west” I continually thought. How could this housing de facto racial division still be a thing out here, when we region-wise are known for our diversity, are known for our inclusiveness? Jackson, the school where there were significantly more people like me, had a worse reputation, one that was wrapped around violence and gangs. I remember hearing that fights would happen there everyday. But I kept asking myself why? Why do so few Blacks and Latinx live where I live, attend the school I go to? Why?

Then after 5 minutes, I found my answer, location. Ellis high was surrounded by the pretty facade of Suburbia, where more of the well-off lived. For Jackson again, it was mostly made up of apartments instead of houses, where more of the middle-lower economic class resided.

I lastly thought, “why not mix the two?”, “why not intertwine the student population of the two distinct schools, to make it more diverse?”. What Ellis was wasn’t enough for me. My high school didn’t paint a picture of the real world for me, where there are people of many different cultures around, where there are very little percentages of “Other” and more labeled races and ethnicities.

It all felt like a bubble, a bubble too big that would to pop soon enough. However, I had math homework that I needed to get back to, so I stopped thinking, and started writing. Change like that wouldn’t come soon anyway, redistricting would need to happen first.