On the banks of the Hudson, audaciously staring down the towering skyscrapers of the New York skyline across the murky waters of the river, stands New Jersey’s second-largest city, Jersey City.

These days, Jersey City is a well-known name. The town has been getting tons of media attention for its expanding art scene, its infrastructure development, and its diverse ethnic population. In fact, a 2017 studyreleased by WalletHub named Jersey City the most diverse mid-sized city in the country.

I’ve been a resident of Jersey City for as long as I can remember. I grew up riding my bike through its asymmetric streets on warm summer evenings. I remember time spent in the city's numerous libraries, where I worked on my homework or browsed the shelves for an intriguing read. I attended the city’s underfunded brick-and-mortar public schools, I shopped in the small businesses clustered around main streets such as Newark Avenue or Central Avenue.

But, from all I’ve seen of the city, can I say that it is diverse? To answer that question, I will talk a little more about the idea of diversity.

The word diversity is definedby Oxford English Dictionary as “a range of different things.” However, in contemporary context, the word has come to signify a great deal more. The word “diversity” suggests interracial interaction. It suggests cultural exposure. It suggests more than mere tolerance; it demands understanding.

But this doesn’t always hold true for Jersey City. Driving through the array of neighborhoods comprising it, each economically and culturally distinct, draws one realization- the city is prima facie segregated.

Datacollected by Statistical Atlas shows that ethnic groups within the city are clustered within specific geographic regions. For example, the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood is 64.6 % African American and 6.8% White, while the adjacent Liberty Park area is 68.8% White and 6.4% African American. Meanwhile, the city’s acclaimed waterfront is 53.2% Asian and 7.2% Hispanic.

This phenomenon is microscopic, penetrating into even the smallest localities. It is well known that the population that lives in and around the hub of flashy shops and middle-grade restaurants known as “Indian Market” is overwhelmingly Indian and the demographic within the neighborhood endearingly referred to as “The Colony” is, by a large margin, Pakistani.

A friend of mine who lives in The Colony, in response to my inquisitions, told me, “the Colony is usually referred to as the Pakistani Colony just because the majority of people who live there are new or recent immigrants from Pakistan…The Colony has a really strong culture and many of the people there make strong ties since they are going through similar struggles... It's also a block away from the Muslim Federation of NJ so many people walk from the Colony to the mosque together, specifically on Fridays and religious holidays.”

This information, coupled with my first-hand understanding of the city, permits me to say that it is entirely possible to live within the city without having any significant interactions with people outside a particular demographic. In fact, not only is it a possibility, it’s an actuality. I’ve witnessed groups upon groups of people whose daily lives are so centered within their own communities, that hardly, if ever, do they stray from this comfort.

Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. Staying grounded within your own cultural community eases the assimilation process while also maintaining cultural identity. But what it does mean is that the diversity of Jersey City is not something that we, the residents of the city, can automatically claim as our own. It is not something that we can wear as a de facto badge of honor.

Far too many residents assume the diversity of Jersey City upon themselves. They stand taller, backs straight, shoulders wide, simply because they live in “diversity” and “diversity” is in fashion these days. Too many people use the name of “diversity” to give the impression of being cultured or informed. Yet, many of these same people never venture from the comfort of their high-rise waterfront condominiums to explore the quirky businesses in other areas of the city. They never patronize places like the Erie Street hair salon proudly sprouting the sign “Our haircuts get you laid.” Many of these people will never find themselves, for example, on the corner of Laidlaw and Central, home to the Bollywood movie vendor Milap Audio & Video. Many of them will have few conversations, and even fewer friends, outside of their socioeconomic or cultural communities.

Clearly, living within Jersey City does not automatically mean that you embody or connect with diversity. You must make an active effort to make diversity a part of your life.

McNair Academic High School alumnus Nick Sexton wrote in his 2013 Huffington Postarticle, “My city’s Little India is one of the largest in the Northeast; I can saunter down a single street and buy all the ingredients for masala chai, a sari for my mother, and a life size poster from a recent Bollywood movie.” Here, I agree with Nick: there is great opportunity in Jersey City for people to come in contact with different cultures. But it’s not enough to merely have that opportunity. One must make use of that opportunity. It’s not enough to say that one can saunter down a single street and buy all the ingredients for a masala chai or that one can buy a sari on that same street- one must say that they did. One must be able to say that they often have significant interactions with people of other demographics, that they talk to them, that they go out to dinner with them. Only then, can they claim diversity as theirs.