Are we too white?

Our industry is overwhelmingly a white, middle class one. Is that because only white, middle class Americans are interested in gardening? I doubt it.

My guess is that ethnic groups in your community see only whites in charge of garden centers, and only whites shopping there, and decide to not risk possible hostility and shop instead at more pluralistic places like Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

We whites don’t think about how off putting we can be en masse.

For a couple years in college, I roomed with Kim, who is black. We had a lot in common -- wide ranging interests, laid back attitudes, and most essential for successful roommate pairings, the same cleanliness level. In our case, we were picky about the bathroom and kitchen, and didn’t much care about the rest of the place.

I grew up in a town where the population was pretty evenly split between blacks and whites, and we all mixed together in the schools. I thought I knew black culture pretty well. I found out pretty quickly I understood very little of the black experience in Texas.

For the first time, I saw the constant, small slights handed out as Kim and I went about shopping, eating out and joining friends at the park. And I learned all kinds of inconsequential things, like how different Kim’s hair care regimen was from mine.

The funny thing is, Kim didn’t really learn anything new about whites from me. My culture rules the airwaves. How we groom, what images we identify with and so on are out there for everyone to see.

That was when I began to understand how isolated minority groups can feel.

Now, put that together with how homogenous our customers are, and I began to wonder, what would happen if garden retailers made an effort to reach more of their community than just those who are like themselves.

Hit the books… rather, the Web
If you’d like to reach out to other communities, here are a couple of Web sites to get you started.

EPodunk.com. EPodunk pulls vast data available from the U.S. Census Bureau and makes it accessible. You can type in a small town, and presto, you’ll have quite a bit of data available. Go after the demographic info like race and ancestry.

U.S. Census. If you are the sort that likes to go straight to the source, then the U.S. Census is for you. Both the 2000 major census and American Community Survey, a yearly survey, will have a wealth of basic information.

Once you have a broad idea of who lives near you, you need to dig further. If you can identify community leaders, such as professors, ministers and foundation chairpersons, invite one of them to lunch so you learn as much as you can.

If you have trouble identifying community leaders, you might want to check out the data rich site ReligionLink.org. It’s a newsletter for reporters on the religion beat, and offers exhaustive lists of people who would be good to interview on various issues.

More importantly, the editors occasionally create pages focusing on specific ethnic groups in America. The three I found on a quick search were Asians, African Americans and Hispanics. The topics slant to the religious, considering it’s a Web site for religion reporters. But these pages also include demographic data and contact information for ethnic leaders all over the U.S.

Happy digging!

-- Carol

Comments

[ricardo maxwell]

This article is typical of what is wrong with America today. Most Americans go about their daily lives without a thought of prejudice or color or creed, especially horticulturists. All you guilt ridden lefties out there must have done something to feel guilty about. My advice, work hard, take care of your family, treat others the way you would like to be treated, and stop whining about everything.