When Sasha Cooper-Morrison was in the third grade, she and her best friend, Catherine Smith, were photographed as they locked legs in a swing together. The elementary school officials patted themselves on the back: not only were these two adorable little girls, but Sasha was African American and Catherine was white. The photograph made it onto the cover of the school's magazine and annual report, sent out to hundreds of parents, prospective families and alumni.
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Instant friends
The two met at Potomac School in McLean, Va., in the second grade. Catherine had started there in first grade, and Sasha joined her a year later. The two quickly became friends, spending the night at each other's houses, attending one another's birthday parties, doing the fun things most second graders do. "Somehow we just started talking one day and we just became instant friends. I guess we discovered that we had a lot of the same interests," Sasha said. She also noted that their parents' friendship played a big role in ensuring that the girls remained close. "My mom met her parents and saw how liberal they were and how unique they were among the other parents, having that extra open-mindedness and worldliness. Diversity was already a part of their lives," Sasha said. "Parents can definitely make or break a friendship." So the friendship grew. And at the time, nothing seemed unusual about it. "When we were that age, the kids in my class cared much less about everything," Catherine recalled. After fourth grade, Catherine moved to Indonesia, but the friends kept in touch and Sasha even visited her after the third year of Catherine's stay abroad. And when Catherine returned to America for high school, the two tried to pick up where they had left off. But during the four years Catherine was away, the social scene at school had become increasingly segregated. Different racial groups pretty much stuck together. Division was obvious.
High School
"You find, for example, that you don't always listen to the same music, and then there [are] the socioeconomic differences that you start to realize," Sasha said. "Some of your friends might be going to Jamaica for spring break, but you can't exactly afford to do this." Little by little, surrounded by those differences, Sasha found herself spending more time with older African-American kids both in and out of high school. "I hung out with the older crowd because what they were doing was more of what I was into. It's not that I didn't want to hang with the people in my grade, but to a certain extent it would have been me not completely being myself," Sasha said. Meanwhile, Catherine struggled to readjust to the American high school -- and the group she was supposed to be a part of. "[The students] were all extremely rich and very white, and that even made me uncomfortable, and I technically fit in with them," she said. Still, Sasha and Catherine remained close. But they only hung out maybe once a month -- and always one on one -- and their groups of friends rarely meshed. And even though their time together was rare, it didn't go unnoticed. "It was so not an issue [for us] that it was weird to even think about it, but everyone else made it an issue," Catherine said. "No one ever said anything negative, but they made comments like 'Wow, that's so cool that you guys are friends!'"
Penn
After sophomore year, Catherine moved to London, where she completed the last two years of high school. The two kept in touch, despite the physical distance between them. "I knew everything that was going on in her life. I'd call her, we'd talk for two hours, rack up this insane phone bill and not talk for another two months," Catherine said. And by coincidence, it seems, both ended up at Penn freshman year. Since arriving at Penn, the two have spent even less time together than they did in high school. But both say that this is mostly due to busy schedules. Perhaps a more telling reason for the separation is the fact that Catherine lives on 42nd and Spruce streets, while Sasha lives in DuBois College House. It's been hard to stay in close touch, and Catherine admits that Penn's racial climate does play a role. "I don't think we see each other as much, and I think that's where the separation at Penn is most articulated, because, you know, we don't go to the same parties," Catherine said. "But even beyond that, there's definitely segregation at Penn." But Sasha was not so quick to label Penn's campus as segregated -- and, indeed, many of her close friends here are white. Still, Catherine admitted that "the black-white division is the hardest one to bridge." Sasha said much of the problem stems from many students' lack of exposure to different races and ethnicities before arriving at Penn. "Most black kids have been exposed [to other races], but most whites have not and it comes out in subtle ways," she said. Sasha also noted that "at face value, not having spoken to people, just by looking at who they surround themselves with, you can tell a lot." But then she caught herself. "I think it might be [due to] the tendency to take things at face value and not really think that they will take the time to actually find out about who you are and that... you could actually have a lot in common." Both say the segregation at Penn is most apparent at parties. Last year, for example, Catherine stopped by a mostly African-American party to see Sasha, but she admitted to feeling very uncomfortable. "I was one of the only non-black people, and most of the others were Hispanic. It was weird," Catherine recalled. Although Catherine and Sasha may not see each other as often as they would like, they still consider themselves close friends. And even though the social scene at Penn rarely brings them together, they do their best to make up for lost opportunities. "We just make time for each other," Catherine said. "Mainly it's like, 'OK, I haven't seen you in forever. Let's meet for lunch -- when are you free?' And it's just like it's always been."
