Ethos of being a good neighbor

Though we may not recognize it within our first footsteps on campus, when we become UNC students, we simultaneously put on many other hats. We also become Chapel Hill town residents, community members and neighbors.

For those of us who move temporarily into the Pine Knolls, Cameron-McCauley or Northside neighborhoods, we are also guests in historic neighborhoods that have shaped the Chapel Hill we inherit today.

Homes in the Northside neighborhood, located just north of Rosemary Street, have housed the children of slaves who built the University, the housekeepers that maintain the University and the church that mobilized during the Civil Rights movement.

These rich histories and stories often go unheard by students moving off campus. They should take the time to recognize the privileges and responsibilities that come with being a community member.

I asked longtime Northside community resident and leader Keith Edwards about her perspective on students in the neighborhood: “I don’t think students understand what this neighborhood means to the folks, especially the African Americans whose parents built it. To those of us who have been here most of our lives, it means everything.”

Edwards described growing up in a neighborhood that served as a safe haven for black families in a time of racial segregation and violence. She described the collective effort to make the neighborhood a safe and loving place: “This is where you laughed, where you cried over your loved ones, this is where your children grew up and felt free to walk down the street and go where they wanted to go.”

As students continue to move into the Northside neighborhood, the demographics have dramatically shifted. Increasing property values have forced many of the historic residents out of their homes, oftentimes replaced by student housing developments.

Edwards does not uniformly criticize the presence of students, but she does want them to see themselves as community members, which really comes down to respect.

“Respecting the neighborhood by cleaning after yourself, respecting the elders that live (here) … and treating people the way you would want your family to be treated.”

Deliberately pursuing an ethos of good neighborship means offering to help where we can, even just with carrying the groceries. It means really listening to people’s stories and cherishing the wisdom that comes with them. It means battling a culture where we just pass each other by without engaging.

The Northside community has sustained itself throughout the years because of a system of neighbors helping neighbors — a community fabric interdependent and bound to one another. While in your neighborhood, remember to look up and say hello when you pass someone by. Sharing simple, small gestures of good neighborship can take us a long way.