Race Relations and friendliness toward (non-gentrifying) transplants: Saint Louis vs. New Orleans (living, state)

[Dr_Pepper]

Hi all,

Doing as rolling stones must, I’m dreaming about my next move. There’s one major issue holding me back from going all-in in preparation, however, so I’m hoping a few of y’all have had long-term experiences in both towns (or at least NOLA specifically) and can provide some insight to my concerns.

(Note that what follows is simplified, shortened, and will contain generalizations as well as a great example of what some call white privilege. This will not be a wall of text perfectly vetted for political correctness. If you don’t feel like reading the context, scroll to the bottom and my question will be in bold).

My love for St. Louis turned into near-contempt years after the Michael Brown shooting. Not because of the riots, highway shutdowns, nonstop protests, or other immediate inconveniences that I expected in the weeks and months after. Rather, by not insulating myself in white suburbs, I witnessed a complete breakdown in interpersonal skills between neighbors and cohabitants in St Louis years after. For an inescapably vocal minority of both whites and blacks, confrontation became the first line of defense, both sides desperate to shout how proud they were to be white or black in a desperate attempt to cover up fresh wounds of insecurity. Everyday interactions (pumping gas, grocery shopping, etc) too often resulted in head shaking in disapproval, a refusal to say “thank you,” deliberate line cutting, etc. (That might not sound too significant, but consider, contextually, that I spend 8+ hrs a day dealing with the public—5,000-15,000 people every single day. Everyday friendliness and attitudes are important to me). When my partner and I went out we heard remarks of him being an “uncle tom,” more than ever on account of me not having enough melanin for his legitimacy. I cannot speak for anyone else’s experience, but I think it’s rather obvious and safe to say that for African Americans in STL, their race relations with whites considerably worsened, too. (Duh.) The final straw last summer was having my car surrounded in a parking lot in Maplewood and being told I wasn’t “allowed” to park there as people beat on my windows and yelled. When I refused to leave, one man started climbing through my window in an attempt to carjack me.

Crime isn't a big deal to me (Detroit, STL, Spanish Town Jamaica, Uganda, and now possibly NOLA? Yeah...). To discover that it's racially motivated crime, however, is.

In light of the systemic racism revealed through Hurricane Katrina responses, non-stop whitewashing tourists, and the gentrification of New Orleans, should I expect this same culture of everyday, race-provoked hostility in New Orleans?

[btownboss4]

While I am a very bad judge of New Orleans's day to day living situation judging the city based off the Katrina response is a bad idea because largely it was people outside the city at the state and federal level that were the problem not the local population

[Dr_Pepper]

Of course it was a non-local response issue (who is living under a rock and honestly thinks otherwise?). The locals, however are a: the people whose attitudes I'm concerned about and b: the people who may or may not still hold a sense of contempt about the issue almost 15 years later lol. And I would hardly call it judging; rather, I'm saying "assuming the Katrina response worsened race relations in light of systemic racism revealed therein, is it still a fresh wound almost 15 years later and thus still affecting race relations today.