Thinking about moving to West Des Moines (Dubuque, Urbandale: fit in, crime)

[CertifiaBully]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

This person must live in some weird pocket of all-white, racist, I don't wanna knows somewhere. I've lived here my whole life and what he says simply isn't true.

In fact, I live in WDM and I think that on the horseshoe where I live there are perhaps 10 natives of Des Moines out of 50 families. We have neighbors from Kenya (dude won a million dollars on the lotto!) as well as a wide swatch across the US.

Read my post elsewhere regarding diversity. You'll recognize this Ronnie guy
in that post.

Lived where? Wanna see where I grew up? And the "cities" we shopped in? I can say with certainty that 'this Ronnie guy' has hit that nail on the head! THIS is the Iowa that you 'city dwellers' refuse to believe exist!!

White Non-Hispanic (97.9%)
Hispanic (0.7%)

White Non-Hispanic (96.2%)
Hispanic (1.9%)
Two or more races (0.9%)
Other race (0.7%)
Other Asian (0.5%)


White Non-Hispanic (91.1%)
Black (3.8%)
Hispanic (2.9%)
Two or more races (1.4%)
Other race (1.3%)
American Indian (0.6%)


White Non-Hispanic (93.4%)
Hispanic (3.4%)
Two or more races (1.4%)
Black (1.2%)
Other race (1.1%)


Between 5,700 people and 29,000 and look at the overwhelming DIVERSITY! These "closest cities" were all well over an hour from where I lived.

Yes, in my hometown, (a few miles from MN border) they wave at a car with MN plates--they may even smile. Once you have gone past, the first thing uttered is a MN slam! In my family, unfortunately, it was usually the 2nd and 3rd thing said as well. Where my hometown is, someone would have to drive several miles to find 'diversity OR culture'. We become what we see...know how old I was when I finally met someone who wasn't white? I was 9!! And the minute he left the room, three men in my vacinity spewed a racial slur. IT DOES HAPPEN and it IS STILL HAPPENING. Iowa needs to pull their heads out of the sand and wake up!!

Iowa: In the eyes of an immigrant! ( In dubuque )

Or go there and read what S.Asian has had to endure in your lovely Iowa! It is SHAMEFUL what people turn a blind eye to these days! "But it is a great place to raise a faimily", right? Like Ronnie said, as long as you have roots there and you aren't TOO different, acceptance MIGHT happen! I hate telling people where I am from...it is not something I am proud of.

[Tek_Freek]

Well, certified, I am a native Iowan and I grew up surrounded by blacks, Mexicans, Latvians, Germans, Lithuanians, and few other nationalities. That was in the 1950's. I believe that would qualify as diversity even now.

What we didn't have was Asians. We do now, and they are, contrary to what you need to believe, welcome by most. Not everyone welcomes diversity, but that is the norm anywhere you go. There are self-centered, narrow-minded, scared little people everywhere. The problem you seem to have is that you only know those people. Or perhaps you revel in what they say and believe, so you don't seek out people who believe differently...

In my old neighborhood if you used the N word to describe a black man someone would probably kick your racist little butt. Probably more than one person would help out. Even in the fifties we didn't put up with that cr*p. We were a neighborhood of friends, not separate groups differentiated by color or heritage.

That fact that you grew up in a small, uptight, all-white, probably German or Norwegian community says less for Iowa than it does for the people in your "we're afraid of anything that's different than we are" little town.

The symptoms you describe in your post are not universal. Just because you grew up in that environment doesn't mean the rest of us did.

[peach49]

what is pella iowa like.going there for vacation next month.

[nascar9girl]

Interesting...

I grew up in a military family and moved ALL OVER the United States for the first 16 years of my life. While granted, my father is from Cedar Rapids IA, I never spent a lot of time in the state growing up. Imagine my shock when my parents divorced and my Mom decided to move us to small town Oskaloosa, IA when I was in my sophomore year of high school. I'd lived in foreign countries... what would I have in common with this hicks?

Flash forward 10 years and I now PROUDLY call myself an Iowan! Yeah, so it took me about 7 years to get to that point, but I'm here now. In between, I went to school in Ohio (GO BUCKEYES!) and moved to West Des Moines. So let me give you some perspective of a 26 year old WDM resident-

I live in West Des Moines, work in Clive, and spend a lot of time at my boyfriend's home in Waukee. Yes, I live in a state where the majority of residents are white, but EVERY TIME I go to Hy-Vee, the movies, run errands at Target, etc., I am "confronted" with different ethnicities and races. I don't really mean "confronted," but I can't think of the right word to use. The point is, I don't feel like I live in some homogenous little white world. Des Moines, especially, has experienced a lot of cultural diversity in the past 10-15 years... particularly among the hispanic and bosnian cultures.

As for how we treat "outsiders"... I don't think Iowa is any more or less friendly than most midwestern states. People are typically friendly, but you're still going to have those times when you run into a rude cashier getting gas at a Kum & Go, or someone who makes a racist remark at a bar/club.

It boggles me to read some of the comments on here about how friendly/not friendly we are or how culturally lacking the city is. Granted, we are not some great midwestern melting pot, but it's not as though I'm *shocked* or *astonished* and don't know how to react if I am standing in line behind a black person or an indian, etc. I wonder how many of these people actually LIVE, WORK, SOCIALIZE, etc. in the areas that they are commenting on?

[Tek_Freek]

It boggles me to read some of the comments on here about how friendly/not friendly we are or how culturally lacking the city is. Granted, we are not some great midwestern melting pot, but it's not as though I'm *shocked* or *astonished* and don't know how to react if I am standing in line behind a black person or an indian, etc. I wonder how many of these people actually LIVE, WORK, SOCIALIZE, etc. in the areas that they are commenting on?

The ones that make the comments and generalizations you ask about are malcontents and troublemakers that apparently have little else to do in life. After reading a number of their posts I've come to the conclusion that they are probably between 10 and 16 years old.

I am "confronted" with different ethnicities and races

How about "I experience different ethnicities and races."

[nascar9girl]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

The ones that make the comments and generalizations you ask about are malcontents and troublemakers that apparently have little else to do in life. After reading a number of their posts I've come to the conclusion that they are probably between 10 and 16 years old.



How about "I experience different ethnicities and races."

MUCH better! I wasn't trying to be ignorant... I just seriously lost my ability to think of the right word! Thanks

[Elyahme]

Originally Posted by RonnieJonez

It is probably like 98% white, minorities are very far and few in between. It is a good place to raise a family, but you could find more culture in a wooden shoe.

My sister and I are considering moving from Syracuse, New York to Iowa sometime next year. We are minorities. We have children, and we are concerned with the atmosphere for our families. Big city living isn’t my forte. In the past, I lived in Franklin County, Missouri which is 98% white, and I never had a problem with other races. Engineering is my profession, and I’ve been pretty fortunate to get along in a field that’s dominated by white males. I know racism is everywhere; are there serious issues of racism in Warren County, Iowa? How is the minority’s standard of living in Warren County, Iowa?

Please advise.

[tollfree]

I don't know too much about Warren County, it's a more rural county, so there is probably slightly more that tight-knit, unwelcoming of outsiders mentality, but that's just how Iowa is for the most part.

I'd assume the standard of living there is average.

[dwilli1041]

I am African American. I interviewed for a job in Dubuque last month. The people I came across were very nice. I am about to accept an offer to work for a Fortune 500 company in Dubuque. My daughter and son are thinking about relocating with me to Dubuque but are expressing concern about the friendless of the people. My daugter came across posts expressing negative views of the State. She is in college and plan to transfer to a community college to finish her Associate Degree but now she has doubts. My son has come across people who are basically saying the samething about the State. I raised the kids mostly in predominately white areas. In most cases we have been the only black on the block. And they have been amongst the few blacks in the school districts. They know how to socialize with people of all races. And I have basically raised them to pray and answer only to God, go where you want to go, live where you want to live and be who they want to be in life. I will see soon if what I taught them pays off. In the meantime I came across an article on the web "Iowa Is The Second Worst State For Blacks? (http://state29.blogspot.com/2005/07/iowa-is-second-worst-state-for-blacks.html - broken link) ", State 29: Iowa Is The Second Worst State For Blacks? (http://state29.blogspot.com/2005/07/iowa-is-second-worst-state-for-blacks.html - broken link) . Disheartening.

Even with coming across this article, I will relocate. Because of my beliefs. Pray and answer only to God, go where you want to go, live where you want to live and be who you want to be in life.

[Chicago60614]

It's best to just visit and get a feel for the area.

Obviously a lot of people here have a chip on their shoulder as far as "98% White = Everyone is a racist".

Or this whole "everyone is unwelcoming of newcomers - that's just how Iowa is".

Obviously that's true for some people, but certainly not true of everyone.

I've met people from tons of small towns at college, after I moved and while I was living in the state (my mom taught in a town of 900 people). For the most part everyone had a very open mind, especially the younger people. You'll always run into people with closed minds or racists, but hell, that's true everywhere you look. Iowa, New York City, etc.