Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I will admit that the south was not good to blacks during that time period. But if it were so perfect in the north, why did race riots occur in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Newark, Detroit, etc.? Why did Martin Luther King, Jr. call Chicago the most racist city in America?
Racism. The fact that people suddenly began moving in, demographics started changing, conditions in cities went downhill. As the OP says, it's not fun when new people move in and change things. Maybe the people were racist to begin with, maybe they just didn't want their cities to change. Newark went to hell after that. Extreme poverty, crime, and then racism by the police and government led to the riots there. Newark's still hell. In its heyday, when my grandparents lived there and everyone was Italian, Polish, Irish, etc, things were wonderful. Newark was lively, safe, fun in its prime. Then poverty struck, people of all races living in poverty moved in, jobs were lost, major companies and stores moved out and then you have a declining city which can lead to riots if the people feel misrepresented or corrupted.
I'm not trying to make a statement here about race, I'm really not, I'm echoing the OP in a way. The South isn't the only place people, any people, have moved to and changed for better or worse. This is what happens everywhere. Sometimes places improve when people from outside move in, sometimes they don't. A lot of mid-size or major northern cities didn't do so well. Maybe the South isn't doing so well, but I don't necessarily know if I'd blame northerners for that.
I know this may be totally fruitless, but I am SO sick of Greenville SC and the lack of others here that are like myself. I was born and raised in the South by parents born and raised in the south, whose ancestors actually helped found upstate SC. So yes, I have a Southern accent (I am not going to change that) but I am educated (working on my master's in nursing) a hard worker, and just want to TRY desperately to find a southern town or city that is not so overwhelmingly northern now. I just can't stand it. Every where I go, there is not one person that talks like I do or remembers what places used to look like. Where I work, where I go to church (yes I am a Christian, baptist), where I shop, even the library! (I went to get a new library card, in Greenville, SC no less and the lady said "there arent many of you left down here are there?" I wanted to throw up.)
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate anybody, but it seems illogical to me that northerners want to get away from where they were living and what they were living with and then they turn where they move to into exactly what they left! Crime is up down here, traffic is bumper to bumper, especially in morning and evening commutes (a 15 mile drive takes 35 minutes) and taxes have skyrocketed and there is no where to get away from it, unless you have enough money to buy up a subdivision before it gets built (58 acres) and just fence it off like my husband's ex boss did when his company was bought from him for millions of dollars. And trust me we don't have that kind of money. I really am upset at the loss of the Southern culture and want to find somewhere my husband and I can move where this is not happening, but still be a Southern state.
Any help would be great! Sorry if I sound like I hate Northerners, I don't, but I do hate what they have done to the area that I grew up in. It has lost the very charm and appeal that probably brought them here in the first place.
My birthplace Lake Charles, LA, hasn't changed in population since the 1970's. It is great because I can always return to the city and everything is just as it was. It's so different than anywhere in Texas where I live.
Other cities in Louisiana such as Alexandria, Lafayette, Monroe, Ruston, Natchitoches, Morgan City, and Houma are similar. They have a heavy southern culture and very few northern transplants. Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Shreveport have a lot of transplants but still maintain their culture.
Anywhere in Mississippi, except for the northwest suburban corner near Memphis would fit your description. Jackson and Hattiesburg fit that description. Some of those towns haven't changed much in 40 years.
That being said, I love living in a city with a lot of people from everywhere. That singular southern culture is a bit overwhelming at times.
It is not just North -> South that can be problematic in terms of cultural change.
My northern town was ruined by transplants from the south. We used to be a nice town with beautiful brick houses and charming little shopping districts, and a lot of civic pride. Then from the 60s through the 80s, half the population was replaced with people moving up north, mainly from Virginia, N.C., and Georgia. Now we have the highest crime rate in the county and one of the highest in the state. My city's initials are M.V., and some of the charming descendants of the southerners proudly state that M.V. stands for Murda Ville.
My point is, the sword wings both ways.
East of the Mississippi it's North vs. South.
Out west we just all hate Californians. I hear the same complaints here in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Colorado only directed at Californians. Nobody cares about Northerners or Southerners.
You do not hear the same complaints because said complaints are not rooted in civil war, strife and murder like the North/South issue. It simply can't compare - the war (for some reason) is still very alive for a lot of people in the South.
You do not hear the same complaints because said complaints are not rooted in civil war, strife and murder like the North/South issue. It simply can't compare - the war (for some reason) is still very alive for a lot of people in the South.
It doesn't help that many Northerners looked down on the South condescendingly because they weren't doing as well economically. The war is alive in the Northeast just as much as it is in the South. However, I think Southerners don't have as much of a problem with Midwesterners as Northeasterners. I think we need to be careful in defining this as a North vs. South issue. This is a Northeast vs. South issue.
I know this may be totally fruitless, but I am SO sick of Greenville SC and the lack of others here that are like myself. I was born and raised in the South by parents born and raised in the south, whose ancestors actually helped found upstate SC. So yes, I have a Southern accent (I am not going to change that) but I am educated (working on my master's in nursing) a hard worker, and just want to TRY desperately to find a southern town or city that is not so overwhelmingly northern now. I just can't stand it. Every where I go, there is not one person that talks like I do or remembers what places used to look like. Where I work, where I go to church (yes I am a Christian, baptist), where I shop, even the library! (I went to get a new library card, in Greenville, SC no less and the lady said "there arent many of you left down here are there?" I wanted to throw up.)
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate anybody, but it seems illogical to me that northerners want to get away from where they were living and what they were living with and then they turn where they move to into exactly what they left! Crime is up down here, traffic is bumper to bumper, especially in morning and evening commutes (a 15 mile drive takes 35 minutes) and taxes have skyrocketed and there is no where to get away from it, unless you have enough money to buy up a subdivision before it gets built (58 acres) and just fence it off like my husband's ex boss did when his company was bought from him for millions of dollars. And trust me we don't have that kind of money. I really am upset at the loss of the Southern culture and want to find somewhere my husband and I can move where this is not happening, but still be a Southern state.
Any help would be great! Sorry if I sound like I hate Northerners, I don't, but I do hate what they have done to the area that I grew up in. It has lost the very charm and appeal that probably brought them here in the first place.
I grew up in South Miami in the 60s and 70s. My grandfather retired down there and built a retirement home on a piece of land he had bought. The city of pinecrest now has the highest per capitia income in the state and that retirement home sells for a cool million.
it was a wonderful childhood. i would go down to the canal with an aquarium net catch some minnows and then ride my bike out to the edge of the Everglades and catch bass. Rode my bike and busses from the time I was 8 YO. Beaches all the time, trips to the Bahamas and Keys. While all this was going on Northerners were moving down there in droves. With the influx of foreigners and the population boom it is nothing like the beautiful costal city I grew in. I make pretty decent money now but i couldnt see go back there for all the reasons the OP wants to leave Greenville. Now its just wall to wall people and concrete and I would have to make alot more money to live the way I grew accustomed to down there. But I love taking the wife & kids on vacation there because I know the place so well and what to do. When I drive through my old neighborhoods and haunts I get a reall powerful nostalgic overcomes me. I am extremely greatful i was able to grow up in that place at that time but things change...
Unfortunately, the Southern states that aren't overrun wit "Northerners" are cesspools and borderline third-world. AL, MS, LA, AR, and OK immediately come to mind.
I grew up in South Miami in the 60s and 70s. My grandfather retired down there and built a retirement home on a piece of land he had bought. The city of pinecrest now has the highest per capitia income in the state and that retirement home sells for a cool million.
it was a wonderful childhood. i would go down to the canal with an aquarium net catch some minnows and then ride my bike out to the edge of the Everglades and catch bass. Rode my bike and busses from the time I was 8 YO. Beaches all the time, trips to the Bahamas and Keys. While all this was going on Northerners were moving down there in droves. With the influx of foreigners and the population boom it is nothing like the beautiful costal city I grew in. I make pretty decent money now but i couldnt see go back there for all the reasons the OP wants to leave Greenville. Now its just wall to wall people and concrete and I would have to make alot more money to live the way I grew accustomed to down there. But I love taking the wife & kids on vacation there because I know the place so well and what to do. When I drive through my old neighborhoods and haunts I get a reall powerful nostalgic overcomes me. I am extremely greatful i was able to grow up in that place at that time but things change...
Agree. Look at SE FL today and all the filth and crime there is there. Sad. I could never see myself living in that area.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
