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Old 05-13-2013, 09:25 PM
 
12,769 posts, read 18,268,562 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeTarheel View Post
Some southern cities have large numbers of Jews...so it's not the entire South, but probably the more rural areas. I'm sure it's like that in lots of rural areas around the country.

I'm curious - how would someone who claims to have never even met a Jew possibly recognize a Jewish name? That seems odd to me. Also, Jewish people aren't immediately recognizable to everyone right? So people probably don't usually know when they have or haven't met a Jew.
She saw my last name on my CC. They arent living under rocks. Most likely if a last name ends in berg or witz, its jewish. I dont think u need to live in a predominately jewish area to know that.

Last edited by Jdawg8181; 05-13-2013 at 09:34 PM..
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Old 05-13-2013, 11:35 PM
 
Location: The Heart of Dixie
10,111 posts, read 15,777,221 times
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Yes I don't know what you are stirring up. I am of Asian descent and raised in the South. A few summers ago I drove cross country back and forth with two friends (both of them are white though one of them is often mistakened for Hispanic) and we have had NO issues. We drove from Baltimore to Los Angeles and back on different routes, mostly following INterstate 70 west to 15 and coming back on Interstate 40 and 81 and we also took detours on state highways including part of Historic Route 66. We visited major tourist attractions like the Gateway Arch, Pikes Peak, the Las Vegas Strip, Hollywood, but also many small towns where we went to local bars and diners and met locals. We have NEVER had a problem. People everywhere were at least polite. In the west people were more polite and distant but became very friendly when we started talking to them. In the South and Midwest people were very open and friendly.

Very rural places we visited included Cheyenne Wells, Colorado (we drove for 45 minutes into town and 50 minutes out of town without seeings a single other car) look this place up on the map and went to their local bar/restaurant called the "waterin hole" (how they spelled it). They were not used to seeing people from out of town but were friendly when we started talking to them and telling them about our trip and how a guy in Kansas told us about that shortcut to Colorado Springs. Also visited Pocahontas, Illinois, population about 800 where Gretchen Wilson was born, surrounded by cornfields for 20 or 30 miles. We went to a local bar there and did karoke singing country music, and also went to their local late night diner and stayed at a locally owned roadside motel and that was a great American experience. Also went to small town Arkansas near Brinkley and I actualy know people there. Texas Panhandle was also extremely friendly and people would talk with us for several mminutes at the gas stations and rest areas seeing the out of state license plates from that far away.

Now I am very assimilated and culturally MORE comfortable in the South and Middle America than I am surrounded by East Coast yuppies.

And btw a LOT of rural America is NOT all white not that ethnicity should matter. The rural South has always had a large black population. Some Yankees don't understand the concept of country black people if they haven't been to the South. Many towns in Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Georgia have very large numbers of Hispanics (including illegals unfortunately) who work in agriculture. There are also many Native Americans in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and North Carolina. The only truly mostly white rural areas I've visited are in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Western Maryland, and southwest Virginia and even there people were friendly to me, and every town still had at least a Chinese restaurant and a Mexican restaurant. If a town has a McDonalds, it WILL have a Chinese place. In the middle of nowhere in Virginia, Kansas, and West Virginia I've stayed at motels owned by Indians.

And the stereotypical Confederate flag waving "rednecks" in my native state of Louisiana? They are the ones who voted for Bobby Jindal, an Indian American, for governor, NOT the ghetto masses of New Orleans and Baton Rouge. And yes South Carolina has the Confederate flag in its state house. its governor's mansion is also occupied by an Indian American woman. And yes white, Southern, working class men voted for her. Its usually in liberal circles where people are always bringing up race, stirring up trouble where there doesn't have to be any. I was raised to not care about someone's color, I was taught that was something that was not important. Things like affirmative action, quotas, etc, the media focusing on Obama's blackness and Kenyanness etc only stir up trouble for no reason.

I have faced more racism personally from liberal types who are surprised I am not like them despite being a minority. The only time I've faced racism from a white person was an old woman at least 60 years old in Baltimore. And that was VERY rare. The most obvious racist incident I have encountered was in downtown Baltimore when I was stopped at a red light. The ghetto black woman in the car next to mine saw I still ahd my McCain-Palin bumper sticker on two years after the election she screamed out of her window at me and told me that "there's a BLACK man in the White House now you don't like that you can go back to China" and to "take off your f____ stupid a___ bumper sticker".

As for people around me, friends here in Baltimore etc.....some of them might have general stereotypes about some groups but they will always make exceptions. And they will never be open about it in public. But this is a very polarized area due to things like crime, urban issues, the city-suburb divide etc and people have very legitimate concerns about illegal immigration.
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Old 05-13-2013, 11:50 PM
 
Location: The Heart of Dixie
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OH yes and Jews have always been in the South. Some of them served very prominently in the Old Confederacy during the war.
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Old 05-15-2013, 10:14 AM
 
6,610 posts, read 8,973,781 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jdawg8181 View Post
She saw my last name on my CC. They arent living under rocks. Most likely if a last name ends in berg or witz, its jewish. I dont think u need to live in a predominately jewish area to know that.
...and I don't think that a rural convenience store working that has never encountered a Jew would immediately recognize Jewish name endings. Sorry, that just doesn't add up. It's just a little far-fetched, but thanks for the story.
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Old 05-15-2013, 10:25 AM
 
348 posts, read 335,295 times
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TomTom (etc) will take you to some interesting places. Unpaved roads, tiny towns.
Even as a white male, in good shape, there were a few truckstops and back-back-back woods gas stations that I had to ... be aware of my surroundings in. They recognize outsiders, and also, I was driving a beater (Ford Focus) not a manly truck w/ gunrack...by any means.
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Old 05-21-2013, 09:26 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
939 posts, read 1,508,187 times
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I'm half-Asian and I've driven across America, stopping in random hole-in-the-wall places for a drink or some food in places like Barstow, CA, Amarillo, TX, and Joplin, MO. No problems, no one calling me a *** or *****. Someone in Amarillo asked how I found myself in their little town . Don't worry about it and you probably won't encounter any problems unless you can't speak English or insist on pulling out your prayer rug in a public place.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jdawg8181 View Post
She saw my last name on my CC. They arent living under rocks. Most likely if a last name ends in berg or witz, its jewish. I dont think u need to live in a predominately jewish area to know that.
If people are educated, chances are they will know Ashkenazi Jews. If not, then they probably don't know many Jews or enough about them to even form stereotypes beyond biblical and mythical stuff like horns and killing Jesus. I'm more concerned about Ashkenazi Jews forming stereotypes about other Jews, thinking that all Jews are like them, as though Jews of Color, Sephardic, and Mizrachi Jews don't exist in America.
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Old 05-22-2013, 01:57 AM
 
462 posts, read 715,342 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jdawg8181 View Post
Are you jewish? Ive met a bunch of people down south who had never met a jew before which I thought was strange but theres just not a big concentration of them down there. I have a very jewish last name so when I handed my credit card to the cashier to buy something they asked me about it. Not hostile, just very curious.
Judah P. Benjamin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sephardic Jews were pretty prominent in the old south. After all the plantation cultures stemmed from Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish trading.

Last edited by Hamtonfordbury; 05-22-2013 at 02:09 AM..
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Old 05-22-2013, 02:07 AM
 
462 posts, read 715,342 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by countofmc View Post
Always wanted to drive across the USA as one of those "bucket list" things. That being said, I'm a minority. If I get off the beaten path in the deep south and stop to get gas or something to eat, am I in for trouble?
I don't think so. I bet they will judge you more on your license plate, bumper stickers or talk than appearance.

Here is a movie about what not to do when traveling through the south:
My Cousin Vinny (1992) - IMDb
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Old 05-22-2013, 10:55 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,618 posts, read 86,585,093 times
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The BBC "Top Gear" team drove across Alabama, and it was pretty frightening, even if you're just British:

Extra: "Top Gear" in Alabama - YouTube
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Old 05-22-2013, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Cbus
1,719 posts, read 2,079,288 times
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There's definitely some creepy backwards towns that I would not want to be in. You shouldn't fear for your safety but unfortunately there are a lot of ignorant and hateful people out there.
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