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Of course there is racism everywhere. The main difference - besides the actual amount of racism, which is debatable - between the North (Midwest) and the South is, in the South people tend to be openly racist, while in the Midwest any racism is covert and kept in private. I would much rather deal with covert than overt racism.
Also, the VAST majority of racism and intolerance that I've personally experienced has come from blacks, not whites.
I don't know if either type of racism is really "better". I have been at both ends of it in the South. Some people have called me the "n" word and all other sorts of crap. When I was in high school, some kids would make threats to "lynch" me, claiming they had a noose. As idle as the threats were, they were still disturbing. When I went to college, I got the covert end of the spectrum(as well as a little bit of overt racism, though kind of snobby). My first week of school, someone called the police on me over a "disturbance". All I did was give them a "whatever" look and sighed in a disgusted way. I didn't even say anything, just walked away. That and a woman following me in a bookstore. I also had some scarier incidents, such as a few people calling me the "n" word from inside their cars in public. Both kinds of racism disturbed me. I felt powerless in both situations. In the situation of the overt manner, I couldn't do much about it. I couldn't go to the principal because I knew someone could just lie about it. When some people were calling me foul words from inside their cars, I couldn't do much about it because they would just drive off. Getting followed in a store, well, no one was calling me the "n", but I could feel it in my gut. I wasn't even coming off as "rough" Rather, I was in my church suit reading a book, trying to be left alone. I was the only Black person in the bookstore and I was the only getting followed. I put two and two together and got a bad feeling afterward. The only thing I could do was leave, and remember to never spend my money there. I couldn't do anything about some person calling the police, not for what I did, but out of "suspicion". I couldn't confront the person, because then that person could just call the police again for "stalking" or "harassment". Thing is, I don't even know who called the police.
My point is, neither kind of racism is ever good. Both sting, both hurt. Both left me with a sense of powerlessness.
As for vast amount of intolerance, well, I guess that would have to do with your experience. I have seen mainly Whites exercise intolerance, but I have seen Blacks do the same.
As for the South, I have seen the overt racism in the South. I have also seen the covert racism. Alot of it is hit or miss.
I was born and raised in New Jersey. I went to college in Pittsburgh. I never in a trillion years would of thought that I would love the south. Growing up we would go to family reunions in NC and I would think jeezzzzzzzz how can people live like this. There is nothing to do down here. I use to hate it. Lets fast forward....I am now in LOVE with the south. The cost of living is great. I lived in Atlanta for 3yrs. Nice city. Traffic sucked but over all there were lots to do. I lived very well there. Now I am relocating to Charlotte Nc. What was appealing to me about Atlanta is the fact that there were so many black business owners. I have never seen that before. The sheer number was astounding. I'm a yankee who loves the south.
Along with Mpls,MN. The smaller communities might be good for interracial communities for certain reasons, such as a history of being relatively progressive, or in Montclair's case, the university influence could be a good influence on it.
On a side note, I have a friend who went to Kent State University, in Kent,OH. She told me about her visit to Cincinnati. She found Cincinnati to be racist and insular. She found Kent,OH to be more welcoming and progressive. One might think that Cincinnati might be more progressive, being a major league city, and having 2 big universities(University of Cincinnati and Xavier University). Then again, Cincinnati has a history checkered in racial violence and riots. Kent is literally a college town. Probably a similar reason why Madison is more progressive. Madison(as well as Columbus,OH) is a college town(on a much larger scale). East Lansing, I can't figure out.
Actually, the city itself is fine. It's the campus (MSU) where you get some of the segregation due to so many people from the Detroit area going to school there. Lansing/East Lansing itself is more laid back though and Black folks live throughout the Greater Lansing area including Okemos, the Waverly/West Lansing area, EL, Holt and even DeWitt now.
Actually, the city itself is fine. It's the campus (MSU) where you get some of the segregation due to so many people from the Detroit area going to school there. Lansing/East Lansing itself is more laid back though and Black folks live throughout the Greater Lansing area including Okemos, the Waverly/West Lansing area, EL, Holt and even DeWitt now.
It doesn't surprise me that much about Detroit. Detroit has had alot of issues.
I don't know much about Lansing, other than being the capital of Michigan and Malcolm X living near there for a short time(not to mention his father being murdered there).
One thing I am noticing though, is that in metropolitan Atlanta, I am seeing a fair amount of Michigan license plates. A two members of my church are African-American and relocated to Atlanta from the greater Detroit area.
I did check out Waverly and Okemos in city-data. There are sizeable African-American populations in those areas.
What attracts blacks to the south... big booty Judy... jk
There is a lot of oppurtunities here and the cost of living is low enough for someone that doesn't have middle class or rich parents to compete. Thats given.
The other thing is even in other cities that many people would call liberal and accepting I hear a lot of times "oh, they won't hire me cause I'm black" or "they don't wanna hire black people". That includes up north and out west. Well I don't know how true that is, but if I hear somebody say that in Alanta they are a headcase.
You can't go anywhere, no matter how wealthy and not find a sizeable amount of blacks.
In my office cubicle where I was working with T-mobile half the employees were black. What that means if that blacks are given an oppurtunity. People come here for oppurtunity.
It doesn't surprise me that much about Detroit. Detroit has had alot of issues.
I don't know much about Lansing, other than being the capital of Michigan and Malcolm X living near there for a short time(not to mention his father being murdered there).
One thing I am noticing though, is that in metropolitan Atlanta, I am seeing a fair amount of Michigan license plates. A two members of my church are African-American and relocated to Atlanta from the greater Detroit area. I did check out Waverly and Okemos in city-data. There are sizeable African-American populations in those areas.
Waverly is probably the suburban area/school district that has the highest percentage of Black folks in the Lansing area. Muhsin Muhammad of the Carolina Panthers went there. East Lansing has quite a few, as does Okemos.
Malcolm X went to school in Mason, which is the Ingham County seat and is more rural in character. Not too many Black folks out that way though.
Magic Johnson is also from Lansing and he grew up on Lansing's West Side, which is the "Blackest" side of the city, but went to Everett High, which is on the city's South Side. The Vincent brothers, who both played in the NBA for a while, are from there and went to Eastern High.
Of course there is racism everywhere. The main difference - besides the actual amount of racism, which is debatable - between the North (Midwest) and the South is, in the South people tend to be openly racist, while in the Midwest any racism is covert and kept in private. I would much rather deal with covert than overt racism.
Nah, you can keep the hypocritical racists. Let me know where you stand from the get go. You'll get that much more respect from me. Furthermore, calling me the "n" word is one thing. I can just shrug that off. But denying me a job or an opportunity solely due to my race, which is the type of racism you seem to prefer, does more actual damage.
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Also, the VAST majority of racism and intolerance that I've personally experienced has come from blacks, not whites.
African americans are going to South...But what about the west for them.Is it a good choice ????
I read that West is most tolerant,more diverse...LA,SF,Silicon valley,Seattle,Portland...That would be better .Thoughts
African americans are going to South...But what about the west for them.Is it a good choice ????
I read that West is most tolerant,more diverse...LA,SF,Silicon valley,Seattle,Portland...That would be better .Thoughts
They have much to offer. But for what most Blacks are looking for, the South comes out on top of the West there.
African americans are going to South...But what about the west for them.Is it a good choice ????
I read that West is most tolerant,more diverse...LA,SF,Silicon valley,Seattle,Portland...That would be better .Thoughts
The West is more of the destination for blacks who are more culturally and socially integrated into the "mainstream" American culture and/or blacks who are (or feel like they are) excluded from the general "black community." The South is more for blacks who have felt welcomed into the "black community" for all of their lives.
In either case, either regions are much better for nearly all blacks than the urbanized BosWash Northeast and most parts of the Midwest.
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