Racism/Georgia (Atlanta, Savannah, Macon: condo, crime, home)

[jeanifca]

Ready2move,
I will report as soon as we get back!

[proeye]

Originally Posted by jeanifca

Hi,
We are here in South Florida and making our first trip to GA at the end of the month. We are looking at Kennesaw and Woodstock. I am starting to be a little concerned about racism. We are a tri-racial family. I'm German/American, husband is Cuban and the love of our life is our 2 year old adopted Chinese daughter. My husband has voiced concerns over this and I have always told him it is nothing to worry about. I am just looking for some input. Since So FLo is such a melting pot it has never been a problem. We are moving his parents and my mother to. Our housing selection will be based on a good school district for our daughter and possibly any other children we adopt. We need to have our parents close by and access to doctors etc for them. We are not looking to live in a all hispanic or asian area as we do not now. We actually live in a mostly Jewish neighborhood. I hope this does not offend anyone as I was not sure about posting this or not. I just wanted to get some input for myself before making the trip.
Thank you for any replies.

Apparently, not too many posters are from areas outside of Atlanta. Makes sense since the city takes up nearly half of the state's population. But if you really want to experience racism, you need to get outside of the Atlanta influence. There's plenty of racism believe me. I lived in Augusta for a couple of years and that has to be one of the most racist communities in America.

I don't think you would have a problem no matter where you go because the racism is mainly a white vs. black thing in the South. Atlanta has too many outsiders coming in that the old South is not noticed. In Augusta it is and it's very obvious. Talk to anyone who is over 70 yo--especially a southern gent--and you'll know what I mean.

The city is really segregated. Most blacks live in the city itself, mostly towards the downtown. But they are slowly moving towards the suburbs which are mostly white. Once communities start becoming more "black" there's more white flight. Pretty shocking that we haven't moved beyond this, nearly 140 years after the civil war.

Anyway... Don't worry about racism, it won't effect you.

[mrbigs68us]

you shouldn't have any problems no matter where you go. but just rember there are a a few cavemen everywhere. there are alot of enlightned ones too.

[JodyH48]

Nobody will give either you or your child a second look. You'll fit right in.

[Sharon R.]

I know that you have probably already come and gone, but I live in Kennesaw and just wanted to give my input. I don't believe you would have any problem with not fitting in. Also, Kennesaw is a very safe area. There are almost no burglaries/break-ins because there is a law on the books in Kennesaw that you MUST own a gun! The law is not enforced, they don't check when you move in, but everybody knows about it and everybody also knows that if you break into somebody's home in Kennesaw, you could very easily wind up dead.

Now, even with that law, I do not recall a single instance in my 11 years of living in GA, of an accidental shooting. Well, except last year when the firearms instructor accidentally shot one of his students, but there was no malicious intent! (OK, I know, not funny )

To compare Kennesaw to Woodstock -- Kennesaw's downtown area is very charming and has lots of beautiful old homes. I would love to live down there. Outside of that area is one frickin' new subdivision after another, and an equal number of traffic lights. The west side of highway 41 is a little more rural, but all that land is quickly filling up with subdivisions and the 2 lane roads can't handle the traffic during rush hour. I'm on the east side, right next to I-575 so I have a very easy time getting to the highway. However, once on I-575, all the traffic coming down behind me is coming from Cherokee County and Woodstock. Cherokee has also turned all of it's land over to the subdivision builders. For the commute downtown, add an extra 10-30 minutes coming from Woodstock and points north.

However, they're doing some new building right in downtown Woodstock that looks really charming (though expensive). They're building loft-type apartments, and carriage-style houses that are really very cool. They're trying for the neo-traditional atmosphere. Will have to wait and see how it turns out.

Hope this helps!

[no mo]

Tip #1. Don't go south of Atlanta to south Atlanta, Riverdale, College Park, Fayetteville, East Point, Union City, etc. You will be amazed at the racism. Black on latino and white. The greatly disadvataged, inner city population
largely relocated to the southern part of the city before the 1996 Olympics. Rather than creating a wonderfully diverse community, it has been extremely racially charged. Delta has created some unemployment, Ford is in the process of downsizing and it is difficult to live where the infrastructure is almost nonexistent. The police, fire, sewage, water and local governments are not only not upholding the law but doing everything they can to not be responsive to it's citizens. While they may be building new, creatively financed homes, the tax base is dissolving.
Tip #2. You will probably be happier with a job teaching somewhere north of Atlanta. Better pay, students that are there to learn, parents that don't try to tell you how to do your job (even though they didn't finish high school) and school administrators that can focus on education and not what shade your skin color is.
Tip #3. The south is the best place in the world to live if you know which areas look. Apples don't grow on orange trees. Just be realistic.
Tip #4. The smile test should work. Smile at 5 people where you are looking and look at the percentage of smiles you get in response. People on the southside are just not happy and I would go so far to say angry.

[woodstock mom]

I moved here from Orlando. Everyone here is from somewhere else in Towne Lake in Woodstock. You DON'T need to worry at all about your concerns. We have lots of folks from everywhere in every configuration. If you need a realtor call mod cut. They sell alot in the area and have a good reputation.

Originally Posted by jeanifca

Hi,
We are here in South Florida and making our first trip to GA at the end of the month. We are looking at Kennesaw and Woodstock. I am starting to be a little concerned about racism. We are a tri-racial family. I'm German/American, husband is Cuban and the love of our life is our 2 year old adopted Chinese daughter. My husband has voiced concerns over this and I have always told him it is nothing to worry about. I am just looking for some input. Since So FLo is such a melting pot it has never been a problem. We are moving his parents and my mother to. Our housing selection will be based on a good school district for our daughter and possibly any other children we adopt. We need to have our parents close by and access to doctors etc for them. We are not looking to live in a all hispanic or asian area as we do not now. We actually live in a mostly Jewish neighborhood. I hope this does not offend anyone as I was not sure about posting this or not. I just wanted to get some input for myself before making the trip.
Thank you for any replies.

[CabinFever]

Racism is everywhere and always will be.It just seems the south does a better job of showing it.

[backfist]

Tip #1. Don't go south of Atlanta to south Atlanta, Riverdale, College Park, Fayetteville, East Point, Union City, etc. You will be amazed at the racism. Black on latino and white. The greatly disadvataged, inner city population
largely relocated to the southern part of the city before the 1996 Olympics. Rather than creating a wonderfully diverse community, it has been extremely racially charged. Delta has created some unemployment, Ford is in the process of downsizing and it is difficult to live where the infrastructure is almost nonexistent. The police, fire, sewage, water and local governments are not only not upholding the law but doing everything they can to not be responsive to it's citizens. While they may be building new, creatively financed homes, the tax base is dissolving.

If I were legally allowed to abuse my spouse, and did so once a week over 25 years of "marriage", I shouldn't be surprised when my spouse is resentful of me--even if it was no longer legal for me to abuse her. Likewise, it should be no surprise that many Black Atlantans bear some White resentment after decades/centuries of abuse, exclusion, etc.

I'm certainly not offering any excuses for anyone's attitudes. Rather, an explanation of why people feel the way they do.

[pbgflorida]

Hating someone because of the color of their skin is racism.

Hating someone because of how the minority of people their color treat you or treated your ancestors is also racism.

If you don't look at a person as an individual and instead judge them by their appearance, you're being prejudice. The shocker is that all races do it habitually.

If you dress, walk, talk and act like a thug and expect people to treat you like a gentleman when you're just perpetuating the stereotype, nobody can help you but yourself.