Race In Des Moines

[lindsay26]

I don't wanna seem mean or tick anyone off, but this is not a very diverse city in comparison with others. The fact is that sure, we have some minorities, but we are an overwhelming white city. Are there problems? Yes, but I don't think any greater than anywhere else. But I do think that people tend to ignore the problem here. Try and cover it up with political correctness. I graduated from Roosevelt High School, which has a large minority population. The teachers would always praise the school for its great diversity, but there was just one problem; the different racial and ethnic groups did not really hang out together, and many times conflict arose between different groups. I recall one of the hallways being referred to as the "black hallway". If you were white, it just wasn't the best place to be. It wasn't like you would have gotten beaten, but you had to expect a little verbal harassment from time to time for entering the hallway. There was even a "black lot", where African-American students parked their cars, and everyone else left it alone for the most part. This is just the reality of the situation. I am not trying to be a racist, but it happens here just like everywhere else. I think alot of people in this town try to sound pious and non-racist, but I think in the privacy of their own homes, they are secretly muttering what they really think.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by lindsay26

. I graduated from Roosevelt High School, which has a large minority population.

I always thought the demographics of Roosevelt were kind of funny. You have some of the wealthiest whites in the metro area - think LL Bean, Dave Matthews Band and ski trips. You've got pretty much the entire Jewish community who culturally and economically seem to blend in more with the LL Bean crowd. There's some middle class whites and then large segments of the poorest black neighborhoods. I bet it gets interesting at times.


I heard that Roosevelt has two cheerleader squads - one that's pretty much all white and more along the lines of what you would typically expect out of cheerleaders and then a second afro-centric squad - pretty much all black, a little more on the "thick" side and more uhh, ethnic dance routines.

[RonnieJonez]

Originally Posted by lindsay26

I don't wanna seem mean or tick anyone off, but this is not a very diverse city in comparison with others. The fact is that sure, we have some minorities, but we are an overwhelming white city. Are there problems? Yes, but I don't think any greater than anywhere else. But I do think that people tend to ignore the problem here. Try and cover it up with political correctness. I graduated from Roosevelt High School, which has a large minority population. The teachers would always praise the school for its great diversity, but there was just one problem; the different racial and ethnic groups did not really hang out together, and many times conflict arose between different groups. I recall one of the hallways being referred to as the "black hallway". If you were white, it just wasn't the best place to be. It wasn't like you would have gotten beaten, but you had to expect a little verbal harassment from time to time for entering the hallway. There was even a "black lot", where African-American students parked their cars, and everyone else left it alone for the most part. This is just the reality of the situation. I am not trying to be a racist, but it happens here just like everywhere else. I think alot of people in this town try to sound pious and non-racist, but I think in the privacy of their own homes, they are secretly muttering what they really think.

That's a good assessment. They'll act as if they are so unbiased regarding any racial issue to the point it just makes you wonder. I think with Obama as President, people will be forced to change, at least a little bit.

Some of the DSM posters here will say "Obama won the Iowa Caucus" - therefore Iowa has no racial problems anymore. That's completely false. The small percent of democrats who actually went to the caucus helped Obama win it, and in no way are reflective of the majority.

[tiki7]

I know this is about a year late for the OP and they've probably already moved or decided not to, but anyway......

First of all, if you are an African American social worker, we NEED you here in Polk Co. I am a Cauc. social worker living in an interracial family and can say from experience that we serve (as is true in many places, I'm sure) a disproportionate number of minority families but yet most of us doing the work are white. As much as most of us try to be culturally fluent, there will always be some things we can't do as well as if we are from that culture ourselves.

I do agree with most of the posts here that your experience here won't be much different from that in Cedar Rapids. The biggest problem here is that while people from various races generally get along, friendships and socializing tend to go along fairly stringent racial lines. The other problem is that there is somewhat a lack of affluent or even middle class black families when compared to other diverse metropolitan areas. The "ghetto" culture seems to be the status quo especially among the high school students. Boys especially can get a lot of crap for "acting white" when all they are doing is working hard to respect teachers in school, showing up for class and getting decent grades. I have friends living in metropolitan Atlanta and Chicago and this seems to be less the case for them, especially in the parts of Atlanta they are in.

Lastly, I do disagree with the posters that say that the suburbs are "all white". That is simply not the case. Urbandale where I live has an ever growing number of black and Hispanic families. The schools are all about 4-5 percent African American (except Webster way out west). No majority to be sure but good for Iowa and far from "all white". When my oldest child (now 17) began school it was here and 1 other black kid in her whole grade. My youngest, now in 2nd grade, is one of 6 black kids in her class of 26. I have friends living in West Des Moines and such is the case there as well. Even Waukee is getting some diversity.....I do not know as much about Ankeny, etc.

[Vidyapati]

I just posted in a similar thread. We used to live in Johnston, IA. We are an interracial family and, come to think of it, I don't remember ever seeing another Black person in Johnston.

We LOVED living in Johnston. We met a ton of friends that we'd hang out with all the time. It was a small community, and we enjoyed going out for some fun at any local spot that was open. We were always invited to our friend's homes for dinner and socializing (and they came to ours). We NEVER ever felt race was an issue or even thought of. The church we attended was 100% Causasian, and I think the members were excited to finally see some color in their congregation.

If it weren't for the fact that we're looking to buy a house on 10+ acres sourrounded by woods, we'd definitely move back to Johnston.

[Chicago60614]

An interesting read, lots of statistics:

http://www.iowadatacenter.org/Public.../aaprofile2009

It says African American enrollment in public schools is up 40% over a 6 year period. I know from talking to my family in Iowa City (they teach) and looking at statistics from the schools, it's absolutely skyrocketed there, by many many hundreds over the past 5 years. It's interesting to see the change.