Race In Des Moines (Cedar Rapids, Waterloo: relocating, job, home)

[jinxer]

I am so sorry to ask this question this way - I am new to this. Expanding on Des Moines being the 9th best place to live...I live in Cedar Rapids and am thinking of relocating to Des Moines. I am a social worker and will already have a job. I don't drink and am a true Cancer - homebody. My question is how do Black and White folks get along in Des Moines?????? I am not a martyr - I don't want to live where I have to be fearful. I want to live in a diverse, nice neighborhood where I don't have to be afraid of a cross on my lawn when I get home from work. Is Des Moines a good place to live? More than likely my children, at least one of them will move with me which is fine. Move or stay in Cedar Rapids???

[El Rhino]

There hasn't been a cross burned in anyone's yard (that I know of), any racist graffitti on someone's property or any serious racially motived attacks by whites on minorities (although there have been many the other way around) for about 10-15 years. Odds are your experiences here would be no different than Cedar Rapids.

[jinxer]

Thanks - I see not many are willing to give their opinion to this kind of question. I appreciate your response.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by jinxer

Thanks - I see not many are willing to give their opinion to this kind of question. I appreciate your response.

Actually, there's been at least a handful of threads here about this subject. If I remember what they were, I'll post them.

[DSMGuy]

I think race relations are overall good in DM. I haven't heard of any issues. People seem to get along well here. DM has a fairly good racial diversity for Iowa. (but it is nothing like Seattle or other places)

DM has a lot of things to see and do for its size. You can check seedesmoines.com and other websites and compare it to where you live now and I think you'll see a big difference.

It is also always rated at or near the top at sites like Forbes, Kiplinger's, and other pubs as far as a place to live and/or do business.

Probably the only downer is the weather is less than desirable quite a bit of the time, but you live in Iowa now anyway, so it is probably no surprise to you.

[ehenningsen]

Des Moines should have its own forum, absolutely...

[jake1110]

DM is on par with CR as far race relations are concerned. The worst "large" city in Iowa is Waterloo. Stay or go, its about the same.

[YesWeHaveNoBananas]

I would say that Whitey bends over backwards here to please black folks. Just your cup of tea, perhaps. The places you have to worry about stepping across your lawn and dealing with violence are places like Memphis, Tn. Just read their forums, sometime. Ah, but that's White Folks that are afraid down there. The crime rate is appalling and white people are generally not too comfortable living there. African American is the dominant population there, and they've made it pretty clear that about how they feel about Whitey.. Scary. So, no, you won't have to deal with that here. DM folks are incredibly tolerant, very sensible, kind people towards everyone. As I find most people in Iowa are. Are people buring crosses alot up there in Cedar Rapids?

[ckhthankgod]

Didn't Des Moines have a Black mayor at one time? Also, I don't think that interracial crime necessarily means that it is racially motivated, unless it's pretty obvious. For the overwhelming majority of cirme in this country, it is intraracial. When 86% of White victims and 94% of Black victims are victimized by those of the same raceaccording to the Bureau of Justice from 1976-2005, maybe it's the criminals from within that people need to worry about the most.

Are there places were things can be tense in iowa? From what I know, it seems like Waterloo and Dubuque have at times been tense in that way.

[ckhthankgod]

Here's some interesting history about Iowa that I found:Exhibits: Gone But Not Forgotten: A Black Utopia in Buxton, Iowa

African-Americans in Iowa, 1838-2005 « Iowa Pathways

and yes, the mayor's name was Preston Daniels. Clinton also had a Black mayor, who was also a female.