Is Iowa still promoting the State to Minorities? (gated, wages)

[pirate_lafitte]

Instead of "promoting", what all places need to do is just "be" good for all demographics and they will come somehow. The problem is that while we all try to "promote" places, the real problems are never really addressed. Affirmative action may have been helpful to many people, but it didn't address the issues of poverty and crime and lack of education and the fact that some people just didn't have the access to certain resources. The reason not many minorities were moving to Iowa had to do with the relatively low amount of factory jobs during the Great Migration. Waterloo and Davenport were the major manufacturing cities in Iowa, so more blacks lived there for its jobs. Yes, the governor wanted more diversity. Can it happen? With some work it can work.(I do know that Waterloo had a riot during the 60's). Iowa doesn't have to become the violent place that LA has turned into. What Iowa needs is alot of elbow grease. The problem is that many people who do arrive in certain places arrive with no jobs(many find jobs though) and no skills. If someone is unemployed and arrives in another state looking for work and doesn't find it, there can be problems. There are also cases where people just go to certain places for welfare benefits they can't get in their own residence. I see this theory(and I could be wrong). IMHO, many residents who have moved to other states and stay on welfare(or cause crime and violence) are living there because their for residences were too difficult to live in for them and in every case, there is bound to be some crimnial coming in. What I see in Iowa is a state that has rarely(relative to adjacent states such as IL, WI, and MO) had to deal with the major issues that states like NY, FL, CA, and IL have had to deal with. That is Iowa's biggest challenge.

[GayleAZ]

Try living in AZ - it's like a 3rd world country. If your not hispanic your NIL here. All we can do is hope someone in gov't in '08 actually takes an interest in our well being and starts getting down to business against the criminal element. And it wouldn't hurt to jerk the welfare carpet out from under most of these folks as well. Let them go to LA for a free ride. It never ceases to amaze me how the people who founded this country, sweat, bled, educated, medicated, defended and farmed it or now the villians for wanting to keep it the way it was envisioned. It doesn't have to be 'lily white' but it damn sure needs cleaning up by the police/ ICE/ and a few gang task forces.

[pirate_lafitte]

I think there are some people who come to the USA(not all though) to work and make a better life for themselves and nothing else. Some of them don't care for the USA at are only in the USA because they can't make it where they used to live. It is almost the case for some of the notherners who move to places like Atlanta, Charlotte,etc. Many of them don't care for the South or the fact that it is so vastly different from their won hometowns. Some of the northerners are in Georgia because it was too expensive or their jobs took them to the South. It is the same with some of the immigrants(keyword some) who come to the USA. They pledge allegiance to their home nation, but come to the USA for work and an easier life. As for national pride, it is everywhere. Go to the east coast cities like Philadelphia, New York,or Boston. You can go into some neighborhoods and find only Italian or Irish flags flying. In Chicago, you can go into some places and find the Polish flag flying.
As for Iowa, if it is ever to make itself a place to live, it needs to be prepared to deal with certain issues, or at least learn from other places.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

You can go into some neighborhoods and find only Italian or Irish flags flying. In Chicago, you can go into some places and find the Polish flag flying. .

I don't know about that one... Most ethnic communities I've seen that have other nation's flags flying usually have ol' glory up as well. Show me some examples of Italian, Irish or whatever-Americans boo'ing the national anthem at US vs. <insert ethnic homeland here> soccer matches like some Mexican-"Americans" do. Show me examples of Irish/Italian/Polish/whoever writing literature about taking over parts of the US like the Reconquista movements do. So basically, I don't think it's really all that fair to compare them to Irish/Italian communities. I'm not saying all Mexicans are like that, but we don't have the same sort of issues arising out of Irish/Italian/whoever and we never had the same sort of issues.

I understand that a sizable portion of immigrants want to come here only for a better life. However, we only owe a better life to our citizens, not the citizens of another country to come here.

The Mexican government passes out literature instructing their citizens on how to effectively and safely cross the border into the US. Sounds like a great way to get rid of their own problems and shove it onto us. The Mexican government doesn't have to take care of these people, Uncle Sam will and odds are the person will end up sending some money back to Mexico. It's frustrating to think about.

[pirate_lafitte]

Now we are off topic. Lets go back to the discussion of promoting the state of Iowa to minorites. I can take for example Waterloo. Waterloo has the largeest black population percentage in the state(13%). It got that way because there were jobs. I don't think many people outside of Iowa know this but there was a race riot in Waterloo in the 1960's. One might expect it in Chicago, Milwaukee, or Detroit, but Waterloo did stand out. Waterloo attracted blacks to the state of Iowa because many blacks were making it n the Jim Crow-era South. Life for blacks in the South was hard, so they went North. Now it is easier. The solution would be to look at history and look at how certain places had the violence that they had. Iowa could be a model state(actually, it isn't the worst place to be but it could be better). There is room for improvement and Iowa can learn from Michigan, California, Ohio, and other places on what not to do.

[ocean19]

Hey hasn't history proved that whenever white folks migrated to new places (Africa, Americas, Polynesia), they pretty much forced entire races to go extinct because of disease, murder, and all manner of vicious crimes? Surely, a few new minorities to Iowa couldn't do the same damage right?

I was a minority ISU student in '99 who never heard the word "minority" before moving there. I certainly don't think myself and my other minority friends left Iowa any worse than when we found it.

I think Iowa will survive, people!

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by ocean19

Hey hasn't history proved that whenever white folks migrated to new places (Africa, Americas, Polynesia), they pretty much forced entire races to go extinct because of disease, murder, and all manner of vicious crimes?
!

I don't know, dude, last time I picked up an issue of National Geographic it sure seemed like there might actually still be some natives living in Africa. It's not like theres a bunch of them though, maybe just a several hundred million of them. I also heard somewhere that those brown people you see around here and South America are natives too. There's probably only a few hundred million of them out there too. Polynesia, I don't know about there. I'm just going to have to wait until the next issue of National Geographic comes out, I guess. I imagine the evil white people probably killed them all off though.

I don't know, maybe you learned something different at ISU though.

[unononehigher]

Well now, this has been truly enlightening;...NOT! I am an american by default/african by descent. I am a single mother of 3 boys (17,14, and 8). I DID NOT MOVE HERE DUE TO "Iowa's excellent opportunities to prosper WELFARE system!" I have been in Iowa for 2 years (bettendorf) and these have been my experiences. First of all, my children attend fairly good schools (no school is perfect), secondly, the neighborhood I live in is considered "Bettendorfs' ghetto" (what a joke!), and the economic opportunities are fair to midland. I am a proud chicagoan (NEVER LIVED IN PROJECT, thank you very much!), and I don't see what the whooplah is all about concerning promoting the state to minorities. There are better states to live in (I have personal experience in migration) with a lot more to offer than Iowas' average cost of living, growing mulatto population and subtle racism. And yes, I did say racism. From the posts on this board, to the comments {that I've personally heard} from white people to other white people about their best (black or "other minorities") friend behind their backs...its disheartening to say the least. After finishing my endeavors in Bettendorf, I contemplated moving further into the state (i.e. cedar rapids or west des moines), but after reading these and other posts, I don't think I want to start my business in an environment where I am not respected due to my nationality, culture or heritage. Just how fair would that be, if all minorities, would start thinking like the few Iowans represented here on this forum? Iowa and every other "white state" would have a culture shock and realize that none of us are truly "Americans" (EXCEPT THE NATIVE AMERICANS). We are all immigrants; most by force and others by choice. And for the record, some of the communities I lived in (various states), the worst of the worst were the white people who felt they "understood the plight of the inner city families." These bleeding hearted white people, who put in their 40 hours every week, lived in nice victorian styled homes, pickett fences, 2.5 kids, a dog and a cat; were the same ones who beat their wives, got drunk weekly (hey it was a dry town; everyone bought liquor on fridays before midnight), had affairs with the secretary, in debt and had children who needed to "find themselves" either through prescribed medications or recreational drugs of choice. But after reading all of this negativity about people from chicago, and the projects, and minorities, the one thing we "minorities" know how to do is SURVIVE AND FACE OUR STRUGGLES. I guess that ability comes from not being priviledge and being...oppressed. Essentially, the answer to the main topic is this; it is the quality of the person, the quality of individual living standards and the quality of the community as a whole. Not race, not ethinicity or previous geographic living conditions or location that determines what is best. And all the promotion in the world can't change a house into a home.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by ocean19

Hey hasn't my selective knowledge of history proved to myself that whenever white folks migrated to new places (Africa, Americas, Polynesia), they pretty much forced entire races to go extinct because of disease, murder, and all manner of vicious crimes?

I fixed your quote.

Darfur, Sudan
Ghengis Khan's invasion of Europe and attempted invasions of Japan
Aztec and Incan empires treatment of other tribes
The slavers of north africa
Ottoman Turks
Japanese occupation of China 1931-45
The polishing off of the Illini indians by the Iroquois (after disease etc. from French traders) (and yes they were pushed off their land later so everyone gets to share in the shame there)

You are attributing certain behaviors and actions to a group based upon thier race....isn't there a word for that....it's currently escaping me.....

Bottom line is that people can be horrible and that the group in power in the America's with strong written records have generally been European. Read more on any of the topics above and then come back and we can talk some more.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by unononehigher

I am an american ..............the few Iowans represented here on this forum? Iowa and every other "white state" would have a culture shock and realize that none of us are truly "Americans" (EXCEPT THE NATIVE AMERICANS). .

Wait, what? So you're American but none of us are truly Americans? As far as "except the Native Americans" goes, of course they were here first but we're the ones who created the country as it is today so I don't think that argument really works. I know it sounds nice though.

I'm sorry, but I read your post three times and couldn't really make out what the point was. So you're not on welfare and because you're not on welfare there's nobody else coming to Iowa to take advantage of our system?