Why is everyone racist to mexicans (lenders, income, living in)

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by averagejoe76

Im not even a fan of Kansas but im getting sick of all these posts...
Kansas is racist,Kansas is too conservative,Kansas is too Christian....
You dont like it,dont move here.Raised here and hate it move!

Kansas is my home. It has always been home and will always be home - even when I do eventually move.

I don't like everything about Kansas - quite often I am woefully outnumbered by racists, conservatives and Christians -- and all three groups are known to contain some pretty obnoxious folk at times.

But I have just as much right to voice my opinion as anyone else does. I have a right to see to it that my kids are not inundated at school with racist, ultra-right-wing or Christian propaganda. I have a right to live my life the way I want to within the law - and I will continue to be an outspoken voice against racism and for political and religious moderation in my community.

I will not leave -- this is my home.

[averagejoe76]

Your choice i guess,but i wouldnt move the most liberal part of the US and..
Then rant and rave about the mentality.
I choose to move to places that fit my values.
I have my beliefs and if someone wants to slam me for being traditional,christian..
Or standing up for my country thats their problem.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by averagejoe76

Im not even a fan of Kansas but im getting sick of all these posts...
Kansas is racist,Kansas is too conservative,Kansas is too Christian....
You dont like it,dont move here.Raised here and hate it move!

In my opinion, the worst part about my home state is not the fact that it has racism (all places do), nor that Christians have made the school curriculum a punchline in the eyes of the rest of the country (and I get stuck explaining the situation to bewildered Northwesterners), nor that it keeps voting for Sam Brownback (as most of my relatives do).

The worst part about Kansas is the number of people who believe that dissenters should simply move away. I think Samantha's perspective on this simply discounts those facts that are inconvenient to it, but the one thing I'd never tell her to do is leave. And for the record, the only reason I'm still outside Kansas is that my parents hauled me away in youth, and I then married an Alaskan, and it's no easier to drag her off to Kansas than it is for her to haul me off to Anchorage.

The best part is that that number still isn't a very high one. I don't think it's anything like parts of the South that way. As my staunchly feminist Flint Hills aunt proves, you can be plenty outspoken against the grain in Kansas (as long as your outspokenness isn't against grain; they'd get you for that).

[TinaMcG]

Wow, I was under the impression this thread had been closed. It's getting hotter than a bag of jalapeños in here.

I just want to stick up for Christianity, which seem to be getting maligned here. Some of us are more left wing than right wing, and some of us think people like Falwell, Dobson, Robertson and Haggard make God lose sleep at night. No group of people, regardless of race, creed or nationality, should ever be lumped together into a stereotype.

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

The worst part about Kansas is the number of people who believe that dissenters should simply move away. I think Samantha's perspective on this simply discounts those facts that are inconvenient to it, but the one thing I'd never tell her to do is leave.

Thank you! I appreciate the debate and I couldn't agree with you more on this point.

TinaMcG: I appreciate also your note about Christianity. My apologies if I have offended you - I did not mean to lump all Christians together - there is such a spectrum of beliefs and degrees of beliefs within what's called "Christianity".

However, the majority of Kansans call themselves "Christians" and so those who do not are certainly outnumbered and can easily feel ostracized. For those who make their religion a central focus of their lives, it does tend to permeate into workplaces and even schools if not kept in check. Most of the Christians I know are very nice and very well-meaning folks who do not intend to be exclusionary. But for those of us who are not religious, even the most well meaning permeation can get old.

This is not necessarily a complaint as I will staunchly defend anyone's right to choose their religion. It's just a fact that those of us who do not choose Christianity are certainly a minority.

So to take this back in line with the original post and make it relevant: It is again something that people should think about when considering whether to relocate to Kansas.

[TinaMcG]

Samantha, thank you. Something occurred to me soon after moving here from Chicago two years ago, when I discovered such a warm welcome from everyone I met -- and yeah, I'm talking Johnson County! I wondered if the difference between the rather standoffish Chicagoans and the wonderfully helpful and friendly Kansans might have something to do with there being more devoutly religious people here. Maybe that's just a romantic notion, but it did occur to me.

I've never really encountered any religious crazies here. Maybe I live a sheltered life? Or maybe I'm just lucky to be associating with Christians who practice Christianity and not "Christianism". I did encounter a couple of the Phelps women on a local blog the other day, and wow...well, we won't waste any bandwidth on them.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

Yeah, but it's intellectually incontinent when people conflate 'Mexican,' 'Hispanic,' and 'illegal alien' as though the three are automatically synonymous. Many Hispanics' ancestors have been here a century longer than my own, if not more. Many Hispanics are not Mexican. Many Hispanics are immigrants (by definition, legal). Many illegal aliens (because 'illegal immigrant' is like saying 'lawful arsonist'; if it's lawful, it isn't arson) are not only not Mexican, but not Hispanic.

The only fair way to see the issue is to oppose the illegal entry regardless of where it comes from. I'm a rock-ribbed enemy of all illegal entry, to the extreme of wanting deadly force employed to prevent it--but when I see a Hispanic person I certainly don't first think 'illegal alien.' That would be about as fair as looking at an Asian person and thinking 'math genius', or looking at a crew-cut white with a drawl (which I happen to be) and thinking 'bigot'.

It's the same kind of mental indistinctness that has most Americans believing that all Arabs are Muslims and all Muslims are Arabs--never mind that Indonesia is the largest Islamic country by population, and that neither Turks nor Iranians are Arabs (though most are Muslims).

and that most Lebanese are actually Maronite Christians(Catholics).

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

I've never really encountered any religious crazies here. Maybe I live a sheltered life? Or maybe I'm just lucky ...

I'm gonna call you "lucky" on that one! 'Cuz we definitely got 'em!

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

I did encounter a couple of the Phelps women on a local blog the other day, and wow...well, we won't waste any bandwidth on them.

A squad of those people came to Washington to play their little game outside a Marine sergeant's memorial last year. You'd have loved it. Five people holding up stupid signs in a vacant lot, across the street from the facility, with a line of police reluctantly standing guard as some two thousand of the most diverse folks you could hope to find anywhere blocked the main entrance route from their view. Unitarians, veterans, Christians, pagans, gays, Hispanics, whites, blacks, Asians, all united in sentiment. Unfortunately, a lot of people outside Kansas have the misguided notion that Phelps actually does represent a meaningful part of Kansas. I attended in a KANSAS t-shirt, just to represent--and to give me a chance to explain to those near me that bigotry of the Phelps brand does not represent us, and that we despise him more than just about anyone.

[AnywhereElse]

Maybe the problem isn't "them" - "I don't like everything about Kansas - quite often I am woefully outnumbered by racists, conservatives and Christians -- and all three groups are known to contain some pretty obnoxious folk at times." This tells me that you have a prejudice against conservatives and Christians so maybe the problem, Samantha, is your prejudice about these groups and you have a chip on your shoulder that is putting them off. I have a son with Down syndrome who is now an adult and are you still expecting me to shed a tear because some conservatives or Christian might look at you or your kids wrong? I think you have shown what the problem is. Attitude is very important and that includes yours. Now, the majority of people that have Hispanic ancestors are probably doing fine and when someone like Samantha makes all these comments, it reflects on them so I believe for the most part that this is an isolated case. I just can't stand it when someone like this whines and causes difficulty for anyone else that might be associated with a group whether it be race, national origin or whatever. If it were so difficult for people of Hispanic roots here, why would the population continue to grow the way it has every year. Samantha, truly, take a look at how you are presenting yourself to these "conservatives and Christians" and if you are still having difficulties, rather than be miserable, find a more suitable area to live in.