Okay... how's the racism? (Lexington, Bowling Green: appointed, crimes, co-op)
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AJT~ may I ask how smooth the transition went for you? Regarding weather salary,a nd overall cost of living? My husband will probably be starting his new job in 1-07 near Scottsburg IN. We could either live in KY or IN, but not sure about the cost of homes on either side and if we should worry about the Ohio River flooding. Also my husband has issues in regards to the possibility of tornadoes. It's a big move for us, and are ready for a slower pace of life! Thanks for your response!~Charity
I have lived in Bowling Green for about 30 years & love it here! It's a great place to raise kids with not much crime & the traffic is nothing compared to CA. Western KY University is located in Bowling Green & is the fastest growning university in the state and WKU helps make our community very diverse. The city has hosted an International Festival for the past 10 years or so & is very well attended.
According to Dr. Molly Wilson of the Warren County Board of Education, our county school system includes 14 languages and 600 students which are English Proficient. This represents a 400% increase from 5 years ago. There are limited English students in all 18 schools, so each now has a full blown English as a second language (ESL) program. Four schools also hold a multicultural festival.
According to the president of the Bowling Green Junior High PTO, 26 languages are spoken in their school.
There is a lot of inter-racial marriage & dating. I know there are some rednecks in this area that don't approve, but they are the vast minority.
There is an annual Christmas parade held in downtown Bowling Green & approximately 15 - 20 years ago, the KKK applied for a permit to participate. There was such an outcry from the community that the city leaders called off the entire Christmas parade rather than allow them to participate. I'm sure there are still racists here, but my experience is that the majority of the citizens are educated & very open-minded. I am white, but have a lot of african american friends and that is not out of the oridnary here.
This is the city's website http://www.bgky.org/. Check it out. Gives a lot of statistics about our city.
If you are relocating, this is a great site removed.
You will be able to purchase your acres just outside of town without being in a rural area. We are very close to Nashville, TN & Bowling Green is home to the world's only Corvette Plant & museum. We have several theaters for performing arts, & two orchestras. There's always lots of programming & things to do on campus. Maya Angelou spoke here last week.
Bowling Green has the feel of a large town - not a city. I worked with a lady from Grand Rapids, Michigan who had not even visited this area before her husband was transferred her. She told me her idea of KY was like something from "Deliverance" & there are pockets of KY that are still that isolated & the peole that ignorant, but overall she was very happy she moved here.
Welcome!
Last edited by Marka; 11-18-2006 at 02:20 AM..
Reason: read the rules, please
Go to Realtor.com and you can check out all the homes for sale in any area or town for your "farm". That is what we are doing right now. Than go to a Search Engine or MSN and ask for info on any County or town your interested in. Hubby is from Missouri and me from Indiana. I lived in KY. for 2 years and love it. We are in Arizona and can't wait till we get to KY.
Do you suppose racism will be a curse on world forever?
Hi,
I can't tell you a lot about the racism side as far as being black and in KY is concerned because I am white, but I will tell you what the Japanese said about KY when they decided to put their Toyota plant here. They said that if the United States had a heart, it would have to be Kentucky. The south has its good sides and bad sides. One of the good sides is that the people are a lot friendlier.
Racism does, unfortunately, seem to be everywhere as far as blacks, whites and anyone else going into a city/town that happens to be a little different from most of the population. I go to a lot of the festivals in rural KY and I have never seen any KKK representation at any of them so far. That doesn't mean they do not exist, but I would be appalled to see something like that, not to mention furious. I am 45 & have lived in KY all of my life...and in eastern KY in the mountains, at that. My generation was taught not to ever be a racist. My brother is 55 and his generation was a little different. Unfortunately, I have heard some things that our youth are being taught today that I have found to be very disturbing. But I haven't just heard this in eastern KY, but in many parts of the US via message boards.
I hate talking about this, because it is such a touchy subject, but what I have witnessed has really been bothering me & I was just wondering if anyone else has seen the same thing. There is no doubt that blacks in the US are more racists towards whites in this day and time than the other way round. You can see this in the statistics of many more hate crimes being committed by blacks on whites than whites on blacks. I feel if we do not stop this cycle of hatred now, it is only going to get much worse.
People in Europe/Britain have a very wrong impression about racism in the US. Most of them seem to think that "most" American white people are still racists towards American black people. I was reading on a European/Britain message board where some Brits who had moved to the US were talking to their families in Britain. They were talking about how they all had it backwards in Britain/Europe; that the majority of white people in the US were not still racists towards blacks. They went on to say that, in fact, they were eyewitnesses to the fact that the opposite is now true. They said it was like the KKK in reverse mold now in the USA. Unfortunately, this does seem to be what has happened. In return, more whites are now becoming racists towards blacks once again. I don't want this to become a vicious cycle.
Not long ago, I heard a bunch of white teenagers talking bad about black people. I came in scolding them and putting them in their place. They said that I just didn't understand. They said that there are cool black people and then black people who hated them.
These are just a couple of examples that made me start to research this subject, and from what I could tell from my research, it seems to be exactly as I described above - "many" blacks seem to be becoming much more prejudice in this day and time against whites than the other way round; however, this is causing more whites to become prejudice towards blacks once again; hence, a vicious cycle.
I think whoever pointed out the Bill Cosby and others example hit the nail right on the head. Wherever you go, if you go in with a huge chip on your shoulder, you aren't going to be treated very well no matter where you go. But if you go in with a Bill Cosby type of mindset, you will be accepted and appreciated wherever you go.
Just an opinion from an eastern Kentucky hillbilly...a sterotype I do not think we will ever outgrow. LOL! I hope you move to Kentucky because I am certain that you will love it. I know a family that moved here from California and never looked back. They have been here for years now, but I was just talking to her about it the other day. She said what she loved more about KY than CA was that the people were so much friendlier. So if that is the type of thing you are looking for, you will love KY. And I agree with many on here who have said - it can be great in one area, and then a few miles up/down the road, you may find it to be a whole different story. The Louisville area definitely has a big black population. I am certain there are many places out in the country that are an hour or so from Louisville that you would just love.
I have lived form one side of the state to the other. I can say without a doubt that if you are not originally from eastern Ky then don't move there. I have found from living there that if you are not from there or have family from there you will never be accepted. You will CONSTANTLY be looked as an outsider regardless of your race. I lived in Salyersville for several years & have family in Pikeville. I only had one reason for ever going back to that area & now she's passed away so I will not return. Now, the Lexington/Winchester/Mt Sterling area is nice. I haven't lived there in many years but visit regularly & love it, a very diverse area from what I've seen. My parents currently live in Bowling Green & it's a wonderfully lovely area. You have the "big city" & college environment but travel 5 minutes & you're in the country. Plus you're only an hours drive from nashville,TN(if that matters. lol) We are all (my parents & my family) about to move to Northern KY in the Grant Co. area. It is a very lovely place but from what I've noticed(just visited there last week) not very diverse. There are stereotypical rednecks everywhere, even here where I live now(some of the worst actually) in the Nashville,TN area. After visiting the northern Ky area we are very excited about moving there. The area we will be moving to is full of farm land & is still about an hour from Cincinatti, OH. Not sure if any of this helps at all but there are good & bad aspects in any area, I would jsut steer clear of the Eastern Ky area if it were me. JMO & experience.
I have lived form one side of the state to the other. I can say without a doubt that if you are not originally from eastern Ky then don't move there. I have found from living there that if you are not from there or have family from there you will never be accepted. You will CONSTANTLY be looked as an outsider regardless of your race. I lived in Salyersville for several years & have family in Pikeville. I only had one reason for ever going back to that area & now she's passed away so I will not return. Now, the Lexington/Winchester/Mt Sterling area is nice. I haven't lived there in many years but visit regularly & love it, a very diverse area from what I've seen. My parents currently live in Bowling Green & it's a wonderfully lovely area. You have the "big city" & college environment but travel 5 minutes & you're in the country. Plus you're only an hours drive from nashville,TN(if that matters. lol) We are all (my parents & my family) about to move to Northern KY in the Grant Co. area. It is a very lovely place but from what I've noticed(just visited there last week) not very diverse. There are stereotypical rednecks everywhere, even here where I live now(some of the worst actually) in the Nashville,TN area. After visiting the northern Ky area we are very excited about moving there. The area we will be moving to is full of farm land & is still about an hour from Cincinatti, OH. Not sure if any of this helps at all but there are good & bad aspects in any area, I would jsut steer clear of the Eastern Ky area if it were me. JMO & experience.
Sorry, mambens, you didn't enjoy living in the eastern part of the state. However, I do know of many people who have moved here with no family or friends living here and have fit in perfectly, are very successful and would not live anywhere else. I suppose it will always just depend on what you like and wherever you move to, what the people who are living there like. The towns in the eastern part of the state are much smaller, and I think you have to be a certain type of person to like living in a small community. Me, I moved to Lexington once and absolutely hated it. If you have a family, this is a great place to raise your children.
ive lived in ky my whiole life and am in bullitt county now but am going to move to bloomfield in henry county..i lived in louisville half of my life and anywhere u go racism is hardly seen because we are southern people be it black,white or w/e u get same respect u give and most everyone is friendly..ive lived in country half my life also and u almost never see racism there from younger ages to 30s or so only from the old generation of people who were raised to believe certain things. im married with 4 kids and 2 of them are mixed so i know wat im talking bout
One of the things I think I find more prevalent in KY is classism rather than racism. Obviously - as another stated - it does exist, and it can change over just a few blocks or around the corner - but what has struck me more in the past few years are the issues of classism.
Your zip code makes a big difference many times - another thread was discussing living in the Shepherdsville area vs. Mt.Washington and other areas in Bullitt county - and the difference is night and day.
In many towns, "the other side of the tracks", is not just a metaphor.
If I had a choice (and I am contemplating it now) I believe the Lexington area would be great, and I also agree with your observations of Bowling Green - from what I have heard.
Another area which is developing quickly is the Owensboro area - the only drawback I have found is the lack of accessability to the interstate system. I have lived around I-65 (within 15 minutes or so ) most of my life, and love the convenience of jumping on the hwy and getting where I need to go.
Look at what your true interests are, your desire for housing, your belief system (many towns are predominately Catholic or Baptist, etc.), and examine your needs for daily life. I believe you will find kindness and hospitality everywhere you go - you just need to match your wants/personality with what the town offers.
Perhaps you could come for a week or so and take a slow tour - stay in the areas that interest you most and see how you fit/they fit with you.
My parents did that when moving to Florida and are so glad they did. It is very hard to judge until you have spent time in a specific area.
Glad to have you considering the Bluegrass - we'll do our best to make ya'll happy!
vegan writer you should have no problem in the rural south or rural KY, being a black man. The only problems you will have is if you are a part of an Interracial couple-namely black man white woman. Other than that no ones cares.
I would like to know where you live as well, ymbk. I've lived in Lexington my whole life, and it's ignorant to say that racism doesn't exist, but are people afraid of certain neighborhoods? never.
There are plenty of neighborhoods that I am "afraid" of and not welcome to in KY.........Thank God for the CCL !!!
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Bowling Green
Do you suppose racism will be a curse on world forever?
