Is St. Cloud really this hostile? (living, racism, area)

[marmac]

The St Cloud Times proudly points about the diversity awards they recieve every year from their parent company.
I would say the Times has a vested interest in keeping/creating racial discrimination in their news reports and editorials.
It keeps them winning awards. ( it maybe also explains why they give preferential treatment to black suspects who police are looking for"
We should all be colorblind when it cromes to crime. If the race and photo of a white person is deemed helpfull in capturing/identifying a suspect, so also should the race and photo be helpfull in capturing/identifying a black suspect.
I believe the St Cloud Times is part of the problem and not part of the solution to racial harmony !

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by marmac

The St Cloud Times proudly points about the diversity awards they recieve every year from their parent company.
I would say the Times has a vested interest in keeping/creating racial discrimination in their news reports and editorials.
It keeps them winning awards. ( it maybe also explains why they give preferential treatment to black suspects who police are looking for"
We should all be colorblind when it cromes to crime. If the race and photo of a white person is deemed helpfull in capturing/identifying a suspect, so also should the race and photo be helpfull in capturing/identifying a black suspect.
I believe the St Cloud Times is part of the problem and not part of the solution to racial harmony !

That is probably why I was scared of even thinking of going to St. Cloud at all. Then again, the only part of MN I;ve been to is MPLS. Every place has its ups and downs.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by abbylena

1. If your car won't start on a freezing MN morning in the Cities, will your neighbor come to give you a jump? The answer will probably be "No". You probably don't know them. We in our "hick" communities would do it for anyone, not just a neighbor.

That stereotype certainly doesn't apply everywhere. When I was growing up in a neighborhood in east Minnetonka (just off Williston Road) in the 60's and 70's, we knew just about everybody in our little circle, and as far as we could tell it was just as "tight" in terms of friendships with neighbors than any of the little MN and SD towns that I've visited where cousins lived.

The fact that it was a new development at the time and the neighborhood was mainly couples of the same age having kids at the same time probably helped, but that's quite common in new suburban housing development even today.

Our neighborhood here in the Atlanta metro is pretty friendly, too. We even organized a nice parade for the little kids this Halloween. :-)

3. Would you walk down the street after dark in the Cities? I sure wouldn't! Here in "Hickville" we can and we don't even have to be afraid.

I've had no issues at all walking down the street after dark in any of the places that I've lived in either the Twin Cities (Minnetonka, Bloomington, and Eden Prairie) or Atlanta (Smyrna and Mableton).

I'm not sure you know what you're talking about when it comes to typical suburban life. Heck, when I was growing up in Minnetonka my parents didn't lock their doors at night most of the time.

I am not at all knocking MSP or the Suburbs, I am just saying that there are people who enjoy the huslte and bustle, honking horns, sirens, etc. I am not one of them.

I live in suburban Atlanta now (which arguably has MUCH worse traffic issues than the Twin Cities do), and yet I don't have to deal with a lot of hustle and bustle either. Why? Because I chose to live in a relatively quiet suburban neighborhood down in a little valley where we can't even hear traffic sounds at night, and because I drive to and from work on secondary roads during off-peak hours.

I don't have a problem with people in small towns, but suburban folks such as myself get just as tired of the stereotypes you're throwing around as you do about the small town stereotypes you hear. If living in a suburb was half as bad as you say, I'd be living 20 miles west of here in a much more rural setting. :-)

Change is difficult for everyone. In the big cities, you don't notice it because there are so many people and you have seen it before. We haven't, so give us a break. We will get there.

Yup. This is very well stated. It takes time to get used to seeing people of different backgrounds every day...

[beenhereandthere]

Originally Posted by lukeache

In my opinion, there are 2 Minnesotas: Minneapolis/St Paul and the rest of the state. Saint Cloud happens to be part of the second Minnesota, therefore, people will be much more ignorant, uneducated, closed minded and intolerant than in the Twin Cities. However, you will always find nice people in the small towns as well. I love to drive to Duluth and stop at those small towns like Sturgeon Lake and Finlayson. I always feel this very unwelcoming, "what are you doing here" kind of vibe from the locals in these small ignorant towns. I could never live in a Minnesota town outside of the metro area. Minnesota is a totally different world outside of the metro area, a world I do not want to be part of.

As someone who spent most of the 80's in MN and graduated from SCSU, I can say you hit the nail right on the head.
Even though I've had some good experiences in small town MN (Hallock, MN in particular) just about all the dumbass comments I got regarding race from from, sigh, folks who where from more than 1 hour outside of MSP.

[marmac]

I believe people who live in rural Minnesota don't feel the need to "prove their acceptance of diversity and PC " by electing a male as their school's homecoming queen.

Apparently SCSU feels the --need to prove--

[lukeache]

If it was not for the Twin Cities, I think Minnesota would be a very backwards state. As the OP was talking about St Cloud being racist, it just brought back some memories about what happened in Montgomery, MN a few years ago. The town was trying to dislocate Hispanic residents because they wanted to keep the town "Czech". City Pages did an article on this and one Hispanic activist guy from Owatonna came to Metropolitan State University to speak about this and some of the other "challenges" Hispanics face in Southern Minnesota. Having spent much time in Southern Minnesota, I can say that there are tons of ignorant, uneducated people outside of the Metro area.

City Pages - Hit the Road, Juan

[Balready]

Originally Posted by beenhereandthere

As someone who spent most of the 80's in MN and graduated from SCSU, I can say you hit the nail right on the head.
Even though I've had some good experiences in small town MN (Hallock, MN in particular) just about all the dumbass comments I got regarding race from from, sigh, folks who where from more than 1 hour outside of MSP.

What in the world were you possibly doing in Hallock Minnesota?...it's nice to see that even though you have that extreme view that you still like Hallock, haha

[beenhereandthere]

Originally Posted by Balready

What in the world were you possibly doing in Hallock Minnesota?...it's nice to see that even though you have that extreme view that you still like Hallock, haha

Played a hockey game there.
I've been to all sorts of small towns in NW MN, like Thief River and Roseau, no one has been even subtlely hostile.
That being said, I don't walk into places to try to see who is.
However, I was with my ex wife in a MN town of about 10000 folks. She was white and this older couple, proably from the sticks, were just giving us the evil eye from being together. We noticed that and started to neck in front of them, just to make them madder.
We were young though.

[kg1701d]

Originally Posted by lukeache

Having spent much time in Southern Minnesota, I can say that there are tons of ignorant, uneducated people outside of the Metro area.

City Pages - Hit the Road, Juan

Having spent much time in the Twin Cities Area, Central Minnesota, Southern Minnesota, Central Wisconsin, South Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Washington DC, etc etc, I can say that there are tons of ignorant, uneducated people EVERYWHERE.

Lets not play such games that its that bad with lynchings, separate bathrooms.

[orange89]

i lived in st. cloud for a year myself, in high school and am there almost every day for work. i have found most of the "racism" issues are between the somali's and whites mainly because of there ways of living and horrid driving. as far as people being mugged, its one of those things like being hit with lightning, it happens every once in a blue moon and its going to happen where ever you are. the active branch of KKK i can immagine its a small "click" of a few friends that have issues with people of color, nothing more. i know there has been a string of car break ins, mine included. but its just one of those things you know? but where ever you are there are always going to be people who have no respect for other people or there belongings.