Racism on the Range... (Duluth, Hibbing: homes, school district, colleges)

[beenhereandthere]

Hi, looking for some opinions here. I'm not moving to the Iron Range any time soon. However, I was just thinking about this. I am a SCSU alum, when I went here, 3 members of the SCSU hockey team (played pick up hockey with and against them a few times) were very racist towards me on 2 or 3 occasions. I knew someone who went to a junior college on the Range, playing football, who almost got into a racist fight with a ranger (another hockey player) and I just thought of a story where, even though it was 10 years ago, some football players at Hibbing CC were refused service at a known restrurant there. Finally, the movie North Country was pretty accurate in some parts, even though that dealt with sexism, which usually goes hand in hand. Has it changed at all? Kevin McHale and others (like Joe Michelletti)who are progressive are from there, but what's up with everyone else?

[Slig]

What do you mean when you say they "were very racist towards you"?

[Delaneyland]

I went to college in Hibbing in the mid eighties and I didn't see any racism. What I did see is folks, primarily black, that came to HCC for sports scholarships that locals couldn't get and there certainly those that resented it. As you may know, HCC just decided to discontinue their football program due to low grades of team members, most of whom are black. The unfortunate thing about Northern MN (and I've lived here most of my life) is the resistance to change. I've watched Duluth go from a town of 102,000 people to a town of 84,000 counting dogs and cats. Unfortunately there are very few good paying jobs north of the Twin Cities area. I have never seen racism in Northern MN but have seen a lot of reluctance in citizens to look openly at people and things. Last year a white guy was beaten and killed by a native that wanted to steal his beer...I guess that is racism, or it would have been labeled that had the tables been turned. I don't know if that answers any of your questions or not. It sure would be nice if we were all labeled as Americans instead of attaching titles to describe ourselves.

[MidniteBreeze]

Well, I'd definitely agree that the Range is one of those places that's just slow to change. With the exception of Native Americans, it's traditionally a very "white" area and I think some of the locals might appear more racially insensitive than they really are simply because they have very little personal experience with diversity. I'm not making excuses for people who are *obviously* racist, (because they certainly do exist), but I do think being "un-PC" is sometimes misunderstood as racism when it's not necessarily so. (i.e., the old Swede at the local coffee shop hasn't gotten the memo that black people are "African-Americans" and not "blacks".)

I do think, though, that attitudes are slowly changing with the younger generation. Even though they still live in a rather isolated "white" region, they have much more exposure to the "outside" world than their parents and grandparents did.

I work at a small, rural northern MN school district (not on the range, but not too far) and we actually have a fair amount of diversity due to our local Native population and the group/foster homes in our boundaries that serve kids from outside our region. While I can't say there's never been ANY racial tension, the kids are actually quite tolerant of each other.

Where I live (in the Grand Rapids area) we're also experiencing more diversity in the community and from what I've seen, the non-white people seem to be accepted and even welcomed (imagine our delight when we got a "real" Mexican restaurant!) Of course I'm writing from the perspective of a white person and may very well have a different view if I lived here as a person of color, but that's my .02, for what it's worth.

[mrkool]

[quote=MidniteBreeze;321342] ( the old Swede at the local coffee shop hasn't gotten the memo that black people are "African-Americans" and not "blacks".)QUOTE]

And what memo was that? The term "African-American" was pretty much conceived by Jesse Jackson a number of years ago, and he insisted that is what blacks should be called from now on. Of course, the mainstream media and colleges took it as gospel, started using the term constantly, and now it is accepted/used by alot of people. But to me, just because Jesse Jackson proclaimed something, doesn't make it something us ordinary folks have to abide by.
And if blacks are "African-Americans", what do you and your friends call whites? Bet it isn't "European-Americans."

[Delaneyland]

It gets awful hard to stay politically correct kool, that the point I was trying to make in my earlier post about leaving the labels off...it seems everyone has one. I'm the first to admit I'm a white guy, and I see your point about "Euro Americans", personally I wish we'd (as a society) drop all the descriptors that appear necessary to (try) to stay politically correct. I'm half Finn and half Polish but certainly do not insist on anyone identifying me by my heritage. Strangely enough, I spent four months in Nigeria and was never, ever labeled as a "white" by the Nigerians I befriended and worked with. They simply didn't care and it was already pretty obvious what color I was. I don't want to speak for breeze, but I certainly agree that folks "up north" aren't attempting to be rude, biased, or racist, they just either don't agree with the "PC police" or just simply don't care about it. Personally, I couldn't care less about being politically correct, then again, I'm not running for office or attempting to win a popularity contest either.

[RedWingsFan]

Originally Posted by Delaneyland

Strangely enough, I spent four months in Nigeria and was never, ever labeled as a "white" by the Nigerians I befriended and worked with. They simply didn't care and it was already pretty obvious what color I was. .

At least to your face you weren't called that and they didn't care. Maybe they were just discrete about discussing it at home or behind closed office doors. Race is a hot bed issue around the world, not just in America, and I doubt the people of Nigeria are the one group of people that don't see race and don't make it an issue.

[MidniteBreeze]

[quote=mrkool;322093]

Originally Posted by MidniteBreeze

( the old Swede at the local coffee shop hasn't gotten the memo that black people are "African-Americans" and not "blacks".)QUOTE]

And what memo was that? The term "African-American" was pretty much conceived by Jesse Jackson a number of years ago, and he insisted that is what blacks should be called from now on. Of course, the mainstream media and colleges took it as gospel, started using the term constantly, and now it is accepted/used by alot of people. But to me, just because Jesse Jackson proclaimed something, doesn't make it something us ordinary folks have to abide by.
And if blacks are "African-Americans", what do you and your friends call whites? Bet it isn't "European-Americans."

My little line about "getting the memo" was supposed to be taken with a grain of salt. The point being that yes, PC jargon changes so frequently that some people either can't or don't care to keep up with the current PC "trends." That doesn't necessarily make them racist. I'm just saying that in a place like the Range where change comes slowly, using outdated (or un-PC, depending on your perspective) terminology might be interpreted as having racist tendencies, when in reality, that may not be the case. My grandpa, for example, still uses words like "colored" sometimes...but he's one of the nicest, least judgemental, UN-racist people you'll ever want to meet.

[Slig]

Let's get something straight right now. Refering to someone as "black" is NOT racist, just like the word "jew" is not derogatory in any way. I don't get all huffy puffy when I'm called a gringo down in Mexico. It isn't meant in a harmful manner, just another word for an American. Try looking on job applications, most of them still ask the race question and black is one of the options. Some say African American but I still run across alot that say black. Not a big deal.

[Delaneyland]

Slig is absolutely right. Unfortunately, it seems the PC police have driven into everyones heads that if they say anything that may offend anyone for any reason, they are racist or biased. I've been forced to take "sensitivity" training more times than I care to think about in my former career and it is completely ridiculous to think that you can live a normal life without offending someone. I think a lot of folks are a little too thin skinned about remarks or jokes and are awful quick to get "offended" if it can be made an issue that can be exploited. OJ's trial is a prime example. Not that Fuhrman was a genius by lying on the stand, but it was supposed to be a murder trial, not about a detective using an offensive word. Here in MN, you're considered a hick if you live here in the Northland, I've been called it many times by friends in the Twin Cities. I guess maybe it should offend me, but it doesn't. Minnesotans that travel get mocked for their accents, I've never been offended by it. I guess it is a matter of perspective, personally I've got better things to worry about than someones choice of words.