How open and welcoming ND locals are to people of other descents? (Fargo: crime, townhouse)

[VITAMINKA]

Hi, everybody! I am planning to move to Grand Forks, ND with my husband and 3 young children from New York City. We visited GFduring the summer months and absolutely loved it!!! Well, it is very different from what we used to ( very small sizewise) but the people were so wounderful that my husband and I absolutely loved the place. And we think that it would be wounderful for kids.
But everyone around me , here , in NY telling me that I must be crazy, because I want to go To ND. Well, I know that it is very cold . I used to live in cold places(maybe not as cold as ND), but I know what -25C is. And I absolutely love the snow.
My question is this, I am Jewish from Europe. We are not really religious or anything like that, but I noticed that Jewish population is almost non-existant in ND. Not that I really care about that,but could anybody from locals tell me how open and welcoming ND natives are to people of others descends as their beighbors? Since GF is not as deverse as other larger cities ( which maybe a good thing , I do not want us to move there and than feel very isolated.
Once again, we were treated extreemely well during our visit and we never saw nicer people than in Nd ( that is why we want to move there, so our kids would be like that) My hasband and I are both professionals and could easely get a job in ND, but since all my friends here warn me about that in "Midwest they do not like strangers" I want to have an honest insight on that, so I do not get dissapointed latter. Thanks a bunch.

And I really hope to see you all soon

[ebitdadada]

I live in New Jersey right now and grew up in ND. First let me tell you this: Don't listen to anything anyone in NJ / NY tells you about any other part of the country other than New York & New Jersey (they are pretty good at telling you about NY & NJ though so if you need info on that, they're the ones to go to). I've lived all over the country and, though they're nice people, New Yorkers / New Jerseyites are vastly more ignorant about the rest of the country than anywhere in the country.

I'm not totaly sure what it is but I hear the weirdest things about North Dakota and the midwest here that I would never hear anywhere else in the country. Just remember this please, and I appologize for my ranting, but New Yorkers know absolutly nothing about North Dakota, absolutly nothing. So don't listen to them.

Contrary to some bizzare, deluded thoughts of New Yorkers, the midwest is much more friendly, polite, etc. than New York / New Jersey (which in reality, and according to the portion of the western world that resides outside of the tri-state area, is the least friendly part of the United States).

So to answer your question, you'll be treated just like everyone else, which in ND means you'll be treated very well.

Ok sorry for the rant. I have to go, good luck. Please someone else answer her question in a more detailed manner.

Ok NDers who read this, please don't get me wrong, New Jersey is actually alot nicer than we think it is (our ignorance i suppose) and most of them are great people, but they have very, very, very, very strange thoughts about the midwest.

[thomjoe]

http://nd002.urj.net/

I am not Jewish, but here is a web site for the synagogue in GFK. I am originally from Fargo, now in the Twin Cities, but both Fargo and Grand Forks' early history had ties to Jewish settlers from the East Coast. You will be most welcome.
Good Luck !

[speedoflight]

I can't answer for you about ND for I've never been there. But can suggest some long distance methods for you to find out about a place's acceptance and how it deals with diversity.

You should query on the Web (try Google) for hate crimes in Grand Forks and the surrounding areas. You will see if there's anything written and if not, it doesn't mean hate crimes don't occur for they could but may not be reported as rampantly. Such hate crimes can consist of Jewish people getting beaten up or gay people being harressed. Then see how the authorities deal with such crimes. How it is dealt with and how the perpetrators are punished tell you a GREAT deal about a place. You should try to ask very probing questions to as many people as you know from the area you want to go to. In Austin, TX, a supposedly more liberal town, I had a Jewish colleague who is not religious - his kid was told by other kids in school that he was evil because he wasn't Christian. He had to go to the school to talk to the principal about the matter. But as you can see, it happens, particularly if you are seen as being different or perceived to not be from the mainstream religion. The Midwest has never been known for great racial diversity just because of how insular many of these states are. I have been to classrooms in Kansas where there are only white kids. It does not mean they are bad people, just not exposed to other faiths, differences and so they may inadvertantly say things that causes hurt.

You are never going to get your answers from NY/NJ people unless they have lived in ND and in the area you want to move to. Your best bet is to see if you can talk to people from the area, and as said, read reports on the Web, read the local newspaper and just be very aware that when you are a minority walking into a place very dominated by one race, there's always going to be issues. That's just plain common sense and it's not against any one place or any one race. If you are aware of the potential issues and have the strength and determination to deal with them, then that's great. But to walk in and think it's all going to be honky dory (which it may well turn out to be but one just never knows) is not being very fair to yourself.

Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by VITAMINKA

Hi, everybody! I am planning to move to Grand Forks, ND with my husband and 3 young children from New York City. We visited GFduring the summer months and absolutely loved it!!! Well, it is very different from what we used to ( very small sizewise) but the people were so wounderful that my husband and I absolutely loved the place. And we think that it would be wounderful for kids.
But everyone around me , here , in NY telling me that I must be crazy, because I want to go To ND. Well, I know that it is very cold . I used to live in cold places(maybe not as cold as ND), but I know what -25C is. And I absolutely love the snow.
My question is this, I am Jewish from Europe. We are not really religious or anything like that, but I noticed that Jewish population is almost non-existant in ND. Not that I really care about that,but could anybody from locals tell me how open and welcoming ND natives are to people of others descends as their beighbors? Since GF is not as deverse as other larger cities ( which maybe a good thing , I do not want us to move there and than feel very isolated.
Once again, we were treated extreemely well during our visit and we never saw nicer people than in Nd ( that is why we want to move there, so our kids would be like that) My hasband and I are both professionals and could easely get a job in ND, but since all my friends here warn me about that in "Midwest they do not like strangers" I want to have an honest insight on that, so I do not get dissapointed latter. Thanks a bunch.

And I really hope to see you all soon

[speedoflight]

I did some queries for you on Google and found these articles:

http://www.dakotastudent.com/media/storage/paper970/news/2006/01/31/Sectionsnews/Experts.Gather.To.Discuss.Hate.Speech-1769839.shtml

If the long url doesn't work, try this:
http://tinyurl.com/wby7t

Excerpt from article:
"...He referenced the recent anti-Semitic vandalism of the only synagogue in Grand Forks, saying that almost no one would defend the actions of the vandals who painted swastikas on the building."

Discussion thread:
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/hate_crimes_against_jews_still_1_in_america/

The FBI publishes a hate crime statistics guide. You should be able to find that guide online.

Originally Posted by VITAMINKA

Hi, everybody! I am planning to move to Grand Forks, ND with my husband and 3 young children from New York City. We visited GFduring the summer months and absolutely loved it!!! Well, it is very different from what we used to ( very small sizewise) but the people were so wounderful that my husband and I absolutely loved the place. And we think that it would be wounderful for kids.
But everyone around me , here , in NY telling me that I must be crazy, because I want to go To ND. Well, I know that it is very cold . I used to live in cold places(maybe not as cold as ND), but I know what -25C is. And I absolutely love the snow.
My question is this, I am Jewish from Europe. We are not really religious or anything like that, but I noticed that Jewish population is almost non-existant in ND. Not that I really care about that,but could anybody from locals tell me how open and welcoming ND natives are to people of others descends as their beighbors? Since GF is not as deverse as other larger cities ( which maybe a good thing , I do not want us to move there and than feel very isolated.
Once again, we were treated extreemely well during our visit and we never saw nicer people than in Nd ( that is why we want to move there, so our kids would be like that) My hasband and I are both professionals and could easely get a job in ND, but since all my friends here warn me about that in "Midwest they do not like strangers" I want to have an honest insight on that, so I do not get dissapointed latter. Thanks a bunch.

And I really hope to see you all soon

[DaninEGF]

Hello

I work for the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, and we had a family of four move out from Long Island and North Jersey back in 1998 and stayed for 3 years before he got promoted to another job at another office. They were both Jewish and did enjoy the local synagogue here and really liked the area. It was a bit of a culture shock....my friend loved bagels and the fact there was no donut or bagel shop in GF was too hard to take He wrote Dunkin Donuts to come to down, but to no avail. They were very nice people and adjusted well to the area, though the length of the winter they did not like. We also have a current employee who has worked at our office for the past 5 years and he is from Long Island too and has family in NYC. Though not Jewish, he has adjusted to the area well too and recently bought a townhouse. What I'm saying is that, is there zero chance of running into some idiot with backward views, of course not, but in general midwest people are very open to newcomers and love to meet other people from other areas of the country who are not like themselves.

I would say it is how one acts and behaves which are way more important than what one's religion or ethnicity is.

I moved to GF back in 1998 for my job and I love it. Of course, liking winter and cold weather makes the transition so much easier.

Dan

[VITAMINKA]

Thanks to all of you guys. You've been very helpfull.
Thomjoe, I really appreciate the website you suggested.

[mrkool]

You say that you are jewish but not really religious.
What were you imagining *might* happen to you in North Dakota because of this ???

[VITAMINKA]

To mrkool: Nothing in particular, but I was also just curious, since the things that I heard about the Midwest is that If you are not from those places you will never be accepted there ( for whatever reasons...) and I do not want my kids to feel isolated or different. That is all
The more I speak to people from ND I get a sence that we will do just fine.

[thomjoe]

The most asked question from the locals will probably be:

"Why did you move HERE ?". I have had many friends from the East Coast who moved to the Upper Midwest that were astonished by being asked that same question over and over. Don't take that as an insult, it's just that people here are curious. Remember, the whole state of ND has only 650,000 residents in an area almost two times the size of NY State, with approx. 20 million residents.

I have been to NYC many times. In ND you will notice crisp, fresh air and very warm and welcoming people. Of course, no place is perfect. Be prepared for a constant wind and very extreme climate changes. Yet few places offer sunsets and views of the Northern lights as ND can.

Again, best of luck.