Racism against hispanics in Scranton/Wilkes Barre? (Wilkes-Barre, Pittston: section 8, crimes)

[johnqpublic]

Holy crap!! what a difference 24 hrs makes!! just viewed this .. Scranton is what you make of it, If you want to stick with the Hispanic community only that is what you get, If you make the effort to be friendly with the non Hispanic community, that is also what you will get, ... there is no Hispanic KKK in Scranton!!! Get a grip everyone!!!!!!!!

[bloominscranton]

Originally Posted by johnqpublic

Holy crap!! what a difference 24 hrs makes!! just viewed this .. Scranton is what you make of it, If you want to stick with the Hispanic community only that is what you get, If you make the effort to be friendly with the non Hispanic community, that is also what you will get, ... there is no Hispanic KKK in Scranton!!! Get a grip everyone!!!!!!!!

I agree, but I am not sure that can be said about Hazleton! I am there often, and to be frank, I do not blame the Lation pop at all, I am shocked anyone would want to live there!!!!!!!!! We think our roads are bad! IMHO the majority of the city is a poopie hole, but driving down into it is GORGEOIS!!! Sorry, but I have driven on nicer roads...unpaved and uncut! Most of the neioghborhoods look like they saw their hayday about 40 plus years ago, once again just my ho.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by johnqpublic

Holy crap!! what a difference 24 hrs makes!! just viewed this .. Scranton is what you make of it, If you want to stick with the Hispanic community only that is what you get, If you make the effort to be friendly with the non Hispanic community, that is also what you will get, ... there is no Hispanic KKK in Scranton!!! Get a grip everyone!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Magritte25

Like the days when Wilkes-Barre and Scranton had very clear defining neighborhoods of Italians, Irish, Lithuanians, etc? Even their own social clubs and churches?

[auntieannie68]

Originally Posted by johnqpublic

Holy crap!! what a difference 24 hrs makes!! just viewed this .. Scranton is what you make of it, If you want to stick with the Hispanic community only that is what you get, If you make the effort to be friendly with the non Hispanic community, that is also what you will get, ... there is no Hispanic KKK in Scranton!!! Get a grip everyone!!!!!!!!

whoo!---op is merely asking bout acceptance here----and being friendly in this area does NOT return the same in 60% of the time,especially if one is from a different ethnic group,or has a different accent,or is not into milking the system,embezzling,gossiping,drinking,or drugging

tis a hard place to adjust to here in nepa and i was born n raised here

[sheena12]

To the OP - I made a mistake in my response to you. WILKES-BARRE is more accepting than is Scranton. There are really few areas in Wilkes-Barre today that are "ethnic" . They tend instead to be defined along Socio-economic lines. My block is a perfect microcosm of Wilkes Barre and consists of a diverse and ultra friendly group of people. (in fact I am glad all of the other house fell through - things happen for a reason) Scranton on the other hand, has areas where people of certain elasticities tend to live and have lived for generations.
To give you an idea of the diversity here we have Irish, Hispanic, Welsh, Italian, African American, Polish, Slovack, Puerto Rican, Swedish, English Russian, Jewish, English, and Korean people on my block. My neighbors told me that each summer there is a block party that has been a tradition for 30 something years. I LOVE this diversity! And I am looking forward to the Bock Party!
What we Do NOT have here are Racists! And I like that too! NO, I LOVE THAT... I can not stand racist people!

In general I have found Wilkes-Barre people to be friendlier towards outsiders.
I can understand how hurtful it can be to call about a place to live or work and not to treated fairly.
I know this first hand, we wanted to buy a house in West Pittston, and the Realtor reluctantly showed us the house after which we attempted to make an offer.
He TOLD us point blank and with NO Apologies that the seller did not wast to sell to outsiders!
It really hurt us at the time but I did learn a few valuable lessons from this experience - stick to the more urban areas, and prejudice is alive and well.
After that horrendous experience, we as a family decided to confine our search to Wilkes-Barre and Kingston. (a very close suburb to Wilkes Barre)

Form my personal experience, I would stick to Wilkes-Barre and Kingston.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to DM me.

~ Sheena

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by sheena12

What we Do NOT have here are Racists!

What? are you kidding me? There are racists everywhere. To say there are no racists in Wilkes-Barre (or ANYWHERE) is delusional. Actually it wasn't all that long ago that there were racist flyers posted all over Wilkes-Barre.

Skinheads eye diversity summit | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre & Scranton PA

And it was maybe last year when a synagogue in Wilkes-Barre was defaced with swastikas?

http://www.timesleader.com/news/2008...ra_ed_ART.html

I don't recall anything happening like that recently in Scranton.

[Trucker7]

My recommendation, as a relatively Latino newcomer is:

* * * B R E A K _ T H E _ S T E R E O T Y P E * * *

You said in a previous post that you and your husband are middle income professionals, and that's exactly what we need here. Unfortunately, there is a share of Latinos here that don't represent the best of our cultures, but rather the worst.

If he proves himself, he'll be accepted rather quickly. When I started my first job here, I was treated with indifference by some coworkers. When I left two years later, everyone was sad to see me go. How did that happen? Simple, I worked hard, I proved that I knew what I was doing, I never expected preferential treatment for merely being Latino, and I never, NEVER played the race card, which, IMHO is more likely to backfire than generate sympathy.

Also, politeness goes a long way. A simple 'thanks' and 'please' along with a smile will help you win a lot of people here.

[Lehigh Valley Native]

Originally Posted by sheena12

[b]
What we Do NOT have here are Racists! And I like that too! NO, I LOVE THAT... I can not stand racist people!

Please for the love of god, put down the Kool-Aid. That is one of the most misleading comments given to someone to help them decide on a place to live. It is actually an outright lie.

In the predominantly white, old school city of Wilkes-Barre, racism is common. Your comment is a disservice to someone already concerned about racism in a community they are moving into.

[sheena12]

Go Phillies what I meant to say is that on my block -we do not have racists.
There is a real mixture of ethnicites, and everyone gets along well!

My neighbors on both sides were all hoping that nice people would buy our house to keep up "the tradition of friendliness" that has been on this block.

They had concerns because the house had been in one family for over 50 years, and the seller was well liked elderly man.
In fact, just the other day a couple of people shared with my husband how well we fit in!
They also told him that their concerns were as follows - that we would be" stuck up" or think we were "better than everyone else" or that we would be" absentee landlords", or that we would be "racist". The other worry really cracked up my husband but it will most likely be censored, was that we would be *censored*Apparently we are not those things.
God to know.

[sheena12]

Lehigh Valley, I am not drinkng kool aid at all. I, in fact told them that I believe that rasism, as well as suspicion of outsiders is very much alive here, and that I personally would 1. Stick close to the city, if not live in Wilkes Barre proper. and 2. Avoid certain areas that are really not friendly to transplants. and 3. betwwn Wilkes Barre and Scranton I would choose Wilkes Barre.
Read the whole post in context next time befo are you freak out.! :-)
I was a house hunter here for three years and I encountered ny share of hostility by just being born and raised in NY.! I would NEVER steer people towards a biggoted or closed minded area - nor would I want to live in one, pretty as it may be, it's ugly inside. I would also NEVER deny the reality of racism. People may be less open about it but it still does exist.l

Incidentally, I am not drinking any koolaid - I have a pretty bad form of flu and I have been sipping ginger ale on cracked ice for the past three days.

I keep hearing this phrase about "not drinking the kool aid" on the internet and I am wondering if it's etiology can be traced to the Jones Town Massacar in 1979, when cult leader Jim Jones forced his "church" menbers to drink cyanide laced kool aid before shooting himslf in the head?

Perhaps the internet IS the Koolade!!!