African American/single female-should I move to Phoenix? (Tucson, Chandler: hairstylist, hotels)

[PhoenixAirConcerns]

I think a lot depends on where you are in the Phoenix area too. Did you have any ideas on where your job is going to be? This is a much harder thing to find then the right area where you will feel less discriminated against. Commuting is a real pain sometimes.

[desertdetroiter]

I'm an African American who lives in Southern Arizona...and Arizona has to be the least racist place i've ever been in this country, and i've been all over. Arizonans are typically live and let live people.

[westcoastbabe]

The proposed plan is to sell the house...(Wish me much luck on that) and try to transfer with my company....

[Bruce81]

That is very true desertdetroiter, like I once said it does have its pros and a bit of cons on how people in AZ are very live and let live people. I am hispanic and met some of the friendliest people when visiting southern AZ even with all these "border wars" going on, southern AZ is beautiful. Good luck with that westcoastbabe, housing is very affordable rt now in AZ.

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAirConcerns

I think a lot depends on where you are in the Phoenix area too. Did you have any ideas on where your job is going to be? This is a much harder thing to find then the right area where you will feel less discriminated against. Commuting is a real pain sometimes.

Do you have any facts or data to support these vague generalizations?

[PhoenixAirConcerns]

Originally Posted by Kimballette

Do you have any facts or data to support these vague generalizations?

Hi Kimballette,

I don't understand. There are no studies or research done on my experience.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAirConcerns

Hi Kimballette,

I don't understand. There are no studies or research done on my experience.

So, in your "experience", there is a difference in how people treat African Americans based on what part of the Valley they LIVE in, so that the OP will feel more "discriminated against" in one part of the Valley than another? (I'm assuming you are not yourself African American, please correct me if I'm wrong). What have you observed?

[PheenixJobless]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Phoenix is too racist. Be careful in that city

It depends who you around. There is quite a bit of history here, but there are people from a lot of places here.

Finding groups of people who you can be around is important.

[azriverfan.]

What a lot of people fail to consider is that Arizona doesn't have a prominent history of slavery and an economy that relied on slavery. It was not a member of the Confederacy and it doesn't have large population of African Americans to the point in which there were race and culture clashes for centuries.

These factors lead to to the negative race relations you see in many prominent Southern cities and I would include some Texas cities in that. I remember working in Dallas and Oklahoma City and I was surprised to hear so many people openly say "I'm not racist BUT I couldn't date a Black person because my family would kill me" I heard that all the time in the South. In Arizona, i see mixed couples fairly often. It's not as big of an issue here as it is in the South where mixed couples were relatively taboo and incurred a lot of stares and that kind of b.s.

People criticize Arizona for being so new and lacking culture. But in terms of racism, I think that's actually a good thing. We may not have a lot of culture and tradition but we also don't have a lot of negatives that come with that too. I think a lot of African Americans like that when they come to Arizona, because they feel they can start over because Arizona and Phoenix are so new in their development.

[Ritchie_az]

Originally Posted by Kimballette

Do you have any facts or data to support these vague generalizations?

Well, the fact that PhoenixAirConcerns got wrong is the idea that it is more difficult to find a job in Phoenix than a place to live. As he has been told over-and-over, and has had the facts spelled out in front of him many times, there has been a net job growth in Phoenix, AZ over the last 18 months of over 30,000. Only a couple of cities in the U.S. have had more (and not by much).
If someone is going to find a job somewhere, Phoenix is the place to do it right now.
His opinion that some parts of the valley are more racist than others--well, it will be "interesting" to see how he (or one of his other names) tries to explain that....