African-Americans in SLC/Utah? (Salt Lake City, Layton: crimes, high school, live)

[texasgirl3382]

I'm a single 26 year old AA female considering relocating to Salt Lake City for a job.

I keep hearing that there aren't very many AAs in the area...which worries both me and my family/friends.

Anyone from SLC aware of this? What is the local attitude toward AA's there?

I'm not expecting Harlem....but cultural isolation is definitely a concern.

[kaytidid]

I see more and more African Americans here in Utah all the time! I don't think you will have any problems as far as any attitudes. Generally Utah is a very welcoming state to everyone. Of course, in every place you go, there always seems to be malcontent of some sort with some people. As far as hate crimes, ect...nope. Not a problem. At least none that I have ever heard about.

[DPJ4088]

Utah is indeed very welcoming, but you won't find a large African American population here. It's very lacking. It went up a bit over the last few years, but it's far from the national average. Generally, the closer to get to downtown Salt Lake, the higher the diversity is. You will run into people with attitudes on both extremes, just like anywhere else. As for hate/race crimes, I can't really remember any that made the news, except for ones that could be very vaguely classified as such and involving known gang members, which they more or less brought it on themselves.

[kwm03160]

Originally Posted by DPJ4088

Utah is indeed very welcoming, but you won't find a large African American population here. It's very lacking. It went up a bit over the last few years, but it's far from the national average. Generally, the closer to get to downtown Salt Lake, the higher the diversity is. You will run into people with attitudes on both extremes, just like anywhere else. As for hate/race crimes, I can't really remember any that made the news, except for ones that could be very vaguely classified as such and involving known gang members, which they more or less brought it on themselves.

This quote is correct - and, unfortunately, you will see less and less African Americans the further you go south into the suburbs. When I moved here from Las Vegas, it definitely was a shock.

[DangerWest]

Salt Lake Valley and Hill Airforce Base area (Clearfield/Layton) offer the most diverse populations to my knowledge. Generally speaking I think AA's would be most welcome here and will be judged for the content of their character not their skin tone. It is noteworthy to mention that when Alan Keyes ran for president, his best showing in the presidential primaries was in Utah, where he received 21% of the vote.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

I think a lot more prejudice here is towards Hispanics. I haven't seen any towrds AAs, or rather, heard any towards AAs although I have heard it about Hispanics.

[stycotl]

there is not a lot of overt racism in utah, but be prepared for the ignorant, "i never seen a black person before." stare. it won't happen often, especially in slc. but you'll get that every now and then. probably mostly from little kids that have only seen vanilla for their entire prepubescent lives.

but give them the benefit of the doubt--even the deer-in-the-headlights star of wonder is generally benign in nature.

aaron out.

[bijagirl]

You will find here that you'll get that look from the ignorant white wonder bread folks in most areas (I'm white bread so I'm not being rude). Growing up I didn't know anyone that was AA until I was in high school. And he was the only AA in the entire school.

Be prepared for shock, but not racism.

Good luck.

[Hurricane2008]

Now that I think about it, I've probably seen less than 5 during the 3 weeks I've been in town.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Originally Posted by Hurricane2008

Now that I think about it, I've probably seen less than 5 during the 3 weeks I've been in town.

I know someone who is AA who sort-of-jokingly talks about "all 10 of us here." They are a very small minority in the city and even more so in the suburbs, but the focus of racism, as I wrote before, is to Hispanics IMHO.