Is the Bay Area a Muslim Friendly Place ? (San Francisco, Oakland: renting, movies)

[domabozo]

Before asking my question , I am talking about a Muslim family which is open and which do not want to see Shari'a ruling America as many people may believe , they just wish to work , live , enjoy , pray and socialize .

Is the Bay area be a good place for such family ?

For a woman wearing hair scarf .. can she be hired and use transit without bigotry , staring or harassment ?
will people accept our kid as a friend for their ones or will they set limits ?

[jade408]

I'd say yes and no. There are lots of muslims here jn many place. Plenty of hijab wearers here in Oakland. I do not notice.

But one of my muslim friends, after September 11 experienced overt racism, none before this. Now things are fine ans he is raising kids in the north bay!

I think the bay area is probably one of the best places to be muslim, but don't think it is a utopia where you will not experience issues. When times are tense, things are harder. I find because of that Muslims tend to Be a bit more insular (I am not muslim and have some muslim acquinatances but not current super close friends).

On the up note there are a good number of muslims of various backgrounds in many parts.

[Ruth4Truth]

http://www.iseb.org/
http://www.mcceastbay.org/


There are Islamic community organizations around the East Bay. People won't stare. The Bay Area has always been very multicultural. There will be all kinds of kids in school. Choose your community carefully, to get into a good school district, that's the main thing.

[ketch89]

The only thing is - a majority of whites and east asians in the (core, urban) bay area are non-religious. So, wearing a headscarf is a public declaration that you are religious. No one will ever overtly harass or mistreat you for such displays, but don't expect people to be warm and open to you.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by domabozo

Before asking my question , I am talking about a Muslim family which is open and which do not want to see Shari'a ruling America as many people may believe , they just wish to work , live , enjoy , pray and socialize .

Is the Bay area be a good place for such family ?

For a woman wearing hair scarf .. can she be hired and use transit without bigotry , staring or harassment ?
will people accept our kid as a friend for their ones or will they set limits ?

It really depends. I think your wife will be fine when it comes to work, as long as she is qualified and has the proper experience. She might get some stares though riding public transportation, but I don't think she will experience any major problems. However, there are a lot of crazy homeless people that might shout or say something, but they do this to a lot of people for various reasons.

I wouldn't be worried about your children, most of the schools in San Francisco, especially the good ones are mostly Asians and it's not really in their nature to bully others, especially different races. It might be a bit more difficult to make friends, but as far as bullying goes, I wouldn't worry too much. I know this I'm not being politically correct, but just check the demographics of the schools. I have a lot of Asian friends and 95% of their bullying were mostly from Black students followed by Hispanic students and then a small amount were from White students.

A lot has to do with your personalities as well. If you are proactively friendly and pleasant, I think you will find the majority of people to be pleasant and friendly to your family as well.

I hope everything goes well, enjoy! I wouldn't be too worries, of course you will encounter some moments of feeling out of place, but overall you should be fine.

[jade408]

^needless stereotyping above. Growing up i was bullied by white kids mostly. And my muslim friend got spit on and called a terrorist by an asian woman.

Its a lot easier when you make few assumptions.

I find bullying has little to do with race and has a lot to do with power or lack thereof. Bullies come in all sorts of packages and are usually acting out about feeling powerless in one aspect of life. They are going to find a "weakling." For boys, they usually pick on the physically smallest kid. Girls bully the kid with the lowest self-esteem.

Bullies are afraid of confidence. So work on that and your kids will be fine.

What i find as not religious person who has quite a few religious friends now and as a kid. In the early ages commonality between how parents raise their kids is really critical. Religion not so much. But parents who are involved closely with their kids lives in and outside of school tend to have compatible parenting styles that easily cross cultures, and the kids will be similar enough it won't be an issue.

One of my closest friends is 1st gen of immigrant parents, where they were a religious minority. Her parents were and still are very very conservative. My parents were conservative in some ways and pretty liberal in others. At the end of the day the biggest difference between our parents was that mine were a little less protective: we could watch pg-13 movies.

You might find the more liberal parents may expose your kids to things you weren't ready to do yet, but set up some boundaries with the parents and you are fine. All bets are of when kids head into the teen years, but a solid foundation early can keep your kids being friends with like-minded kids of any background. I was a "good kid" and always found the other ones, no mater where they were from or how they worshipped. It was a non issue. My parents as well.

[mrazyattic]

Stay in Fremont. There are plenty of muslims there.

You may get stares, you may even get open racism, you may get neither. But that is what you should expect anywhere in America. If you are looking for a place that is totally open to muslims, I hear the middle east is a good place.

I always get a real kick out of muslims calling others bigots.

Just being real.

[Bonez765]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

I wouldn't be worried about your children, most of the schools in San Francisco, especially the good ones are mostly Asians and it's not really in their nature to bully others, especially different races. It might be a bit more difficult to make friends, but as far as bullying goes, I wouldn't worry too much. I know this I'm not being politically correct, but just check the demographics of the schools. I have a lot of Asian friends and 95% of their bullying were mostly from Black students followed by Hispanic students and then a small amount were from White students.

Lol. So true. Growing up, I experienced **** mostly from blacks and fellow Hispanics (mostly Mexicans, my own kin). The Asians and middle class whites leave you alone for the most part.

Back on topic, I grew up with muslims here in the Bay (mostly Afghans, Palestanians, and South Asian muslims). Never had issues with them mostly and I never saw anybody try stupid things on muslims. The women did wear headscarfs and there was no issue. I can count with my hands when I have seen female Muslims wearing the full veil and it is culture shock to me but I never seen anybody make an issue.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mrazyattic

Stay in Fremont. There are plenty of muslims there.

You may get stares, you may even get open racism, you may get neither. But that is what you should expect anywhere in America. If you are looking for a place that is totally open to muslims, I hear the middle east is a good place.

I always get a real kick out of muslims calling others bigots.

Just being real.

Just being Russian.

[mrazyattic]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Just being Russian.

I'm being real. I never could understand why people make such a big deal out of things. As a Christian, I couldn't imagine moving to the middle east and asking such a question. But to do it in California?? Get over yourselves.

And to call people bigots because they're tired of turning on the news and seeing 10 people beheaded a day, all over some muslim bigots... My best friend is a muslim. I realize they don't all run around beheading people. But they are extremely intolerant as a whole. How many muslims do you see networking with people of different races and beliefs? Far fewer than anyone else.

The definition of bigot is "a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions" yet people can't dislike muslims?