slightly worried about petaluma/santa rosa

[simpleharmonicmotion]

Originally Posted by Grumbler

A good friend of mine, who happens to be Spanish, helped me ride my two motorcycles from San Jose, CA to Boise, ID back in the summer of 2002 (I moved my family here). We decided to have breakfast at the local IHOP the next morning. Every single person in that restaurant was white except for him. It was almost surreal as California is such a diverse state compared to Idaho. He lives near Yuba City, CA.

However, none of the other customers nor the servers seemed to care that he looked hispanic. It's more about *who* you are than *what* you are. Boise is more diverse now than it was 7-years ago. If people can't accept you for what you are then it's their loss, not yours.

BTW, my college sweetheart was an absolutely stunning and brilliant Italian woman with olive skin. She has a PhD in education. Both of us were very secure people, and that's how we projected ourselves.

I understand where you're coming from. However, it has little to do with how white the populace is. It is how educated and how many other important and better things those respective people have to think about than the fact that a brown girl just walked into the store. I've been to many towns around eastern rural North Carolina, been the only non-white person there, and felt completely at home.

My father was a physics PhD himself. There were definitely times he was discriminated against, and sometimes even more so because he resembled a middle eastern man due to some spanish jewish lineage in the family. And he learned to take it in stride which is extremely admirable. That is something I am slowly learning to do. I think I should get a Phd just for the shock factor of telling a racist that no, not all Hispanic people are of the same nationality nor are exactly alike.

Ultimately, I feel that the racism stems from the high volume of Mexican underclass all throughout the state, which irks me since this is a fight that has nothing to do with me since I am neither Mexican nor in a lower socioeconomic class. I'm an assimilated Latina girl walking around speaking fluent english wearing Wilco shirts, so clearly it's the color of my skin that is setting people off. Thanks to city-data, I've been able to find a few other threads where people list pretty shocking acts of racism and prejudice towards all nationalities of Hispanic people throughout the state, so things are coming into view a bit better. The simple human brain naturally seeks to look for simple patterns, so there is really nothing I can do about this area than bear with it until my boyfriend re-enlists elsewhere. I just hope this thread helps to inform someone else. Knowing how warped people's minds are, I'm sure this thread will encourage racists to move there even. So it's a win-win situation.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by blueseas123

Hi everyone! I am a first time poster, long timer reader. This forum is an incredible resource and I always appreciate the honesty from many members on here. I guess what I need here is some simple reassurance.

My boyfriend is currently in the coast guard and right now he lives in Petaluma. I regularly go out to visit him (I live in north Texas) and so far I feel the area is absolutely beautiful and nothing like I'd ever seen before. However, what has been a little bit disconcerting is some of the looks, which I am assuming, is because he is white and I am Hispanic. Maybe I am being presumptuous. I fall into the semi-mestizo looking category because I have Keri Russell-curly brown hair and hazel eyes so I get some crazy other guesses but I think for the most part I look like your generic Latina I suppose. He is a blonde haired blue-eyed tall white dude. So...we look very different to say the least. I feel like we've been stared down a little more than I expected in this area. Definitely more than here in Texas.
I had a few disconcerting moments at the Santa Rosa mall where I felt like a few salespeople gave me this shocked look when I began speaking...I'm now wondering if maybe there were surprised that I could speak fluent english?? (I know that's awful!) I am not sure what to think especially since I am wanting to move to the area soon to be with my boyfriend. I guess I was not expecting a few things because I always thought of California as being much more open minded than Texas. Now, I also want to add that there were plenty of very friendly people and I have had some many positive experiences. But I guess it is human nature to only ruminate over the overt stares (sometimes glares) and forget the niceties of the experience. My boyfriend also told me that some Mexican guys stared him down a little bit too which has not happened to him in Texas (to my knowledge). So is this area in general just not open to this kind of stuff?
I just want to live somewhere where I can just blend in with my boyfriend and not have any attention drawn to us.
Please know that I am not trying to make these respective areas look bad or trying to cast any unnecessary negative light on them.
Sorry for another "interracial relationship" thread in advance.

I think you are taking this a little too seriously or you may be imagining things. Regardless, do not let this bother you. Sonoma County wiil accept you without a problem. There are jerks everywhere, certainly in Texas.

NIta

[Dayze]

Stay where you are.

[bellalunatic]

Originally Posted by Dayze

Stay where you are.

welcome to the whinefest 2 years too late as the OP is from 2008 and not only are you late, you obviously know nothing of the matter or you would've elaborated.

[Dayze]

why did you read it then?