Racism in St. Charles area?

[txraised]

This is the worst thing I have heard...my son was recruited by Lindenwood to play football, if I knew this was going on there I may have influenced him elsewhere. We are from Texas and he has grown up with ALL race and he has never directly experienced racism. I am by no means naive to the fact racism still exist, I just didn't know it was up there.

I do not want him in certain parts of STL that I have heard NOT so good things about...we are from a big city, but he was raised in the suburbs. I just want him to enjoy his college experience

[moorlander]

Racism much, much worse in tx than it is here. Trust me I used to live there. You really have nothing to worry about in the StL.

[RichMonk]

I am of mixed family. Both parents have Euro and Asia Pacific descent, and most of my grandparents are mixed as well.

I get confused for a Latin American, Samoan, Chinese or whatever on a pretty regular basis. I have also been to St. Peters/St. Charles frequently. I have not experienced any racism directed at me while there but I have come across some of the backyard racism that is usually kept within homogenous company. You know, a joke about black people here and another about Mexicans there. It is meant in good fun and makes me uncomfortable but it is mostly borne out of ignorance and naivete. It seems to me that most of the real racists around there are either fairly ashamed of themselves or fear the reppurcussions of being openly racist.

All in all, the area is a good place to raise a family if the suburban thing is what you want.

The only place I've ever truly felt uncomfortable was in South County. I got a few hard looks (probably trying to see my birth certificate through my forehead) but I never felt unsafe.

[OzarkChickenLover]

There is racism everywhere you look, if you look for it. We are more rural than St. Charles (Warren County) and there is more ethnocentricity here than racism. There are people here whose families have been here for many generations, and as far as they're concerned, those of us who have recently moved here - and recently is within the last 20 years or less - will never belong. This is where I find it hardest. I'm used to living in areas with a slightly more transient and therefore more accepting population. I don't get this "We've been here for 87 years" attitude.

Trisha, who's been in rural Warren County for 11 years and still doesn't fit in

[moorlander]

^ That's rural america for ya

[flynavyj]

probably rural America in places that don't have any type of large employers. My only real Rural living experience was during college in Warrensburg, MO. Having the university in the town as a major employer, not to mention all the students coming and going is probably what made people pretty accepting of "outsiders". There were also plenty of people who would move to "The Burg" and commute the hour (one way) to Kansas City for work.