Is Charlottesville safe for Interracial families, different families? (Arlington, Alexandria: home, universities)

[carolinajack]

my wife and I are of different races(white and black) and our child is adopted from China. Can anyone tell me if it is safe for IR couples in The Charlotteville area?

We visit NOVA all the time and it is very comfortable, esp Alexandria and also in Williamsburg where people are nice. I am sure we will always get stares anywhere in the US and I am ok with that but will people accept us?

We are highly educated, professionals and well to do and though we now live in a big northeastern city, I am from the South and she is from rural new york so we are not condescending to locals and rural people like NJ and NYC people tend to be when moving down south.

we just want a nice conservative but open minded place to raise a healthy, happy child and live safely.

[Rhett_Butler]

Charlottesville is about as progressive as you're going to get in Central Virginia. I think ya'll will be fine....

[williamsburgfan]

I'm not sure you will get stares everywhere, but so what if you do, heck with 'em!!

i love c'ville, if it weren't for the winter weather - it gets a little too cold for me to make it through the winter - not much snow though. you mentioned w'burg, they are both college towns as you know - c'ville much more so, as The U is much more part of the town. Here W & M is much less so - there is no real nightlife, except for the few blocks surrounding the college most students on campus.

I think you would be more than fine in C'ville - it is more liberal than surrounding areas, my kids alma mater, a wonderful town. I have a g'child adopted from another country and it is never an issue.

aren't you from SC? My second home - I spend almost as much time in the low country as I do in Va - no doubt the best place in the US!! I remember nothing in much of the area - the bridge to HH in the 60's was a small nothing, Mt. Pleasnat a blip and Charleston always the best. Housing has skyrocketed - like evrywhere desirable.

[dullnboring]

You shouldn't have any problems in Charlottesville being an interracial couple.

There have been a handful of racist incidences at UVA in the past couple years. Last year, there was a spate of racist graffiti and verbal abuse towards blacks students within a short period of time, and several years earlier, there were several attacks by local black teenagers on white and Asian UVA students (there's a bit of the usual town/college divide, with a tinge of a racial element, though not nearly like a Duke/Durham situation), but this isn't something that is the norm for the city of Charlottesville, and has more to do with the campus than the city.

So I doubt you'll have problems in Charlottesville being an interracial couple. It's akin to Williamsburg and Alexandria (although I think Alexandria is even more accepting) so if you felt comfortable in those areas, you should be fine there. I do have to point out however if it's important to you to live in a conservative area, that Charlottesville is not conservative. It is actually politically the most liberal city in Virginia. To give you some idea, it voted 77% in the most recent election against the gay marriage ban and a similar number voted for Jim Webb over George Allen, higher even than Arlington, Virginia's traditional bastion of liberalism.

[carolinajack]

thanks all for the great info. Dullnboring thanks, yeah I think I would not like it there for that reason, since my wife is a uni professor we need a place where we have a college or Universities but where all manner of diversity is found, political and ideological as well as racial and cultural.

lowcountry Charleston SC and area is probably better, as it has a mix of both

[dullnboring]

You could always choose to live on the outskirts of Charlottesville which are more conservative, although they too lean more liberal. Albemarle County, which is the county surrounding Charlottesville voted Democrat for the first time in awhile in 2004 by a slim margin (Kerry 50%) and then voted Webb by a larger margin and also voted to defeat the gay marriage ban by nearly 60%. I know there are other ways to gauge an area's ideological makeup but I think these two numbers serve as a good general barometer.

If you like Northern Virginia, but are looking for a more conservative (or at least, a less liberal) area, you may want to check out Loudoun or Prince William counties. Both are split approximately 50/50 and depending on your tolerance for commuting, could offer plentiful teaching opportunities at universities in D.C. or (more reasonably) George Mason.

[carolinajack]

i dont mind a diversity of thought and political ideas, just not overrun with liberals or reactionary conservatives, I guess just asking where there would be thinking liberals mods and conservatives who can live together without major issues.