Being Black in Wisconsin (Appleton)......... (Milwaukee, Madison: cost of living, move, suite)

[Vidyapati]

I decided to read this thread because my husband (who is White) will be working a contract for two months in Milwaukee, and I thought it'd be nice to fly up to spend some weekends there with him (I am not White). I had no idea of the racial tension up there. I was born and raised in California and have since lived in various States in the country (west, south and mid-west). I choose to live in places that are predominantly White because I find the people (Black and White) to be more pleasant in these areas; and I also enjoy educating the lesser-educated Whites that Blacks are, indeed, human just like them.

I realize urban-Blacks get a bad rap just like trailer-Whites do; however, we do not generalize *all* Whites into the trailer trash category. Unfortunately, *all* Blacks tend to be generalized into the urban ghetto category. I've grown sick and tired of seeing Blacks on television who speak English categorized as being "articulate." And that's usually accompanied by the shocked look on a White person's face and the "Oh, my, he's so articulate!" I even heard that said of our President Barak Obama. One of the members in this thread even mentioned that if you're Black and can speak English, you'll be fine.

Anyway, I didn’t mean to digress.... I just was surprised at the racial segregation in Milwaukee, so I'm thinking that maybe I don't want to spend weekends up there.

On a lighter note, if we ever decided to move to Wisconsin, I'm glad to hear Appleton is a pretty cool place to live.

[Allan Trafton]

Vidyapati what racial tension did you witness? The majority of my time at work is spent in black neighborhoods and I experince little racial tension. Things happen time to time, but they are rare. It sounds to me that you have little experience dealing with urban blacks more than anything else. Many people, in the inner city, walk around with a veneer of toughness. They act this way towards everyone. You will find this attitude in any large city ghetto. It's easily to interpert this as racial tension, but really it's just how life is growing up in the hood.

[Vidyapati]

I was just commenting on what I read in this thread. I was just surprised at the racial issues that I was reading about. "Racial tension?" ... perhaps I should have called it something else. Dunno.

And, yeah, I have not spent very much time in urban areas. (Shows that bad, eh?) I'm a country gal myself. Live and let live. Right now I'm looking for a place to buy in the country with some acreage... just haven't decided on which State I want to live in yet.

With my husband moving all over the US, it gives me an awesome opportunity to live in some wonderful States. I gotta say, however, I really, really loved living in Iowa even though I was the only person with brown skin in the small city we lived. (I'm sure there were others... I just never saw 'em.)

[Allan Trafton]

If your looking to live in a rural area and you have the entire USA to pick from I would choose rural Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine. It is awesome. Good Luck.

[Vidyapati]

Originally Posted by Allan Trafton

If your looking to live in a rural area and you have the entire USA to pick from I would choose rural Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine. It is awesome. Good Luck.

OH! Tell me about it!! I fell in love with New Hampshire... even found a place I'd love to buy.... THEN I DISCOVERED THEIR PROPERTY TAX ! Had we bought that house, we'd be paying $18,000/year in property taxes!!!!! What, is this a test!!? I didn't fall in love with New Hampshire THAT much! And I hear it is the same with all of the New England States. But, yeah, it's very beautiful. I guess you just gotta rent there and not own.

[socalid]

Thank you for the response to my question. I do hope folks are open. As far as a job, I have to take my chances.

[AnouchigTransplant]

Appleton is a cool place - I am middle eastern and have been living in Appletown (like my dad used to say) for 12 years. If i could convince my family to move here, I would stay here forever...People are friendly, inclusive, education is great, open to diversity and just enjoy the values by which they live or aspire to live by.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by AnouchigTransplant

Appleton is a cool place - I am middle eastern and have been living in Appletown (like my dad used to say) for 12 years. If i could convince my family to move here, I would stay here forever...People are friendly, inclusive, education is great, open to diversity and just enjoy the values by which they live or aspire to live by.

You had a good experience.

[Ironbar]

If your young and a college grad and white then Milwaukee is the place for you. If your black and a college grad regardless of going to Yale or anywhere your truly up the creek, you can expect to get paid $12 a hour and since this is a fire at will state your butt is out the door anyway sooner or later. You know the old saying about being black "you have to do twice as much just to break even" not in Milwaukee, you can think your going somewhere but in all my years I have never seen a black head of nothing last more than a few years, had a black chief of police did a great job cleaning up the streets, fired
had a black head of school board did a great job with the school your fired.
The reason the chief of police got fired was because as the mayor said "stop crime" like no criminal is being feed from a baby bottle right now. Did not matter he locked up 3 complete gangs. You move here your trapped you wont make enough money to rent a truck to leave.

[davewi]

I am an Asian Indian and live near appleton. I have not seen any racial thing- people are nice and happy.