Mostly white zip codes with decent 3+ bed housing around $400K? (Boston: crime, luxury)

[Boston_Burbs]

Would everyone's feeling be hurt if the op said WASP? I have heard that used in a negative, derogatory way to describe towns in MA.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

What other way would you use to describe these mixed ancestry European groups?

Why would one need to describe them at all?

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Would it be more PC to have just said "I'm looking to live near other people of mixed European ancestry?" That could be construed as national origin.

Why would one want to state such a thing? What would be the advantage? There isn't a culture or language or religion with such a mixture.

If someone is Russian, or from Belarus, or Icelandic, and they're moving here from there and want to be near their religious institutions, or their cultural clubs, that's fine, of course. It's a completely different from a mixed white dominant person with no cultural, language, religious identity tied to that mix wanting to be among similar individuals.

It has nothing to do with being "PC" or not, it has to do with not being ignorant. The anti "PC" crud is nauseating, it mostly comes from people wanting to embrace ignorance and even hold that as a badge of honor.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Parsec

You keep saying this, but no one said "white" is an ethnicity and no one said "Indian" is a skin color. The bottom line is, people want to stick around people who are similar to they are because they feel more comfortable. If a white person wants to be around (mostly) other white people that's fine. I don't see anything wrong w/that and it's not racist. I think the vast majority of white Americans will feel uncomfortable living in a town that's <50% white. The only difference between the OP and everyone else is that he actually asked the question. Most people will just look up the statistics themselves.

I'm not white and even I will be looking for a community that's not ghetto or barrio. If it turns out to be mostly white, so be it.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

I'm not white and even I will be looking for a community that's not ghetto or barrio. If it turns out to be mostly white, so be it.

Same here. I'm not even white so maybe timberline considers me to be a reverse racist because I prefer towns that have a higher population of white people. White neighborhoods (the college-educated type) are just nicer to live in, simple as that. The % college-educated category is another statistic I look into when I look up town data.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Same here. I'm not even white so maybe timberline considers me to be a reverse racist because I prefer towns that have a higher population of white people. White neighborhoods are just nicer, simple as that.

Oh please. Looking for attributes is not the same thing as looking for skin color. You know it.

Do you prefer a town with more white people, or do you prefer a town with better socioeconomic status and schools? Those are not saying the same thing, even though on the group that might bare out in reality due to the history of oppression and systemic racism in this country.

If you think "white neighborhoods are just nicer" you're saying white people are nicer and live better, and yes, that would be a racist statement.

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

I'm not white and even I will be looking for a community that's not ghetto or barrio. If it turns out to be mostly white, so be it.

And if it is mostly black, or asian, is that also ok? Just want to make sure.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by timberline742

If someone is Russian, or from Belarus, or Icelandic, and they're moving here from there and want to be near their religious institutions, or their cultural clubs, that's fine, of course. It's a completely different from a mixed white dominant person with no cultural, language, religious identity tied to that mix wanting to be among similar individuals.

Why is that different? Why is it racist for any one individual to want to live near like people? Nobody is saying anything negatively about any other specific group of people here.


Are people on dating sites specifying only white people to date racist too?

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by G-fused

At first, this was a shocking thread – I couldn’t believe my eyes. After giving it some thought, I guess I’m not shocked though – most white people are unable to understand what racism sounds like because they haven’t experienced it. So from their perspective, it’s not racist...but from a real perspective, it is abundantly apparent that it is. It’s so obvious that if one doesn’t see it immediately, there is no use trying to explain.

I guess I would describe this thread as a sad and upsetting reflection of ongoing blindness.

So true. I grew up in the Boston area. I can recall some instances of overt racism against me, but it wasn't until I visited Hawaii that I realized how subtle racism is most damaging of all. As soon as I stepped off the plane and went to rent a car, I was welcomed just like a white person would be in most places. I had never felt like that before. The best way to describe the difference is that the invisible fence did not exist separating me from whites. I was treated like "one of us", finally. I was thirty years old. The realization of all those years of underlying racism hit me like a tidal wave.

If you think this form of racism does not exist, you need to live as a minority in some other town where the majority rules not only in voting but in every other aspect of life.

And BTW, people who are minorities in one place can be racist against groups who are usually the majority, if the setting is reversed. I heard a lot of behind-the-back racist terms applied to whites in Hawaii. LOL. I guess whites acting like they normally do on the mainland were "out of culture" in Hawaii.

I had to laugh at a comment someone on C-D made that New Mexico was racist (against whites). The same year I visited HI I also visited NM, where again, I felt much more at home than in the Boston area. Mind you, everything looked fine on the surface. The Boston racism I encountered was so subtle I bet most of the white people would claim they were not racist, at least not against Asians.

You really do have to experience it to know what it is.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Why is that different? Why is it racist for any one individual to want to live near like people? Nobody is saying anything negatively about any other specific group of people here.

Because one is a national origin that is a minority in a new country (to them) with related cultural institutions and potential support systems.

The other is none of those things and the dominant power in society.

They're in no way similar.

And when one says one skin color is superior or more desirable, they are by default denigrating the others. They go together.

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Are people on dating sites specifying only white people to date racist too?

They may well be. I certainly wouldn't ever date anyone that said they only dated white people. It makes no damn sense.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Oh please. Looking for attributes is not the same thing as looking for skin color. You know it.

Do you prefer a town with more white people, or do you prefer a town with better socioeconomic status and schools? Those are not saying the same thing, even though on the group that might bare out in reality due to the history of oppression and systemic racism in this country.

If you think "white neighborhoods are just nicer" you're saying white people are nicer and live better, and yes, that would be a racist statement.



And if it is mostly black, or asian, is that also ok? Just want to make sure.

Absolutely

[BostonMike7]

I'm checking out.