Life in Charleston, SC. How bad is the racism in Charleston, SC? How do people react to Interracial dating there? (Florence: sales, wedding)

[OleTomCat]

Originally Posted by Led Zeppelin

Oh yeah. We even have churches down here that have gay people and gay ministers and everything.

Heck, it's getting so tolerant around here now that the only people the Klan can lynch without a lawsuit are cigarette smokers.

LOL too funny....

[jenny1951]

Originally Posted by Led Zeppelin

Hogwash. This never happened. MUSC is well populated by liberals, and I can promise you that NO professor at MUSC who did that would be employed the next day.

You know, lying like that is what reinforces the negative stereotypes about you. You should fix that problem. But please stay whereever it is you landed in 93..

Why do you feel it necessary to launch a personal attack and call me a liar? I thought personal attacks were prohibited on this forum. Where are your famous Southern manners? You don't know me, and you were not present...and I was not the only one both shocked and dismayed by what occurred. Why do you assume it cannot be true? "The lady (or man) doth protest too much, methinks."

[Fochiogrosso]

Originally Posted by jenny1951

Why do you feel it necessary to launch a personal attack and call me a liar? I thought personal attacks were prohibited on this forum. Where are your famous Southern manners? You don't know me, and you were not present...and I was not the only one both shocked and dismayed by what occurred. Why do you assume it cannot be true? "The lady (or man) doth protest too much, methinks."

I have to agree with Jenny1951. There almost seems like an overreaction to her post. She wrote what she experienced, and frankly, I have had similar experiences in South Carolina that make me question if things have really changed much here since integration was forced upon the state (and other southern states) in the 60's. What's enlightening is that I don't see this kind of rancor on other non-southern city forums when someone asks a question of this nature (or any other that questions the stereotypical assumptions about any locale) and gets a reply. Lighten up, folks...it's a forum, where you should be able to post your thoughts and experiences without fear of name-calling.

[hollyboswell]

Read this:

South Carolina: Home Of Hate Crimes, Homophobia, Racism, And Hypocrisy | The New Civil Rights Movement

Of course, it is ONE YEAR OLD, but then Nikki Haley made the news again recently:

Nikki Haley: Jobless On Drugs Claim From Bad Information

Yeah, I have been here 2 years and can't wait until we can leave. My husband is Jewish and you would not believe how many times we have heard "What kind of name is that??" The people here are ignorant beyond belief! No wonder the school test scores are among the lowest in the nation.

[Techgeek]

Originally Posted by jenny1951

Why do you feel it necessary to launch a personal attack and call me a liar? I thought personal attacks were prohibited on this forum. Where are your famous Southern manners? You don't know me, and you were not present...and I was not the only one both shocked and dismayed by what occurred. Why do you assume it cannot be true? "The lady (or man) doth protest too much, methinks."

I worked at MUSC for 5 years. What I experienced was this.

As a heterosexual white male, I was required to walk on politically correct eggshells no matter what.

I could not
-Question any action taken by any employee who did not fit my complete demographic regardless of what the action was. Once, one of my black coworkers was sent to perform a simple but tedious task. When she returned with the task not finished I was sent to redo it. I was cut off when I started to ask why she couldn't go back and do it herself.
-Make any comment regarding the appearance of my female coworkers. This included harmless compliments.
-Complain when someone of another gender, sexual orientation or race said something that made me uncomfortable. One of my black coworkers insisted on routinely using the "N-word" when I complained to my supervisor, I was told it was a cultural thing and nothing could be done about it.
-Become angry with any coworker who did not fit into my complete demographic even if they deserved it. I walked out on more than one meeting to keep from being accused of a "personal attack" on someone I wasn't allowed to get mad at.

I was routinely subjected to mild verbal abuse by employees of another skin color or gender.

Some examples would be

-A black coworker of mine using his "white guy" voice which was a high pitched impression of Steve Urkel from Family Matters complete with snort laughing.
-The middle aged black women I worked with expecting me to do everything they asked (told) me to and management telling me to do it because "it's just easier than arguing"
-Comments regarding my attraction or lack thereof to any white woman who came into the office. This included direct questions to me or comments about me as if I wasn't there.

When I complained about these occurrences, I was told either it was a cultural thing or that it wasn't that bad and I should just let it go. I did because I needed the job.

We had a black manager once. His method of dealing with possible conflicts would be to call me into his office and have a (legitimately) friendly chat with me while my coworkers got whatever they were going on about out of their systems. This worked, sort of. I did not have to listen to what they were saying and they didn't have to stop saying it. Unfortunately, it also ate into my productive time and my lack of productivity was noted on my evaluations.

My experience at that hospital was that minority employees were treated with the utmost respect and care while "majority" employees were expected to deal with whatever abuse they got from their minority colleagues. Any suspected abuse of minority employees from majority employees was met with quick and sever repercussions.

I won't go as far as to call you a liar but I find what you claim very difficult to believe.

[SCBeaches]

Originally Posted by Techgeek

I worked at MUSC for 5 years. What I experienced was this.

As a heterosexual white male, I was required to walk on politically correct eggshells no matter what.

I could not
-Question any action taken by any employee who did not fit my complete demographic regardless of what the action was. Once, one of my black coworkers was sent to perform a simple but tedious task. When she returned with the task not finished I was sent to redo it. I was cut off when I started to ask why she couldn't go back and do it herself.
-Make any comment regarding the appearance of my female coworkers. This included harmless compliments.
-Complain when someone of another gender, sexual orientation or race said something that made me uncomfortable. One of my black coworkers insisted on routinely using the "N-word" when I complained to my supervisor, I was told it was a cultural thing and nothing could be done about it.
-Become angry with any coworker who did not fit into my complete demographic even if they deserved it. I walked out on more than one meeting to keep from being accused of a "personal attack" on someone I wasn't allowed to get mad at.

I was routinely subjected to mild verbal abuse by employees of another skin color or gender.

Some examples would be

-A black coworker of mine using his "white guy" voice which was a high pitched impression of Steve Urkel from Family Matters complete with snort laughing.
-The middle aged black women I worked with expecting me to do everything they asked (told) me to and management telling me to do it because "it's just easier than arguing"
-Comments regarding my attraction or lack thereof to any white woman who came into the office. This included direct questions to me or comments about me as if I wasn't there.

When I complained about these occurrences, I was told either it was a cultural thing or that it wasn't that bad and I should just let it go. I did because I needed the job.

We had a black manager once. His method of dealing with possible conflicts would be to call me into his office and have a (legitimately) friendly chat with me while my coworkers got whatever they were going on about out of their systems. This worked, sort of. I did not have to listen to what they were saying and they didn't have to stop saying it. Unfortunately, it also ate into my productive time and my lack of productivity was noted on my evaluations.

My experience at that hospital was that minority employees were treated with the utmost respect and care while "majority" employees were expected to deal with whatever abuse they got from their minority colleagues. Any suspected abuse of minority employees from majority employees was met with quick and sever repercussions.

I won't go as far as to call you a liar but I find what you claim very difficult to believe.

Now, Techgeek, shhhhhhhhhhhhh......remember, we don't talk about those things. Not PC, ya know?

(Just messin with ya....I know exactly what you mean. I've been in a similar situation myself.)

[Techgeek]

Originally Posted by SCBeaches

Now, Techgeek, shhhhhhhhhhhhh......remember, we don't talk about those things. Not PC, ya know?

(Just messin with ya....I know exactly what you mean. I've been in a similar situation myself.)

Right, I forgot that straight white guys aren't allowed to have opinions...

I don't remember if it was this thread or one of the other half million "Is Charleston racist" threads but I spoke about this once before and the next response was something to the effect of

"Whenever I hear about reverse discrimination like this, I take it with a grain of salt and try to get more information before forming an opinion." (that is not a direct quote mind you it's what I can remember).

I asked the poster what he meant by reverse discrimination, pointing out that if it was what I thought it was then the term in and of itself is racist. He never responded.

[magnasty]

The biggest problem I have had here in S.C. is with the blue people....that's right.....The Smurfs tend to really work my nerves. They run around and get into anything thinking because they are "cute" the ruls don't apply to them. Even thought Smurfette is kida hot in her own little blue way, I still struggle with them.....and let's not even get started about the people from the Avatar movie.....big, tall lanky....can't stand them.

[jenny1951]

Originally Posted by Techgeek

I worked at MUSC for 5 years. What I experienced was this.

Techgeek, did you work at MUSC in the early 90s? This event took place in the spring of 1993. Actually I am still in touch with one of my classmates. She could confirm but of course you wouldn't believe her either. Only positive statements on this forum are applauded; negative ones are summarily rejected.

[lagoon7]

Originally Posted by mental_complex

This is sad. I'm from Fort Lauderdale, FL and we don't have this problem at all. South Carolina needs to catch up with the rest of the south.

Haha. I know this is an old post but wow. Ft. Lauderdale. DEFINITELY NOT =/= "The South."