Is Highland Park racist? (Dallas, Fort Worth: high school, to live, price)

[MagnoliaThunder]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

You cannot deny that for more than 35 years HPISD has been a magnet for white flight. Of course not everyone from HP is racist. But there is a large congregation.

I know that I am an intentionally over-the-top blow-hard about Lakewood (isn't that one of my charms?). It is baffling that those from HP can't see any of their own 'foibles' - but then neither could Narcissus.

I love it! I know this post is old, but if anyone is still readin it: Anyplace who calls itself "the Bubble" is going to be racist as a whole..."the Bubble" of HP refers to it's "safe whiteness"...if you don't believe it, ride with a person of color in an ordinary vehicle through HP some evening about dusk...you'll find out soon enough. OP: I hope you chose another area -- my favorite also being Lakewood.

[Dora Milaje]

Originally Posted by the princetonian

how would a Princeton educated black man be received in nearly all-white Highland Park?

The same as any other dark-skinned person in Highland Park. Yeesh.

[DaveG99]

They use mexicans to watch there children and clean their houses. Mexicans are tolerated because they have a good work ethic.

[WillysB]

I believe HP has a problem with blacks, no matter what your educational background.

This whole thread sounds like only some blacks have a problem with Highland Park and some whities as well. As far as this dismissed Realtor, she probly just moved to another Broker of the same franchise. Maybe your mom shoulda used ACORN for a Realtor. I understand they have ways of getting anything you want.

[frogandtoad]

I am wondering what examples there are of racism in HP. I have a black child and am considering it, and I totally disagree with the idea that a place is racist just b/c it is all white. I've lived in the Rocky Mountain West, where there is a much smaller black population than the coasts, and I've also lived in various places on the East coast, where there are far more black people. My experience, and my son's, has been that the whiter areas are very welcoming and we have had more problems in the more "diverse" areas. So while I am not dismissing the cries of racism (I don't know Dallas), I'm just wondering what, besides it being a largely white area, makes people think of it as racist.

BTW, I think the comment above about Mexicans is very racist, which is ironic since the point was to point toward other people being racist toward blacks.

[Grainraiser]

The way I see it HP made a concerted effort to keep out all minorities during the 60's and early 70's. Many of the residents were not even residents when this took place. Having said that there is no denying that they have made zero effort to attract minorities. There have only been 2 black students in the history of the school district. It would be unfair of me to say that most of the residents of HP are racist. I don't think it would be unfair to say that most of the residents would prefer to keep HP the exact way it has always been. The history of HP speaks for itself IMHO.

[Big G]

Well, there are more than 2 black kids in HPISD right now. Not that Highland Park has anything to do with that. University Park has a small (but not zero) black population. But the general idea is correct.

It's not that HP is mostly white, it's that it's (for all practical purposes) ALL white, with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 households out of thousands. No blacks and darn few Asians or Hispanics. In an area as diverse as DFW, I find it unlikely that those demographics "just happen".

As for the Mexican quote - it's not racist, it's true. The Hispanic population listed for HP is mostly live-in nannies and housekeepers. And yes, they will hire Mexicans for those jobs, but not blacks.

[TXNGL]

<<As for the Mexican quote - it's not racist, it's true. The Hispanic population listed for HP is mostly live-in nannies and housekeepers. And yes, they will hire Mexicans for those jobs, but not blacks.>>

Is that they won't hire blacks, or is it that Hispanic women are the ones applying for these jobs? When I was growing up in North Dallas in the `60s and `70s, all (and I mean all) the housekeepers in my area were black women. I didn't know anyone with a nanny, so I can't speak for that. I knew people in the Park Cities (and yes, it was very racist back then, don't know about now), their housekeepers were also black. I went away to college, blah, blah, blah, came home in 1997 and suddenly everyones' housekeepers and nannies were Hispanic. My guess? People pay under the table and can pay these Hispanic ladies much less, exactly the same deal with the yard workers (ours growing up was white, but many who worked in my neighborhood were black). I think that's why you see more Hispanic women in the domestic jobs. It's the money.

[Grainraiser]

Originally Posted by TXNGL

<<As for the Mexican quote - it's not racist, it's true. The Hispanic population listed for HP is mostly live-in nannies and housekeepers. And yes, they will hire Mexicans for those jobs, but not blacks.>>

Is that they won't hire blacks, or is it that Hispanic women are the ones applying for these jobs? When I was growing up in North Dallas in the `60s and `70s, all (and I mean all) the housekeepers in my area were black women. I didn't know anyone with a nanny, so I can't speak for that. I knew people in the Park Cities (and yes, it was very racist back then, don't know about now), their housekeepers were also black. I went away to college, blah, blah, blah, came home in 1997 and suddenly everyones' housekeepers and nannies were Hispanic. My guess? People pay under the table and can pay these Hispanic ladies much less, exactly the same deal with the yard workers (ours growing up was white, but many who worked in my neighborhood were black). I think that's why you see more Hispanic women in the domestic jobs. It's the money.

This is the exact reason why the housekeepers and nannies are hispanic. During the 60's and early 70's most of the grandmothers I knew worked as nannies and housekeepers for rich whites in HP,University Park and Preston Hollow. Somewhere along the mid 70's these jobs went to hispanics because the pay was lower and done on a cash basis. It was simply cheaper to hire hispanic workers.

[frogandtoad]

OK, but I still have not heard anything which points to racism. I can certainly see that blacks may choose not to live in HP because they don't want to be THAT much of a minority, so it may not be that there is anything going on towards blacks, you know? I mean, I would not go live in an all-Chinese neighborhood. I just wouldn't want to be the ONE white person there. It could be the same with this. Or there could be racism, I don't know, I just still haven't heard anything that suggests to me there is racism in 2009 there. If there is, please do tell me, I do want to know. I just don't want to assume racism just b/c an area is all white, any more than I would assume racism in an all-Chinese area, or all Black area, etc. Races other than the dominant might just prefer to live with more diversity.

It was the "mexicans are tolerated b/c they have a good work ethic" that I thought sounded off. I mean, that sounds like a. It's implying that blacks aren't tolerated because they DON'T have a good work ethic (which sounds racist to me to group an entire race like that) and b. It sounds like you're saying if you met a Mexican person, you'd pretty much assume they are nannies or housecleaners. And while there may be a lot of Mexicans filling those jobs in HP, to assume someone is that b/c they are Mexican? It just sounds off to me, they could be university-educated professors at SMU. Are they tolerated? Or only Mexican nannies with good work ethics? See what I'm saying?

Anyway, I'm not trying to start a firestorm, just trying to find out what specifically makes someone who says HP is racist believe that. Like I said, I've come in contact with a lot more issues in diverse areas we've lived so being in a diverse area doesn't necessarily mean there is no racism. And I'm not going to assume there is not racism because an area is all white. Until I hear WHY.