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Exactly my experience! I am a American born Caucasian, but I have spent a lot of time in rural areas in the U.S. and I have never seen the stereotypical racism people like to paint the small towns as having. In high school, there were some kids who picked on other kids and said mean racial things... but those same kids said mean things to the white kids they didn't like as well. They were just dicks in general. Two of my best friends were black and they were some of the most popular kids in the school.
What has your wife's experience been like in communities of less than 10,000 people? Even when just visiting... Did the whole town stop and give you dirty looks or have they been nice and cordial? I would guess the latter as minorities didn't have a problem in the town of under 2000 people that I grew up in....
It seems like people in cities often get on a high horse when it comes to diversity and they like to paint the small towns as bastions of the KKK.
I think Hays is about 20,000 people and it does have a small college, but it's still mostly an isolated agricultural and manufacturing town. She lived there 5 years before we met. She had problems with a couple landlords, but in all honesty, who hasn't? Don't think it was race related. She loved living there and has often mentioned a desire to move back. She spent a lot of time in a farming community near Victoria as well, her first boss owned a farm out there and she was often invited to eat with them and spend holidays with them. There is a large group of Volgan Germans in Kansas, who I think are especially friendly to immigrants.
I laughed at the last statement because I think a lot of people in rural around here think the exact opposite. In the news we always hear about big city race riots or protests, or the recent police in Florida with connections to the KKK. I don't think groups like the KKK ever had much influence in the midwest. I think midwesterners get called backwards in race regards because we often don't know how to treat newcomers, it's not something we are used to. People do say awkward things to my wife occasionally, but it's mostly out of ignorance and not racism or hatred. The worst thing that ever happened was some woman came into our store and through small talk starting praising Mao and his policies, my wife was obviously getting upset and angry, so I told her she had something to do in the back room. That's when I let the woman know my wifes father was the only survivor of the cultural revolution on his side of the family. His father and 3 brothers were all executed. People in small towns are generally much friendly, pleasant, kind, tolerant, but also ignorant at times.
I think Hays is about 20,000 people and it does have a small college, but it's still mostly an isolated agricultural and manufacturing town. She lived there 5 years before we met. She had problems with a couple landlords, but in all honesty, who hasn't? Don't think it was race related. She loved living there and has often mentioned a desire to move back. She spent a lot of time in a farming community near Victoria as well, her first boss owned a farm out there and she was often invited to eat with them and spend holidays with them. There is a large group of Volgan Germans in Kansas, who I think are especially friendly to immigrants.
I laughed at the last statement because I think a lot of people in rural around here think the exact opposite. In the news we always hear about big city race riots or protests, or the recent police in Florida with connections to the KKK. I don't think groups like the KKK ever had much influence in the midwest. I think midwesterners get called backwards in race regards because we often don't know how to treat newcomers, it's not something we are used to. People do say awkward things to my wife occasionally, but it's mostly out of ignorance and not racism or hatred. The worst thing that ever happened was some woman came into our store and through small talk starting praising Mao and his policies, my wife was obviously getting upset and angry, so I told her she had something to do in the back room. That's when I let the woman know my wifes father was the only survivor of the cultural revolution on his side of the family. His father and 3 brothers were all executed. People in small towns are generally much friendly, pleasant, kind, tolerant, but also ignorant at times.
This pretty much mirrors what I expected to hear.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
In fact, I found in the rural areas I have been in, people with an "exotic" background are very much popular and people are genuinely interested in learning about their culture and making them feel accepted.
I ve been living in Denver for 7 years now. Its becoming more and more diverse, maybe check out Chicago as well…..although the weather out there sucks.
San Francisco is the most diverse city in the US, and is VERY accepting of people of different and even eccentric ways of life. Other cities that are accepting of outsiders are NY, Atlanta and Miami.
I would shy away from most "Red" states...conservative areas of the US...basically all of the southern states, which generally do not look kindly upon strangers or those with different cultures.
No...NYC, LA, DC, probably Chicago, Honolulu and Miami are all either more diverse or equally so as San Francisco. I have seen articles naming Houston and LA as the US's most diverse city, surpassing NYC.
Anywaysm I would suggest anywhere in California, but especially San Francisco or Los Angeles. San Diego also has a growing Asian population, including South Asians. Washington DC and New York City also have a big amount of South Asians living there.
...and they just set a record for most expensive area in the country. The median home price in SF is now $1 million dollars. Doubt the OP is a multi millionaire.
And that's the problem. Minorities with science or math degrees, lesbians, wiccans, etc, other "societal misfits" having to find places OUTSIDE San Francisco to live where we can afford to live. "San Francisco is accepting" doesn't do you one iota of good if you can't afford to live anywhere closer to your job than, say, RENO. And then if you try the Reno-SF commute thing for too long, the CHP swoop down on you and make you get your car registered in California and then when it doesn't pass Smog, they take it away from you...oh yeah. THAT'S "the life." (Seriously, I've met people who have had that happen.)
San Francisco is the most diverse city in the US, and is VERY accepting of people of different and even eccentric ways of life. Other cities that are accepting of outsiders are NY, Atlanta and Miami.
I would shy away from most "Red" states...conservative areas of the US...basically all of the southern states, which generally do not look kindly upon strangers or those with different cultures.
I don't really think it's the most diverse, and it seems that their acceptance is overrated. Bunch of well heeled white American progressives that'll pay lip service but at the end of the day still hold a bunch of racist and classist attitudes. Still a great city but I wouldn't call it a bastion of acceptance, but hey at least other cities are more honest about it.
Diverse cities are often very used to people of different colors and creeds and pay less mind, there's still gonna be racism but places like NYC, SF, LA, etc just don't really bother as much. Appearances can be deceiving when it comes to attitudes.
I think the South is more accepting of outsiders than it's given credit for. Yeah, there's a few diehards that don't like the fact that the Southern way of life is being increasingly diluted, but a lot of natives are quite welcoming, especially to those who come to the South and appreciate it for what it is, and checking as much of their Northern business as they can at the door.
I think the South is more accepting of outsiders than it's given credit for. Yeah, there's a few diehards that don't like the fact that the Southern way of life is being increasingly diluted, but a lot of natives are quite welcoming, especially to those who come to the South and appreciate it for what it is, and checking as much of their Northern business as they can at the door.
"The south is more accepting than it is given credit for, but only if you don't act like where you are from."
If the south was more accepting than it gets credit for, wouldn't they accept northerners as is?
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