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Self-explanatory title. We live in a fairly racist nation (though I do think other nations are worse), on a pretty racially divided planet, but are there any cities in America you've been that have had a high level of harmony between various races and ethnicities? By "harmony" I mean tolerance, inclusion, diversity in venues/hiring/standards of life, unity, basically anything along those lines...
What I don't mean is a city with perfect race relations--it doesn't exist...
Off the top of my head, the two major Carolina cities, Charlotte and Raleigh, are easily two of the most racially harmonious cities I've been around. I'd be interested in people's experiences within those cities or any others!
The two that come to mind for me are Houston and DC, though why each strikes me as fairly harmonious is different. For Houston, it's just because no one really seems to care who you are or what you do, as long as you don't get in their way from doing their thing. That works for me.
For DC, its more because socially and economically minorities are well intertwined into the power structure of the city moreso than most places in the country. It's still more northern than southern in its social mores (i.e. racism is more subtle than overt) but I've long perceived it as a place where whites and minorities coexist pretty well.
The ones I have a lot of experience with I perceive as less racially integrated are Austin and Hampton Roads. LA is somewhat of a mixed bag.
NYC too diverse to have much tension. It has every race, religion and nationality in your apartment building floor and nobody really cares, everyone does their own thing.
Texas cities are unique because Texas as a state is one of only five majority minority states (where white, non Hispanics make up less than fifty percent of the population). So in general, race relations in Texas cities seems very comfortable to me.
NYC too diverse to have much tension. It has every race, religion and nationality in your apartment building floor and nobody really cares, everyone does their own thing.
I don't agree with this. There is plenty of well-documented racial tension in New York City. It wouldn't make my Top anything...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch
The two that come to mind for me are Houston and DC, though why each strikes me as fairly harmonious is different. For Houston, it's just because no one really seems to care who you are or what you do, as long as you don't get in their way from doing their thing. That works for me.
For DC, its more because socially and economically minorities are well intertwined into the power structure of the city moreso than most places in the country. It's still more northern than southern in its social mores (i.e. racism is more subtle than overt) but I've long perceived it as a place where whites and minorities coexist pretty well.
The ones I have a lot of experience with I perceive as less racially integrated are Austin and Hampton Roads. LA is somewhat of a mixed bag.
Hampton Roads is definitely not as racially harmonious as people seem to believe military towns are. I agree about DC...
LA gets a bad rap and I'd make an argument it has a worse reputation than NY, but is just as much, if not more, racially and ethnically tolerant and harmonious...
None of the places I lived in had any issues per se however NYC was the one place I feel like there is just no time to glance at one's race or make any judgments based on race prior to interacting. So many people from so many backgrounds in all walks of life are represented in such a tight setting. Being on the subway at any time of day will show you what I mean.
I haven't personally witnessed any major race tension living in LA - all different kinds of people sitting shoulder to shoulder on the subway, working in my office building, living in apartment buildings.
But I'm white, so I can't speak for someone else's experience.
I don't agree with this. There is plenty of well-documented racial tension in New York City. It wouldn't make my Top anything...
Hampton Roads is definitely not as racially harmonious as people seem to believe military towns are. I agree about DC...
LA gets a bad rap and I'd make an argument it has a worse reputation than NY, but is just as much, if not more, racially and ethnically tolerant and harmonious...
What racial tension in NYC? Are you talking about stuff that happened in the 80s and 90s?
If you're gonna bring up police brutality, that happens in every city and it seems like it's been a while since NYC had an incident anyway?
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