asian people in idaho

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Great responses--that's the Idaho culture I know: a culture of common values, including respect for others. I think ambermerci is confusing race with ethnicity. That's an easy mix-up if one's reference point is the ethnic neighborhoods of SoCal...

[jjkmd]

Originally Posted by ambermerci

I guess it matters to me because I love people and cultures and I like to be aware of the different types of people who live in each state. I am asking, merely out of interest. Coming from a multi cultural background myself, I really don't like "all white areas". I am half white, but I find those types of neighborhoods to be boring. No offense to anyone. I was actually considering Idaho as an option because I like the scenery, and low crime rate to raise my son in, but if its void of cultures, than its a NEVER. I prefer areas that have more than one type of race/nationality going on. DAVID: thanks for the movie referral.

American culture isn't a culture? Dunno, if I would call Idaho "void of culture".

But I understand if that doesn't fit your philosophy in life. That's the beauty of America, freedom to move to any part of the country that fits your view of life. Good luck in your search.

[Belladonnapiranha]

Originally Posted by CMartel2

Not sure what you mean by "void of cultures." The people of Wisconsin, for instance, are as white as the snow around them but have very distinct cultural identities. There are plenty of cultural identities in Idaho. Most of them, however, are white (translation: means "doesn't count" to the multi-culti cult). Somehow Mormons and other distinct cultural entities never get factored into these equations. Perhaps not exotic enough? No fun Mormon restaurants? Mormon tribal wear?

I'm going to have to get my Mormon friends to consider that.

Not one to usually have patience for abbreviations/anacronyms common to the texting world, this comment truly left me ROFLMAO (rolling on floor, laughing my A.. off)

I can see it now - an LDS restaurant that serves things like green jello and funeral potatoes!

On a more serious note, "CULTURE" means different things to different people. In reality, it is the combination of the behaviors, ideas and things that make up a total way of living, which means EVERY group has its own culture. You are ever so right when you say many imply that people of color have culture and whites do not, which is just silly really.

While I think it's great to have opportunities to interact with folks from different backgrounds, discounting an entire state simply because it has less racial diversity than other places doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But to each their own.

There is a terrific article David Brook originally wrote for the Atlantic Monthly back in 2003 that is a classic on how different groups tend to clump by choice into pockets with others like themselves.

You can read it here: People Like Us by David Brooks | Byliner

I will say when I moved to Idaho I was a bit unsettled by the white-bread population. I kept thinking, where is everyone else? But if you are committed to knowing and interacting with diverse groups it is absolutely possible here and absolutely worth the effort.

[wildflower82]

Originally Posted by Belladonnapiranha

I will say when I moved to Idaho I was a bit unsettled by the white-bread population. I kept thinking, where is everyone else? But if you are committed to knowing and interacting with diverse groups it is absolutely possible here and absolutely worth the effort.

Learn something new everyday.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

One of the great things about Idaho is that there is a truely integrated culture of various races and ethnicities. You don't see the segregation and divisiveness of much of CA for example. We are Idahoians and Americans first and foremost. Not "northern-european americans", "african-americans", "asian-americans" or any other such BS hyphenated term. I don't see the hang ups of racial or cultural identity that much of the country has. Personally, I'd rather be playing in the woods or on the water than attending some hyphenated cultural festival.

[banjomike]

Ah... green Jello! It's one of those Mormon things- green Jello can be a desert, or a salad, or a vegetable. It all depends on what's on top. Green Jello just sort of seeped into Idaho culture.
It's kind of like Chicago hot dogs that are garnished with cole slaw, not mustard and ketchup. Sounds weird until you try it. I don't see green Jello in restaurants much anymore, and it's a shame, really- it's the little oddities that make a distinctive culture distinctive.

It's true that Idaho is mostly white, but we are full of very different cultures that include differing races and heritages. A logger is a logger, a cowboy is a cowboy, an engineer is an engineer, a farmer is a farmer, and a hermit is a hermit. All have many races in each, and each is has it's own thing going.

The big difference here is our open spaces. Because we have so much open space, there is less congested elbow rubbing, and open spaces here don't have anybody much living in them, which makes for great equalization- a farmer who lives in them can get in the same kind of trouble, like a big snowstorm, as someone who lives in the city. The country guy helps the city guy, or vice versa in stuff like this, because nobody wants to be afoot in the middle of a ground blizzard.

In a big city, everyone rubs elbows all the time. I think it's one of the causes of social friction. Folks here come to town just to get a little elbow rubbing, sometimes.

And, once you meet a stranger out there, there's always some time to get to know each other before you get back to pavement and civilization.

That alone can become a great equalizer. There is always some nature's extreme here that makes hospitality and neighborliness more of a necessity than an option, because it doesn't everyone comes to realize that it goes around and comes around. The guy you pull out of the ditch today is the guy who will push you out of the snowbank tomorrow.

The other side of that is the guy who keeps going in the ditch and hollering for others to come help, but never shows up to do some pushing. It doesn't take long before they end up having to figure out how to extricate themselves all by themselves. Like anywhere, good will has it's limits here.

[CMartel2]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

One of the great things about Idaho is that there is a truely integrated culture of various races and ethnicities. You don't see the segregation and divisiveness of much of CA for example. We are Idahoians and Americans first and foremost. Not "northern-european americans", "african-americans", "asian-americans" or any other such BS hyphenated term. I don't see the hang ups of racial or cultural identity that much of the country has. Personally, I'd rather be playing in the woods or on the water than attending some hyphenated cultural festival.

Agreed. One thing I've noticed in every setting where I've lived is that races tended to get along better the more homogenous the society was. This includes when I was a minority and when I wasn't. The more diverse the region, the more racial strife, as you had factions and cliques forming that tended to create divisiveness.