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I have read that Coeur d'Alene and North Idaho (in general) is behind the times in regard to racial diversity, but I had NO idea how serious the problem was. I recently read an article in the CDA Press about the city's first African-AMERICAN firefighter. I was shocked that this could be a newsworthy event!
Here is a little information for the fine people of Coeur d'Alene:
a) This young man is an AMERICAN and his ancestors have been AMERICANS for centuries. White does not equate to being an American. Many African-Americans in the Untied States are firefighters, doctors, attorneys, teachers, etc. Yes, it's true!
b) Not all hispanics are "illegals". Many Mexican-AMERICANS are 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th generation AMERICANS. Millions of hispanic people in the United States are college educated, attorneys, doctors, nurses, realtors, teachers, etc. Not every hispanic person just hopped the Mexican border.
c) I could move on to another ethnicity, but you (hopefully) get the point...
I find this facinating and yet somewhat disturbing. Can anyone in Coeur d'Alene (or the vicinity) tell me if there is any racial diversity in the region or if it is truly like stepping back into the 60's???
I find this facinating and yet somewhat disturbing. Can anyone in Coeur d'Alene (or the vicinity) tell me if there is any racial diversity in the region or if it is truly like stepping back into the 60's???
LIDALA,
Forgive me for saying so, but you're coming off pretty supercilious and preachy here...North Idaho isn't nearly the pack of slacked-jawed drooling yokels you obviously believe it to be...at least I have not found it to be that way....do you know of some special enclave where the proverbial banjo-strumming inbreeds all reside? ;-)
After years of racial intolerance, the area has become very racially tolerant including the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force in our county (we're north of Kootenai County). People here were tired of having a small minority draw that much negative attention to the area, according to the locals we've met as we moved up here.
For example, at our mechanic's shop, they're racially mixed but the important thing is that they all were "good old boys" regardless of race, and they were culturally all "Idahoans", nothing else.
So if some black guy is sporting corn-rows and banger wear, or a hispanic guy is looking like an East LA chollo, he's going to get treated as such. And rightly so. In life, YOU decide how people will perceive you at first blush, and that will never change. You can be racially integrated and tolerant while believing that the modern application of cultural diversity has become little more than the creeping disintegration of the American societal fabric.
On to illegal immigration...
As of July 2005 there were about 42 million people of hispanic descent in America (12.5% of the population). But there were 10 MILLION illegal immigrants. So when you run into a hispanic person, it's a 20% chance they're an illegal, stricly according to numbers (obviously the actual probabilities are way different given region, density, etc). With over 1M new illegals per year, and 500K new legal immigrants per year, 10 years from now the numbers would be 47 million legal hispanics and 20 million illegals, which would mean that 1 in 3 hispanics in this country would be here illegally.
Above and beyond the destructive effects of runaway LEGAL immigration policies, there are huge impacts of illegal immigration. And quite frankly, I don't owe them spit....not tolerance, not "cultural diversity", not free education and medical care....NOTHING.
My great-grandparents came from Sweden through Ellis Island. Guess what? They waited two years, and had to have family here lined up to take them in so they wouldn't be a burden on society. they moved to Nebraska and now the own tens of thousands of acres around Gothenburg producing huge crops of corn. They didn't whine about it, march in the streets, wave Swedish flags around, even though from 1820-1996 there were about 1.4M Swedish immigrants to the USA (infoplease.com stats). They learned English in order to get jobs, they didn't demand that legal documents be written in Swedish, they didn't expect anything to be handed to them, etc. They assimilated, worked, paid taxes, and melted into the melting pot while holding some traditions to honor their culture.
I don't want to upset Sassberto or the mods by making this a huge illegal immigration thread...but suffice it to say that the ability of North Idaho to accept RACIAL diversity while having a reasonable limit on CULTURAL diversity is part of what drew me to this area.
I think people confuse racial diversity with racism. Just because a town/city is not racially diverse, does not automatically mean they are racists. It just happens to be that the majority who live there are white. Now in CDA which is of course majority white, the black population is pretty small. So what if this black fireman just so happened to be the first black person in the community to want to be a fireman, and worked towards it?
But than again my assumptions could be just as wrong as yours are. But that's exactly my point. That is one broad brush you are using there to paint your picture.
I.E. Take Los Angeles. Pretty racially diverse right? you've got millions of hispanics and blacks, and asians. Let me tell you something...There is more racism that goes on in those 'minority' communities than any majority white communties you will find. It's true.
1. Racial diversity does not equal less racism
2. Lack of racial diversity does not necessarily mean racism is present
"Take Los Angeles. Pretty racially diverse right? you've got millions of hispanics and blacks, and asians. Let me tell you something...There is more racism that goes on in those 'minority' communities than any majority white communties you will find. It's true." Not true. I lived in CA for the majority of my life and outside of gangs (which is a small minority of kids), all races blend VERY well. Believe me, race is a non-issue.
I'm starting to wonder where exactly you lived. I grew up in South OC where anti-black skinheads at my school were common. And used to party in HB where black people were most certainly not welcome. And in much of the LA metro area the racially tense scenes from the movie "Crash" could have been filmed. And as a former cop, I can tell you that it's much worse on the underside of life than the suburban surface. I think it's gotten BETTER, but I seriously disagree with your view on how racially cozy it is in Los Angeles...
I've lived in CA all my life,and still do actually. I grew up in North Side Long Beach, Norwalk, and now reside in Simi Valley, CA. So i've seen it from all sides, poor to middle class, hispanic to black, to white to asians.
I have experienced more racism come out of the mouth of minorities than i have ever heard come out of caucasians. What race are you might I ask? because its a running joke in most minority races that minorities are more racist than white people.
And i'm a minority.
Just sounds like the typical person who looks for trouble where there is none, while ignoring the trouble at home.
You better believe once the sun goes down (I'm not even talking about gangs), there are areas that you better hope you're the right color in, if you know what I mean.
Forgive me for saying so, but you're coming off pretty supercilious and preachy here...North Idaho isn't nearly the pack of slacked-jawed drooling yokels you obviously believe it to be...at least I have not found it to be that way....do you know of some special enclave where the proverbial banjo-strumming inbreeds all reside? ;-)
After years of racial intolerance, the area has become very racially tolerant including the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force in our county (we're north of Kootenai County). People here were tired of having a small minority draw that much negative attention to the area, according to the locals we've met as we moved up here.
For example, at our mechanic's shop, they're racially mixed but the important thing is that they all were "good old boys" regardless of race, and they were culturally all "Idahoans", nothing else.
So if some black guy is sporting corn-rows and banger wear, or a hispanic guy is looking like an East LA chollo, he's going to get treated as such. And rightly so. In life, YOU decide how people will perceive you at first blush, and that will never change. You can be racially integrated and tolerant while believing that the modern application of cultural diversity has become little more than the creeping disintegration of the American societal fabric.
On to illegal immigration...
As of July 2005 there were about 42 million people of hispanic descent in America (12.5% of the population). But there were 10 MILLION illegal immigrants. So when you run into a hispanic person, it's a 20% chance they're an illegal, stricly according to numbers (obviously the actual probabilities are way different given region, density, etc). With over 1M new illegals per year, and 500K new legal immigrants per year, 10 years from now the numbers would be 47 million legal hispanics and 20 million illegals, which would mean that 1 in 3 hispanics in this country would be here illegally.
Above and beyond the destructive effects of runaway LEGAL immigration policies, there are huge impacts of illegal immigration. And quite frankly, I don't owe them spit....not tolerance, not "cultural diversity", not free education and medical care....NOTHING.
My great-grandparents came from Sweden through Ellis Island. Guess what? They waited two years, and had to have family here lined up to take them in so they wouldn't be a burden on society. they moved to Nebraska and now the own tens of thousands of acres around Gothenburg producing huge crops of corn. They didn't whine about it, march in the streets, wave Swedish flags around, even though from 1820-1996 there were about 1.4M Swedish immigrants to the USA (infoplease.com stats). They learned English in order to get jobs, they didn't demand that legal documents be written in Swedish, they didn't expect anything to be handed to them, etc. They assimilated, worked, paid taxes, and melted into the melting pot while holding some traditions to honor their culture.
I don't want to upset Sassberto or the mods by making this a huge illegal immigration thread...but suffice it to say that the ability of North Idaho to accept RACIAL diversity while having a reasonable limit on CULTURAL diversity is part of what drew me to this area.
----------------
* There is a HUGE difference between racial "tolerance" and embracing and welcoming new cultures into your life, into your schools, and into your neighborhoods. If I simply had a "tolerance" for Mexicans (or any culture for that matter), I would have missed out on a great deal of fantastic friendships and amazing neighbors.
* As you stated above, 32 MILLION Mexicans are LEGAL U.S. citizens. We need to acknowledge this fact and treat them as the AMERICAN CITIZENS that they are. How would you feel if your great-grandparents were born in America, yet people treated you like you had just illegally hopped the U.S. border?
* As far as assimilation is concerned. Mexican-Americans (that I know in CA) do just that. Many are 3rd and 4th generation Americans and most only speak the spanish they learned in high school. They go to college, they work, they pay taxes, they are involved in their children's sports, and they go to church. They are NO different than my caucasian friends.
* You canNOT blame "runaway" LEGAL immigration on Mexicans. In years past, many people said the same thing about the Irish, Polish, German, Japanese, Chinese, etc. I'm guessing some even said that about the Swedish.
* I will agree with you on TWO issues. Any kids (white, black, asian, or hispanic) that wear baggy pants, a beanie, and a big jacket creep me out - BIG TIME. Does that mean they are all involved in gangs - give me a break.
Does that mean that some are bad kids - absolutely. I also agree that any culture that comes to the United States (to live) should learn English.
* You have the right to hope that North Idaho remains as it is. However, the world is getting smaller and smaller and (at some point) that will not be an option. You can either accept the change with a big smile and open arms or you can be resentful and miss out on what new people and cultures have to offer. The choice is yours.
Last edited by LIDALA; 02-21-2007 at 05:24 PM..
Reason: boo boos
Lidala why do you have the need to get condescending and histionic about diversity? There is plenty of diversity up here, lots of different cultures. Have you ever heard of native Americans? Swedes? Hunkies? Irish? Italians? (or micks and wops if you've been in either of their communities much) French? Krauts? Or is the only diversity you can understand have to do with skin tone?
Those of you who are hung up on race are looking for something to complain about. Having lived in some big cities and all over the USA and serving in the very racially mixed military service, I agree with CBaillo and the Sage. There is plenty of racism among minorities, but it's OK eh? I've been told with a straight face by people with PhDs that only whites can be racist. Those silly and utterly illogical and anti-common sense arguments would have been laughed out of town 40 years ago, now people with >avg. IQs but zero common sense spout them as if they are the gospel. Hint: it's a way to feel superior and smug while looking like you're above the fray, and subtly shaming people into agreeing with you.
What do you suggest, some federal judge order the town to bus people in order to mirrror the USA as far as each race's quota? Now there's a brilliant idea.
I've been called white boy by some guy in the army I thought was OK but he had issues. But do the reverse and you are skewered as "racist" for eternity.
In my experience the ones who scream the most about hate are fullest of hate; the ones who whine the most about tolerance are the least tolerant; the ones always pointing a racist finger are usually the most racist.
Typically they lack the wisdom and courage to look within deep enough to see it. Too busy playing the blame game.
It's called projection and it's a good way to cover your tracks.
It is kinda funny here in So Cal where only an african american person can call another african american the "N" word, but if another person does it...look out.
At my work we have a very large diverse workforce here, and we do joke around a lot with each other. I talk smack to the mexicans in our shop, and they talk it right back. The black guys call us crackers, and we call them oreos and everything else. The hispanics call us gringos.....for us it's all in fun...the way it should be.
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