The Chicago Factor: Are Transplants from Chicago Ruining Our State? (Iowa City: apartment complex, homes)

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by IAby7

I don't even want to reply to this, because I reallllly don't want drama/bashing/flaming/whatever. But I'm going to go out on a limb & do it anyway.

We're in a suburb of Des Moines (ok, we're an hour away) and we have the same problem. Our local college is recruiting all the big city high school players for their sports teams, and they bring their inner city mindset with them. Now listen carefully-- I could give a hoot less what color someones skin is. Black, white, brown, purple, green, whatever. But when you skulk around Walmart at 11:45pm, with a hoodie pulled over your face, and your clothes hanging off your rear, cussing up a storm & glaring at people, in small town Iowa, of COURSE you're going to be sterotyped & get dirty looks. Of COURSE people are going to be weary of your intentions. You could be the second coming of Jesus, but if you act like a gangbanger-hoodrat, you will get some unappreciative reactions.

Everyone has a choice on where they live, work, go to college, and recreate. But seriously-- can you stop scaring the locals while you're here for 4 years?

Well, in response to that, this is what I have to say, from my perspective. Being African-American myself, I am aware that there are people who are of my ethnicity who behave as you describe. I am in college myself. That being said, I have been around White kids who behave in similar manners. This is what I notice. The African-American persons who behave that way more likely to get a negative reaction than White persons on the occasion that persons of both ethnicities exhibit the same behavior. In my eyes, what I see is a tendency to view African-Americans with fear. If it is a few White kids behaving in the manners you described, there isn't a stereotype being ascribed to their ethnicity. If a few African-American kids act this way, what I notice is that the behaviors are more likely to be ascribed to their ethnicity, and are more likely to be viewed with a higher degree of fear. Oddly enough, some of the very persons you speak of are not always the ones who voice their concerns about being stereotyped. In fact, in my life, the persons I talk to who voice their concerns about being stereotyped as Black people are not the persons who fit the "hood rat" or "gang banger" characteristic. The persons who don't act like "hood rats", people like me, are the ones who have big concerns. The fact is, there are those who will take the "hoodrat" and "gangbanger" stereotypes and apply it to all Black people.

[SophieAnn]

Sheesh! People - It's Iowa. What self-respecting Chicagoan - whether Black, White, a Gangbanger, a yuppie or a Republican - would want to move to Des Moines, Iowa????

Get real!!! Did you notice that young men - black and white - all dress the same these days regardless of WHERE they are from??? Those gangbagers hanging at Walmart at night could be homegrown Iowa boys. Yeah - admit it. You have African Americans living in Iowa. Who are FROM Iowa. And not transplants from the Big Bad City of Chicago.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by SophieAnn

Sheesh! People - It's Iowa. What self-respecting Chicagoan - whether Black, White, a Gangbanger, a yuppie or a Republican - would want to move to Des Moines, Iowa????

Get real!!! Did you notice that young men - black and white - all dress the same these days regardless of WHERE they are from??? Those gangbagers hanging at Walmart at night could be homegrown Iowa boys. Yeah - admit it. You have African Americans living in Iowa. Who are FROM Iowa. And not transplants from the Big Bad City of Chicago.

hehe.. It's funny because it's true.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by SophieAnn

. What self-respecting Chicagoan -.

The ones that don't really care where they live as long as someone else is footing the bill for it.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by El Rhino

The ones that don't really care where they live as long as someone else is footing the bill for it.

Or the ones who don't have much of a choice where they live. They live where they have to live because they're broke.

Originally Posted by IAby7

I could give a hoot less what color someones skin is. Black, white, brown, purple, green, whatever.

I agree with you about black, white and brown people. But a line seriously needs to be drawn when it comes to green and purple people. If I ever see a green or purple person, I'll say to his silly little rainbow face that he should get out of town because I don't want his kind around here.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by SophieAnn

Sheesh! People - It's Iowa. What self-respecting Chicagoan - whether Black, White, a Gangbanger .

Ummm all the kings and queens of welfare who have gotten their benefits yanked in Illinois and have discovered they can get what they believed they are entitled to in Iowa? Just a thought...

[urza216]

Originally Posted by Bluefoxwarrior

Ummm all the kings and queens of welfare who have gotten their benefits yanked in Illinois and have discovered they can get what they believed they are entitled to in Iowa? Just a thought...

"Welfare queen"? Wasn't that a term coined by Ronald Reagan? Some Iowans need to stop listening to Republican BS and give reality a chance..

There's nothing royal about being broke as hell and surviving on welfare. I would love to see people who use terms like "welfare queen" walk a mile in a poor single mother's shoes. They just might put a bullet in their own head.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by urza216

"Welfare queen"? Wasn't that a term coined by Ronald Reagan? Some Iowans need to stop listening to Republican BS and give reality a chance..

There's nothing royal about being broke as hell and surviving on welfare. I would love to see people who use terms like "welfare queen" walk a mile in a poor single mother's shoes. They just might put a bullet in their own head.

It doesn't surprise me that Reagan would use that term. This was the same man who made the "states rights" speech in Neshoba County, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers were murders by KKK members who were also police officers. Reagan even opposed the civil rights measures from the 1960's. He claimed them to be "humiliating to the South", claiming the federal government should not use its powers to enforce voting rights. It doesn't surprise me that he used the term "welfare queen".

[todd00]

reagan, what a joke he was. a poor excuse for an actor and a president. he was told what to say and do just like georgie boy. i remember seeing his rosie painted cheeks and looked for the strings moving his mouth. non-scripted he wasnt much above dumb dubya. and no, i dont like the guy in the white house now either.

you are right about walking in the other persons shoes, though i still believe there needs to be more personal and parental responsibility in welfare households.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by todd00

reagan, what a joke he was. a poor excuse for an actor and a president. he was told what to say and do just like georgie boy. i remember seeing his rosie painted cheeks and looked for the strings moving his mouth. non-scripted he wasnt much above dumb dubya. and no, i dont like the guy in the white house now either.

you are right about walking in the other persons shoes, though i still believe there needs to be more personal and parental responsibility in welfare households.

Sure. But I'm a lot more concerned with holding powerful people accountable than holding powerless people accountable. Like crooks in board rooms who choose higher profits over treating people with dignity. It's a lot harder to hold a powerful person accountable.