Considering Moving to Madison-Fitting In (Blair, Johnson: live, radio, campus)

[liveurdream]

Originally Posted by nonexpat

I lived for ten years in Plano, TX, a very conservative, Republican place. I am a left-leaning Democrat. I was still able to find like-minded people, and I tried not to talk politics to strangers. How hard is that? The liberals in Madison aren't going to eat you for lunch. Sheesh. I had my Obama sign stolen out of my yard four times, but seriously, was I truly suffering?

So, do you think the lefties will beat you up? What is this nation coming to? Well, maybe it's all the fear mongering that goes on on Fox News so that people think all those Madison socialists will somehow harm them.

Overall the liberals in Madison are not complete lunatics, but there have been some that have harassed others over the last year because they are not in control. Some of them even got charged.

[Moving_South]

Originally Posted by Chelito23

And for people saying how lacking Madison is in the diversity department, compare it to other Wisconsin cities....

OK.

Green Bay is 73% white. (Less white than Madison). Green Bay is 13.5% Hispanic (about twice as many of one minority group as any minority group in Madison)

Beloit is 68% White. Beloit is 15% Black

Racine is 60% White. Racine is 20% Black and 13% Hispanic

Milwaukee is 37% White, 39% Black, 17% Hispanic

Madison is not diverse

Interesting Factoid: 86% of Wisconsin's African-American population live in four cities: Milwaukee, Racine, Beloit, Kenosha, with Milwaukee home to nearly three-fourths of the state's black Americans. In the Great Lakes region, only Detroit and Cleveland have a higher percentage of African-American residents.

[Megan1967]

First of all, where did these stats come from?

Second, I think you are talking S. Beloit, not Beloit. Two separate cities. Beloit is in WI, S. Beloit is in IL.

And we already est. that Milwaukee is more diverse than Madison.

Originally Posted by Moving_South

OK.

Green Bay is 73% white. (Less white than Madison). Green Bay is 13.5% Hispanic (about twice as many of one minority group as any minority group in Madison)

Beloit is 68% White. Beloit is 15% Black

Racine is 60% White. Racine is 20% Black and 13% Hispanic

Milwaukee is 37% White, 39% Black, 17% Hispanic

Madison is not diverse

Interesting Factoid: 86% of Wisconsin's African-American population live in four cities: Milwaukee, Racine, Beloit, Kenosha, with Milwaukee home to nearly three-fourths of the state's black Americans. In the Great Lakes region, only Detroit and Cleveland have a higher percentage of African-American residents.

[Moving_South]

Originally Posted by Megan1967

First of all, where did these stats come from?

Second, I think you are talking S. Beloit, not Beloit. Two separate cities. Beloit is in WI, S. Beloit is in IL.

And we already est. that Milwaukee is more diverse than Madison.

Wikipedia, Census Results. And I forget which one but either Racine or Beloit was from the 2000 Census, so more than likely there are even more minorities living there now... And, no, I'm talking Beloit WI not South Beloit

Basically it breaks down to this: Madison is only the 5th Most Diverse City in a State that was 91% White in the year 2000 Census

Any way you slice it, that is not very diverse. Unless you describe "diverse" as being "diverse as compared to Wausau, Wisconsin"

For people who have actually lived in other states/places, Madison is very white. And statistically, Madison is not very diverse.

[Moving_South]

How many Black folks are currently on Madison's City Council? How many Black bar owners are there in Madison? Madison does have a Black Police Chief.

[Chelito23]

Compare Madison to Wausau, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, La Crosse, Appleton, Janesville. And yes, Madison is diverse comapared to them and the remaining towns throughout the state.

The "diverse" small cities in Wisconsin are so small that they encompass their entire area, so minorities have to live there. In Madison, many minorities don't live in the city at all, they live in the town of Madison, Fitchburg, etc. If those areas were all incorporated as Madison City, the demographics would be more in line with the "diverse" cities.

The underlying message I want to convey, despite sheer demographics, is that Madison does have outlets, communities and stores that cater to different communities. There is Spanish media on the airwaves, cable and newspapers. I have seen Asian papers as well. There is the Madison Times which is African American themed. So that stuff is out there. And since Madison is actually larger than GB, Racine, Beloit, the actual number of minorities is still greater here than in those communities....they just aren't as much of the total city population percentage wise.

[craptacular]

In response to the OP, I would highly recommend taking one or both of the following fabulous pieces of advice.

Originally Posted by liveurdream

Just ignore the protesters.....there is always a person protesting about something.

Originally Posted by Moving_South

... if you have a good sense of humor, the hypocrisy of most Madison liberals provides a few chuckles throughout the day.

To be fair, hypocrisy is not a trait limited to one side of the political debate. If you don't want to get involved in the political theater, just laugh at it. There are a lot of professional protestors on campus. Based on my past experiences as a UW engineering undergrad and grad student / TA, most of the protestors probably don't even know where the "hard science" buildings are.

[SmittyXCWRU]

I suppose I ought to give a little more detail of exactly what my concerns and background are.

I am more of a religious/social conservative type than a libertarian. I don't care about unions much one way or the other unless I have people screaming at me or protesters walking around all the time. That would be really annoying even if I agree with them.

I currently live in a town that is 45% black and voted 85% for President Obama, so I'm somewhat used to seeing people of other races. In fact my block has an Asian plurality (aimed at whoever dragged race into this ). But most people here are fairly apolitical.

I guess my question is whether living in Madison I would have abortion/gay marriage/etc pushed into my face on a regular basis to where I would grow weary of arguing with people all the time. Are the people in Madison super politically active? Is this something I'm going to have to deal with? FWIW when I visited no one mentioned politics to me (whereas at the other school I'm considering I wittnessed an argument between two Ron Paul supporters and an Obama supporter).

[nonexpat]

It is an election year and people on college campuses tend to be politically engaged. People are not going to get in your face about it. I was young, naive and Republican when I went to UW-Madison, and I was poli-sci and English major. In poli-sci classes we had a lot of spirited debates where I was the minority. I loved my time there. Fortunately, after a few presidential elections, I saw the light and started voting Democratic. It had nothing to do with people harassing me on the UW campus It had everything to do with my becoming a teacher and seeing the inequalities in this world.

[nonexpat]

Originally Posted by liveurdream

Translation = No point in my voting to the right side now since it doesn't benefit me. So now I vote left since I became a teacher.

WTF? No, I vote to the left because I saw how students who come from poor families are at a much greater disadvantage. There isn't a level playing field. My dad was a teacher and a Republican. I love how people demonize teachers on this board. Since when are teachers the bad guys?