Where do 20's & 30's Black singles hang out? (transplants, moving)

[moving123456]

Originally Posted by Moncriefjj

I'm sure a white person who were new to say, Hong Kong, and asked where the American or British community was, I think y'all would understand that. It's just that white people don't know how it feels for minorities to feel lonely in that way

This hits the nail on the head.

That is a terrible example in my opinion. Somebody going from America to Hong Kong in no way compares to what is being discussed in this thread.

[Moncriefjj]

I disagree. You can argue that the gap between Hong Kong Chinese culture and expat Anglo culture is much greater than the gap between white mainstream American (or Minnesotan) culture and African American culture, and I'd agree with you, but the overriding idea is the same.

Even more importantly, this person, for whatever reason she has, made a simple request. She wants to meet and network with other black professionals. To pretend that this is an arbitrary or impolite request is to imagine that there aren't magazines like <I>Black Enterprise</i> that cater to this community, that black Americans, through no fault of their own, were treated radically differently from whites during most of this country's history, thereby establishing and maintaining parallel businesses and developing a unique culture based (again, not by their choice) on race and racial segregation.

A request from a white professional asking where to meet other white professionals would be absurd on its face, just as a request from a Hong Kong Chinese business person in Hong Kong asking to meet other Hong Kong Chinese would be absurd on its face, considering other Hong Kong Chinese are all around and are the majority culture.

That a simple request turned into this long discussion of race relations is pretty funny.

[perkinsmil]

Hello,

What I am reading in this thread really saddens me. I am a military veteran, recently separated for the service after serving 8 years overseas (in harms way). I have traveled to over 30 countries around the world, and been exposed to people and cultures from almost every ethnic group in existence.

There is one common theme that is evolving around the WORLD regarding American culture; Americans (Black, White, Purple, Green, you name it) are racists in-general. We as a culture are consumed with the concept of race; That is our dilemma.

We must change our understanding of the term "race". Race (human) is defined as: [SIZE=-1]Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens.

We are all the same race. Everyone must understand and realize this if we are ever to progress.

perkinsmil
[/SIZE]

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by perkinsmil

There is one common theme that is evolving around the WORLD regarding American culture; Americans (Black, White, Purple, Green, you name it) are racists in-general. We as a culture are consumed with the concept of race; That is our dilemma.

While I agree with your general sentiment (that racism is not a good thing in general and should be eliminated), I also believe that all generalizations are false.

There is no homogenous "America" -- different regions have their own set of attitudes, and within a given region you have all sorts of different subcultures and people with different beliefs, tolerences, and behaviors. We aren't all clones, and we don't all fit whatever stereotypes you might see fit to paint us with.

I've encountered attitudes down here in Atlanta, for example, that I don't remember EVER encountering in 40+ years of living and working in the W and SW Twin Cities suburbs, and I've seen folks in restaurants and in other public places make comments here about folks dissimilar to themselves that I'd only run into in smaller Minnesota towns before (in MN the nastiness I've seen was mainly directed by whites against native Americans, while down here it seems to be directed by various groups at various targets depending on which instigating group you're talking about, and it can be racial, religious, political, or cultural in nature). I've seen blacks trash whites, whites trash blacks, both groups trash hispanics, hispanics trash athiests, etc. Living here has been a bit of an eye-opening expeirence, to be honest. Probably for the better. I think the mainly white middle-class suburbs in the Twin Cities are a tad isolated in many respects...

But again, though, most of the folks I know as friends or work associates down here don't seem to have that attitude, whether they be from this area or a transplant from somewhere else -- it's mostly isolated incidents I run across by folks who I'd probably consider insensitive ignorant a-holes anyway regardless of their background.

I think the notion of a "common contentious American culture" is one that is certainly put forward by the media, but I think it's a lot less true than one might think, and I have to say that it pisses me off just a tad when folks try to paint America's 300 million people with a single sweeping brush. It isn't that simple an issue. I know you're partially talking about perception by non-Americans, which is mainly driven by tourists and the exported US media, but you're also making comments to us directly about our nature, and I reject those as both simplistic and inaccurate.

My wife's retired friend who lives in a small rural town in northern Georgia and makes medieval instruments for a living has almost nothing at all in common with my friends in Edina who are lawyers and stock brokers, with my friend from college now lives in Virginia and teaches obscure mathematical modelling concepts at George Mason University, or with some of my cousins who are truckers and mechanics in a small town in South Dakota.

The attitudes of the above individuals are often *radically* different towards relatively basic topics like religion, marriage, race, and politics, and I suspect some of them would come to blows with each other if they ever were exposed to each other for an extended period of time. :-)

My main point, though: even the small group of folks I mention above includes one or more self-described Pagans, Catholics, militant atheists, and protestants, and yet they are all considered "white middle class Americans". But they don't have the same attitudes at all, and while some of the above are racist at times in my experience, some of them are decidedly not.

Who are you to call them all one thing or another? Face it -- they aren't alike at all.

The problem isn't American culture, or something inherent to it. The problem is caused by a few ***holes. That's true the world over, not just here.

[sushigirlie]

The discussion also saddens me. You are not alone. However, instead of getting philosophical, we are basically just revealing a simple fact that Minneapolis minority groups do feel isolated because Minnesota is not a receiving place. That's why some somalies and other ethnic groups keep it to themselves!
Sad, but minneapolis has a loooong way to go!

[lukeache]

Originally Posted by sushigirlie

The discussion also saddens me. You are not alone. However, instead of getting philosophical, we are basically just revealing a simple fact that Minneapolis minority groups do feel isolated because Minnesota is not a receiving place. That's why some somalies and other ethnic groups keep it to themselves! Sad, but minneapolis has a loooong way to go!

You seem to always talk about being a minority and how Minnesotans are not welcoming if you are a minority. I was born overseas, I am a minority and since I moved to Minnesota, I have made any possible effort to become a Minnesotan and assimilate the local culture. I opened my mind to ice hockey, downhill skiing, cross country skiing and even was willing to add some Minnesotan expressions to my vocabulary. How do you expect to be accepted without making any effort to assimilate the local culture? The problem with a lot of Somalis, Hmong and other groups is that, they make little effort to assimilate Minnesotan/American culture. The Hmong people in particular, I find many of them to be very separatist and almost unable to accept people other than themselves. In fact, I have never seen a Hmong person hanging out with people other than their own kind. So, is that Minnesota's fault?

[2blessed2stress]

Jeez-Louise!! For those that ANSWERED the original question - Thanks!!

For those with all the other 'issues'...Get a life - Please!!

So far, I still don't find many events open/aimed at Black 20's & 30's. I did find a group online which hosts Wednesday night happy hours. I take classes on Wednesday so I haven't been able to attend thus far. And I did get on the mailing list for 1st Friday's and plan to attend the Nov FF. Beyond that, I connected with a couple of people when I attended my reunion so hopefully, things will change!

[AQUEMINI331]

I think things'll get better for you 2blessed2stress. I certainly hope so. Reading all of this makes me apprehensive about a possible move to the Twin Cities, but not too much. I'm still considering it.

I've encountered attitudes down here in Atlanta, for example, that I don't remember EVER encountering in 40+ years of living and working in the W and SW Twin Cities suburbs, and I've seen folks in restaurants and in other public places make comments here about folks dissimilar to themselves that I'd only run into in smaller Minnesota towns before (in MN the nastiness I've seen was mainly directed by whites against native Americans, while down here it seems to be directed by various groups at various targets depending on which instigating group you're talking about, and it can be racial, religious, political, or cultural in nature). I've seen blacks trash whites, whites trash blacks, both groups trash hispanics, hispanics trash athiests, etc. Living here has been a bit of an eye-opening expeirence, to be honest. Probably for the better. I think the mainly white middle-class suburbs in the Twin Cities are a tad isolated in many respects...

So would you say people in Atlanta or more or less tolerant than people in Minnesota? I grew up two hours west of Atlanta in Birmingham, and I find that people in the two cities (Atlanta and Birmingham) are pretty much on the same level of intolerance and hatred. It would give me something to compare the TC to.


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[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by AQUEMINI331

I think things'll get better for you 2blessed2stress. I certainly hope so. Reading all of this makes me apprehensive about a possible move to the Twin Cities, but not too much. I'm still considering it.







So would you say people in Atlanta or more or less tolerant than people in Minnesota? I grew up two hours west of Atlanta in Birmingham, and I find that people in the two cities (Atlanta and Birmingham) are pretty much on the same level of intolerance and hatred. It would give me something to compare the TC to.


_

According to your statement, the only difference I see is that the city of Atlanta is majority black where as the Twin Cities are majority white.

[AQUEMINI331]

Huh? What do you mean according to your statement?