Traffic/Racism (Minneapolis, Eden Prairie, Lynd: place to live, vs., assess)

[tropolis]

I'm usually tough on whites in regards to there racism throughout the country, but I've lived here my whole life and have had no problems with whites. Im mixed(white/black) and live in an area that is predominantly white.

[uptown_urbanist]

I haven't lived in Eden Prairie and am white, but I have a hard time believing that racisim is open and common in Eden Prairie. I have, on the other hand, been out there for various reasons and been surprised at just how white it feels. I wouldn't rent or buy a place there without visiting, but then again, I wouldn't suggest doing that anywhere. Dana_1982, what do you mean by "many," and are you referring to Eden Prairie in particular? There are racist people everywhere (including those who are educated and hold professional jobs), and I suppose some racist people will be more drawn to live in areas that are more heavily white, but it's certainly not socially acceptable among general society to throw around derogatory terms or make rude gestures. To the OP: I think EP has a diversity taskforce (or some such thing) run by the city to handle complaints about racism, etc.; maybe you could try calling them and see if you can get some insights? It's a very white place, but there are certainly non-white people living there, too. I don't think you'd have a problem, but then again, I don't have personal experience as a minority living in EP (and am only posting because I don't know how many EP regulars we have on here, or how many of them are minority)

I see you're living in Virginia right now; it's my impression that racism in places like VA and places like MN (and Eden Prairie) are very different; in Virginia there has been a long history in most places of having residents of different races, or at least black and white people. The Twin Cities, and especially suburbs like EP, have until recently been heavily white. There hasn't been a history of racism in places like EP because until fairly recently it was mostly people of the same color. (still is mostly, but the percentage of minority residents is growing) You're going to encounter far more people who haven't lived next to or worked for or with people of a different race, but that doesn't translate into racism.

wait a minute - after writing all that I see that the OP dates back to 2007, so the OP has long-since moved or not moved; I'll leave my comment anyway, as I don't think non-white newcomers to the Twin Cities should fear being greeted at the airport or the state line with racist teens and women shouting slurs. Not to say stuff like that doesn't ever happen, but it's not the norm.

[cityrover]

Originally Posted by tropolis

I'm usually tough on whites in regards to there racism throughout the country, but I've lived here my whole life and have had no problems with whites. Im mixed(white/black) and live in an area that is predominantly white.

because only caucasians are racist?

[Beenaroundabit]

So I wonder whether the people who live there are really well-educated and professionals like in west-coast.

Uh...depends on what part of the West Coast you're talking about. There are MANY parts of the I-5 corridor that rival Appalachia on the "uneducated" scale (no offense to Appalachia; have lived and worked there and it's beautiful country).

[MNmover]

Hahahaa I am from the west coast, born and raised and I will not hesitate to say Minnesotans are generally smarter. Especially if you are comparing them with Californians. Minnesotans typically are not racist, although I have seen some ignorant racism among the really old Minnesotans. Minnesota is the 'nice' state and I would say although many areas are predominantly white, it is not very racially segregated at all compared to areas with a lot of different races. In most schools I notice the persons of a different ethnicity out here tend to be more popular typically, probably because they are considered different as there are so many white people here. Don't let your race stop you from moving here, Minnesotans are very warm. As for the traffic, if you are comparing it with other big cities rush hour is not really rush hour. But it all depends what you are used to. The twin cities have been dubbed the most livable cities in the Us many times over and is partially because they are not overcrowded.

[uptown_urbanist]

I've spent a lot of years in my California (and have family connections, too), and wouldn't say that there's any monopoly on either smart people or racist people in either state. I certainly wouldn't make a sweeping statement about people from one state being "smarter" than those who just happen to live in (or possibly born in) a different state. Traffic, on the other hand, is way, way better in the Twin Cities than it is the big California cities.

[Camden Northsider]

To the OP- although not generally the case and more often the exception to the rule, there are times here in Minnesota when the traffic does get racist.

As an example, if you compare rush hour traffic on West Broadway Ave (in a predominantly African American community) to rush hour on Lyndale Ave in SW Minneapolis (predominantly white community), the traffic jams on Lyndale Ave speak to the fact that a very disproportionate amount of white drivers prefer to travel in the majority-white area on Lyndale Ave vs. travailing West Broadway. Some people might say that these roads are in two totally different sections of the city so most people travelling in SW Mpls probably have no need to travel on W. Broadway- to these people I say "I rest my case".

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by dana_1982

Dear rw2006 , If you are a non-white person I think you will suffer from racism from European-Americans. My brother is there for about a week now and already he has reported many ghastly incidents, teens even women making gestures and using abusive slangs. So I wonder whether the people who live there are really well-educated and professionals like in west-coast.

"Many ghastly incidents in a week"...? In Eden Prairie??!?

Wow. We lived there for almost four years (2000-2004), and I don't remember seeing any issues at all between the white population and the only non-white population I remember seeing there (Somali immigrants). They seemed very polite when I saw them in Eden Prairie Center or in the grocery store, I thought their clothing added some much-needed color, and I can't see any reason why there'd be any sort of confrontation. What would be the point?

[Beenaroundabit]

"Many ghastly incidents in a week"...? In Eden Prairie??!?

It's those damned "European Americans" again. Along with those ultra-educated West-coasters . As for people making racially-oriented comments several times at someone in only a week's time..in Eden Prairie, MN - I have a tough time believing that's more due to an endemic racial problem with the region and not with the recipient's perception. Either that or the person just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time...repeatedly... within a very compressed time period. You be the judge.

That said, there's going to be "racism" everywhere you go, because there's always going to be someone who won't treat you the way you want/expect to be treated due to differences in skin color, ethnicity, religion, background, whatever. It's rarely to the point of what we expect when we hear the word "racism" used, like in the 50's, but people seem to think that level of behavior is still rampant. I've lived all over the country and have yet to see it that way.

What I HAVE seen are slights made against people and folks sometimes treated differently, sometimes due to inherent physical differences and sometimes not. Sometimes these slights may be intentional, but sometimes not. This can be called "racism", but it's not the rock-throwing, cross-burning behavior that the the word leads us to assume.

Some recipients of this kind of behavior are insulted by it and some simply ignore it. In my neighborhood in the Seattle area, there are many Asian families. Most of them don't associate with us, speak to us, or even acknowledge a wave when driving past. I could cry "racism" and tell people not to live here... or I could simply ignore it and get on with my life. I choose to do the latter. Life is to short to expend negative energy worrying about what other people think of me because I'm a "european American" - or if I was any other color. And if there's some kind of overt discriminatory action that's being taken, there are laws for that.

The funniest thing about this entire topic is that Minnesota, in general, is probably FAR less "racist" than any other place I've lived.

[uptown_urbanist]

Given that the poster who made the claim hasn't returned, coupled with the fact that he or she pulled this topic out of the archives, I'm inclined to think that it's an example of trolling at work.

And if it's not I'd be inclined to agree that it's likely a matter of perception, not reality. Explicit racism and slurs certainly do happen - and places like Eden Prairie are no more immune to that than other places - but it's not typical. Subtle things are probably more prevalent, but that doesn't really fit into the category of "ghastly," either. For all its whiteness I don't think of Minnesota as a particularly racist place, either, although that's not to say that it's not out there.