Interracial couple with 2 kids possibly moving to Tupelo..good thing? (Jackson: crime, theatre)

[tiles1]

Hi. My husband is Caucasian and I'm Asian with 2 children. We are considering a move to Tupelo. We are from the DC area and have never lived further south than Northern Virginia--where it is very culturally and ethnically diverse. I don't want to stereotype but I'm honestly a little nervous about moving so deep South. Should I be concerned?

[jhadorn]

Originally Posted by tiles1

Hi. My husband is Caucasian and I'm Asian with 2 children. We are considering a move to Tupelo. We are from the DC area and have never lived further south than Northern Virginia--where it is very culturally and ethnically diverse. I don't want to stereotype but I'm honestly a little nervous about moving so deep South. Should I be concerned?

My uncle is married to a woman of Asian descent and lives in Fulton, just 20 minutes from Tupelo. I am married to a Belizean woman of East Indian, West Indian, and Hispanic descent and we live in Senatobia. You will be fine. Will you run into the occasional ignorant, hick rube who judges you for your skin color? Maybe, however, I don't think it would be more often than most places in this country.

Most Mississippians are good people, I wouldn't worry too much. If there are other questions you would like to ask, feel free. I will try to help as much as I can.

[peppermint]

I may get blasted for this one, but being white & Asian, you two should be fine. There are other combos that face more bigotry - not just in MS though. Anyway, I completely understand why you're nervous. I'd be more concerned about the lack of diverse foods, shopping, and entertainment options though. Seriously though, the race issue shouldn't be a big deal.

[bluenoter]

No!

Originally Posted by tiles1

Hi. My husband is Caucasian and I'm Asian with 2 children. We are considering a move to Tupelo. We are from the DC area and have never lived further south than Northern Virginia--where it is very culturally and ethnically diverse. I don't want to stereotype but I'm honestly a little nervous about moving so deep South. Should I be concerned?

[oldenfatt]

You will be fine here. Welcome to the area.

[vanburen81]

Originally Posted by tiles1

Hi. My husband is Caucasian and I'm Asian with 2 children. We are considering a move to Tupelo. We are from the DC area and have never lived further south than Northern Virginia--where it is very culturally and ethnically diverse. I don't want to stereotype but I'm honestly a little nervous about moving so deep South. Should I be concerned?

I'm not from Tupelo, but I live in Louisiana and go to the Jackson area regularly and my wife and I are white/Asian couple and haven't had any problems. Also, I grew up in Jackson metro and one of my best friends was mixed race Chinese/white and he seemed to be perfectly accepted by classmates. Of course I couldn't say that there will be no incidents of funny looks or anything, and Jackson is a lot bigger than Tupelo.

I would agree with an earlier poster that you might feel isolated and bored. I don't think Tupelo has much of an Asian community at all, I'm sure there are no Asian grocery stores or good Asian restaurants other than your typical American-Chinese buffet.

But if you do go be open minded about it. People from outside the South tend to have very negative stereotypes of Mississippi, but some of them are pleasantly suprised by how pleasant and friendly it can be.

[Tupelo Nana]

You may need to "think"?? again, my Louisiana friend...Tupelo is fast realizing the need for finding ways to enhance it's involvement/attention to all areas of Asian culture, as the largest automobile manufacturer in the world (Japanese automaker) has recently constructed a multi-million dollar manufacturing facility within 12 miles of the city. Our Japanese residents have been welcomed with open arms (EVENTHOSEWITHCAUCASIANWIVESORHUSBANDS,GOFIGURE)!! ! The children are gorgeous, intelligent, and well mannered. We here in Tupelo "kinda cotton to that"! The majority of us seem to favor good, honest, hard-working folk regardless of skin color or to whom they may be married.

Additionally, shopping opportunities in Tupelo may not be quite as diverse as those in Jackson, but there's certainly less fear involved in getting out of one's car to conduct that shopping after arriving at one's desitination. However, if one should yearn for the excitement of being so lucky as to enounter a possible mugger, purse snatcher, or a hi-jacker on any given day, Memphis, Tennessee is only 90 minutes away! Lots and lots and lots of great shopping there, though!

[brickpatio]

Tupelo is a good town and doesn't fit with the stereotype of the deep south that seems to persist among some people in the north. Tupelo has developed a strong manufacturing base over the last several decades, that culminated in Tupelo being selected by Toyota for one of the largest economic development projects in the country. This plant is just now ramping up building Corollas.

Tupelo has a highly regarded medical center and fairly well regarded schools in the area. There are many very upscale subdivisions and normal modern shopping (e.g. Lowes, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc).

There is a nice benefit of Tupelo being one hour from two college towns (Oxford and Starkville) which means a pretty good selection of nearby activities such as college sports, theatre, speakers, etc. Also within an hour is scenic Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River, which is great for boating and sailing.

[peppermint]

You're understandably going to make some sacrifices moving from any metropolitan area to MS. As long as you can cope with the idea that you aren't in the big city (wide variety of shopping, entertainment, restaurants, schools, etc.), then you'll be fine. Tupelo is a nice city, but it can't compete with the metropolitan Eastern sea board in the aforementioned arenas. Of course, the crime will be less and the hospitality greater than most Eastern cities. Good luck!

[JCrow08]

You will feel quite welcome in the deep south. Many many couples are of different races here and it is for the most part fully accepted if not out right ignored. My sister has a Japanese husband and 5 kids with him, we are white. They have been married since 1985 and have NEVER had any kind of racism problems at all. Good Luck with your move, don't worry!