What Does Nashville Have to Offer a Young Interracial Couple?

[IngleDave]

2004, I'm sure we're all really sorry you've had such a hard time. Good luck in finding a buyer out there pretty soon. Try not to judge an entire community on your personal experiences here. None of us like the type of people you describe, but they exist almost everywhere. It's too bad you were here when you encountered obviously more than your share of them. Good luck to you.

[goodbyehollywood]

Originally Posted by 2004idiot

I have never had white people use the N word in front of me, as if it were acceptable, like they have here. I even had a BOSS talk like that. Yep... since I'm white that moron THOUGHT it was ok. It hasn't been the only time. I have been unfortunate enough to run into the most closed minded and hateful people of my life, here in Nashville. If anyone can tell me where to go to get away from them.... please TELL ME.

I also DO NOT appreciate "christians' here telling people they are going to hell. Antoher nice thing here in Nashville........ people playing God.

If you want to be treated with respect, you might want to consider treating others the same way. Apparently, you hate where you live, who you work with and pretty much everybody in the entire city of Nashville, whether you've actually met them or not. You call your boss a "moron." That's a lot of hate, hostility and venom, directed indiscriminately. Yet you expect unconditional warmth and compassion back.

You portray Tennesseans as "close-minded" and "hateful," yet that is exactly what your posts portray you, yourself, to be. You project an attitude that is boomeranging right back at you. You didn't research the area before you came and you bought-- before renting first-- in an area almost anyone will tell you is not choice. So, really, who's responsible for your angst?

Nashville probably isn't the right city for you. And it wasn't before you came. But the airport is very nice. American has two direct flights to L.A. every day and, since you ask, I highly recommend them.

[2004idiot]

What I find interesting is that NOT ONE OF YOU are concerned that some business owner used RACIAL and SEXUAL SLURS....... amazing. I can only conclude that people who do are MORONS. my opinion of course. I could be wrong (only at a house that flies a confederate flag, I'm sure)....... or here's another favorite nashville true story. I worked with a black woman. we did the SAME job. I left that job. we talked..... they paid me about $5000 MORE a yr then her..... yea, thats not racism. same job, same title.... but that's legal HERE? no doubt.

if I hear one more person say that so and so is going to hell because they are not going to their "church building".... I'll send them to you... because that's not moronic either. That humans think they can judge like GOD...... no, that's brilliant.

[2004idiot]

Originally Posted by IngleDave

2004, I'm sure we're all really sorry you've had such a hard time. Good luck in finding a buyer out there pretty soon. Try not to judge an entire community on your personal experiences here. None of us like the type of people you describe, but they exist almost everywhere. It's too bad you were here when you encountered obviously more than your share of them. Good luck to you.

What will obviously be impossible is for anyone to believe is that I NEVER had an employer use the N word, in CA. not one. I didn't work with people who used that word either? But here I've run into several. IF that DID happen in So Cal... there's NO WAY I'd excuse it. NOR would I be mad at someone else for being disgusted with that behavior. I would NOT defend my state or neighbors IF it did happen. I would not turn on a human being for experiencing what I have. I'd say... gee, what crap. Call a gov't agency and report it. Sadly, there is no consumer protection or employee rights here. no one cares. I can tell you another story about an auto dealer here. Got a car for my daughter.... nightmare. In CA, I had a problem once.... called Bureau of Automotive Repair and SHUT THEM DOWN. here, its a joke. They do nothing. Because there are no laws to protect people...... and in the 3 long yrs I've been here, I have more stories..... but no one wants to hear anything bad! hahahaha... kinda like the parents of gangsters..... dig deep into the sand and throw your head in.... that always works.

[goodbyehollywood]

Originally Posted by 2004idiot

or here's another favorite nashville true story. I worked with a black woman. we did the SAME job. I left that job. we talked..... they paid me about $5000 MORE a yr then her..... yea, thats not racism. same job, same title.... but that's legal HERE? no doubt.

Maybe you were more qualified, had more experience, better credentials or a different work history. Maybe they paid you more because you were making more when you came there and they pay matched. There are a million reasons you could have been paid more-- and most of them are legal. Why automatically play the race card?

And if they did pay less because of race-- or gender-- that sucks, but it happens in every industry, in every city across America! And ESPECIALLY in SoCal. Hollywood is the worst industry in the world for paying everybody less than white males. Practically every male screenwriter, director, producer, etc. makes more than a female for the exact same job and whites make more than non-whites. If you're not a white male, you get less respect, less pay, less work. Period. It's been that way forever. And for the record, I have never heard the N word bandied about as freely as I did in Hollywood. And the S word... the C word... the P word... the F word... and every other slur you can think of.

So if you don't like Nashville, that's fine. Your opinion, your choice. But to single Nashvillians out as dispicable racial and sexist Gestapos isn't even in the realm of reality. And to hold SoCal up as a paragon of virtue is even further removed. Good luck to you wherever you go. But I lived and worked in SoCal for a long time and I don't know of anywhere where the lines of inequity are so clearly drawn. And the intolerance so widely accepted.

[IngleDave]

Goodbye, your voice of reason is a huge part of why I'm finding this thread downright entertaining.

Another day off the meds and this could get really interesting, although I predict a short life for this thread.

[amanda9883]

Clortho1, did you move?? and where to?? My boyfriend and I are an interracial couple, i'm white, my boyfriend is black. We are looking to move to Nashville, mostly d/t location. His family is in MO, mine in PA. Right now we live in Alexandria, LA. We face odd looks and stares quite often from both races, but not much more than that. We've gotten used to it. But we are in our mid-twenties and have similar hopes and fears to what you described. We are looking for an area with more to do and more people our age. It gets pretty boring here in LA...although grated it is a smaller town with most married with children, even at our age. We would be looking to move this summer and will get a chance to visit Nashville in May. Any advice?

[MontanaGuy]

I've just lived here since January but I haven't seen the negative reactions to mixed race couples that others describe and I have seen a number of mixed couples in various public places like supermarkets, restaurants, etc. I honestly think that there is such a large number of mixed race couples all across the country that it's something that the majority of people don't even pay attention to for the most part. In fact Nashville has the highest percentage of black people of any other city I've lived in and as a result I think I've seen more mixed race couples here than others places I've lived in the past (Phoenix, Denver and Seattle). As others have mentioned Nashville is the most progressive city in the state although it may be different in some of the small towns in Tennessee but I even recall seeing a mixed race couple in a tiny Tennessee town in a restaurant when I was first driving around the state and trying to decide where I wanted to live. No one even paid any attention to it. I really don't think you'd have a problem but of course I would advise spending some time here and really getting a feel for the community before you make the move. Good luck to you.

[Winston37]

There is way more segregation in the north than in the south. I'm in Detroit where not only does our city have the highest percentage of black people but the Detroit metro area has 4 of the top 10 segregated cities in America. I love seeing the progress the south continues to make and to an earlier comment in the forum, if you want to see segregation then definitely go to the north or northeast! I encourage any interracial couple to research city demographics, use forums like these and make the best decision you can.

[ariesjow]

Originally Posted by Winston37

There is way more segregation in the north than in the south. I'm in Detroit where not only does our city have the highest percentage of black people but the Detroit metro area has 4 of the top 10 segregated cities in America. I love seeing the progress the south continues to make and to an earlier comment in the forum, if you want to see segregation then definitely go to the north or northeast! I encourage any interracial couple to research city demographics, use forums like these and make the best decision you can.

My experience was generally the same after living in the Detroit metro for four years. The segregation there was quite alarming. I'm also in an interracial couple and I'm glad my partner had the cojones to back south with me.

I won't generalize other regions but I think, due to history, that the southeast in particular gets blanketed with a bad rap for racial problems that exist in the U.S. as a whole. Some cities have more salient racial problems than others but I've yet to visit a city anywhere that was devoid of racial problems.