iselin new jersey

[rlss]

I am white and my husband is Indian. I have been in many situations where I am the only "white" person in the store/restaurant/gathering and just like any other group of human beings, some people are friendly and approachable and some are not. My husband had extremely negative experiences when he first came to this country when he was one of the only Indian students in an all white school. Many people were extremely racist towards him and his family and I am sure that many Indians today face similar issues which makes them a bit more reserved around "white" individuals. It goes both ways. Plus, you can't judge an entire culture/race based on the actions of a group of individuals. You need to really take a look at your own race and see what flaws it has as well. We always tend to point out the flaws/weaknesses of people who are different than us whether it is skin color, religion, cultural upbringing. We tend to forget that we are most likely more similar than we are different and should always remember that first and foremost, we are human (not Indian, European, Chinese, African...).

[JohnSLX]

zzrace, I'll give you the same answer I gave you on your other thread about being anti-indian.

frankly, i'd rather live next to these highly educated indian doctors, scientist, Information Tech professionals rather than 5,10, 20 families of uneducated, high school grad americans who happen to be white.

Look at North Edison. The Wealthy are overwhelmingly Indian & Chinese. Look at the working class part of Edison, its predominantly working class blue collar whites.

What property values do you think would appreciate more???

get my point. I just answered a "subtle racists" question by the OP with straight facts. NO BS. Just facts.

[JohnSLX]

By the way, I'm a White american of proud Irish descent.

Go to any wealthy NJ town. From Millburn/Short Hills, Livingston, Tenafly, Alpin, Franklin Lakes, Princeton, Bernardsville, Far Hills, Upple Saddle River, Essex Fells, Mendham, Chester

Ask All these College Educated, Upper Middle Class & Upper class ethnic white residents.

Who would they rather have move in to their neigborhoods ..

A) College Educated Professionals & Entrepreneurs who happen to be Indian, Chinese, Filipinos, etc.

OR

B) White families who look like them but are less educated, blue collar, and lower income.

I think you get my point!

Who do you think these upper income whites would rather have their kids play with & get influenced by????

Who do you think will help keep property values sky high?

The OP's views are much more prevalent, in fact 10 times prevalent in working class white working class towns of NJ ( such as Iselin ) than in upper middle class and wealthy towns.

It has & will always boil down to EDUCATION.

[Jerseykat]

I have lived in Iselin all my life so I feel I can say this with some authority, the Indian population here is very insular. They are a community within a community. Their businesses and livelyhood doesn't rely on or need anyone who is not Indian/Pakistani. As a non Indian you can shop at shop at the stores without problems but you will be a minority. My computer tech/shop is downtown and does great work.
People come from all over the NY/NJ/PA and CT to spend the day shopping in town. On weekends traffic is horrible so most residents avoid the downtown area.
Bad stereotype but unfortunately true is that many Indians are horrible drivers. I've seen many a left(not right!) on a red light.
Not sure why this is the case, maybe it's something about being new to US driving rules.
Comparing Iselin to Jersey City is a bit difficult as Jersey City has Indian sections whereas in Iselin the entire business district is Indian based/owned.
Iselin was at a point approx 15-20 years ago when the small business district was dying out. 2 huge shopping malls and various strip malls did a number on the downtown which was mostly "mom & pop" operations. Stores were closing and business was bad. For myself I went downtown for the dry cleaners and the pizza place only.
I remember when the first Indian restaurant came into town. We went to dinner there quite a few times and it was great.
Shortly after that first restaurant opened it was like dominos as Indian based businesses moved into the area and eventually took over every shop in the downtown area. They renovated shops, tore down buildings and there was alot of bad blood in the neighborhood based on this and the influx of shoppers on weekends who didn't behave in a acceptable manner.
But as in many things as time passed most in Iselin have come to learn to live with the odd co-existance we have here.

[FIqbal]

One issue that you need to consider is that most shop owners/businessmen are first generation born and brought up in places like India/Pakistan and came to USA as adult. So language and social skills to interact with say a white person would not be as good as someone who is from here. This would also explain poor driving skills and not keeping up lawns for some. However, you can trust all of these people drive their kids to excel in schools and become worthy citizen of this country. Second generation would have none of the issues that we are discussing here. First generation work their a$$ off to give a better future for the next and keeping up the lawn is a second priority.

[MontyLaSalle]

What I'm curious about is "Why Iselin?" Anyone know why historically Indians would have focused on settling in and around Iselin? It seems like a "throw a dart at the map" kinda place to pick, but I imagine there must have been some other reason for the choice.

[Jerseykat]

Monty as I mentioned earlier it was the right place and time for them.
Iselins downtown business area was dying out and the opportunity was ripe.
As the "white" businesses were closing due to strip mall and the 2 large shopping malls they were replaced with Indian run/based businesses.
The first Indian restaurant was a hit as it brought into the town a demographic that lived in central Jersey and wanted a local restaurant.
Shortly after this several Indian stores opened. I sometimes think they came to eat at the restaurant and looked around and saw opportunity.
2 stores became 4 and it cascaded from that point. The "white" stores that remained shortly closed as the renters were not doing any business and the owners found it more lucrative to sell out to the incoming Indian businesses.
Iselin (and the surrounding areas) has become a major shopping and entertainment destination for the Indian/Pakistani population from several states.
The influx of these businesses has revitalized the downtown area though not in a way many of the longtime residents had wanted.
Irony is that a "white" business would not have worked long term as the residents didn't really patronize the area prior to their arrival.
So the Indians found a "dying" business area in a town and were able to capitalize on it. Kinda like field of dreams "build it and they will come".

Also Iselin is very centrally located on that dartboard map. Metropark is a major stop for both Amtrak and NJ Transit.
We're at the crossroads (or very close to) most major highways (GSP, I95, rt1 & rt9).
As a business destination it's an ideal place to locate.

[zzracer]

This makes alot of sense. It seems the Asian/Pakistani/Indian cultures who moved into Iselin were very smart in doing so. Thank you everyone for your replies.