Is NOVA racist? (Leesburg, Washington: apartment, daycare, gated)

[kevinm]

Originally Posted by kynight

When I think of Virginia I think of the South. What's it like for a person of color living in northern Virginia? Could they feel at home or would they have to live in the inner city parts of Washington DC?

Who is NOT a "person of color"? Why don't you just say non-white? White is a color too.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by kevinm

Who is NOT a "person of color"? Why don't you just say non-white? White is a color too.

Dear OP. There may be few racists in NoVa, but there will be people who challenge you for using a term as common as "person of color". You be the judge.

[Jandrew5]

Nova is a pretty tolerant place. I would hang out at Gravelly Park all the time and at times it seemed like Arab people would outnumber whites and blacks combined...yet no one ever seemed to care. That told me what I need to know.

Nova is a melting pot and is extremely educated, which generally leads to less racial ignorance. I'm AA and never had any kind of problem.

[cwitty]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

Are there racist people in NoVa? Sure, but I’d say they are a tiny tiny minority. The farther you get out of NoVa towards West Virginia out past Fredericksburg, it gets more red neck.

My child is in ballet at a rec center. They are the only white kid in the class. It’s not uncommon that white people are a minority when eating out. There are huge Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern, and Hispanic populations. Black people seem to vary more depending on location. More in Arlington. Less in Vienna. It just depends.

This.........

There is more minor biggotry/"racial joking" in NoVA imo. NOVA is a melting pot so the cultures mingle on an everyday basis. But like this poster said, once you start heading to WV and Fburg, you will see some more blatant racism. Even racist bumper stickers.

[cwitty]

Originally Posted by JasmineBasmati

The more you go North or Central West, like Charlotesville, you will encounter racism in many towns. Charlotesville has the KKK.

I disagree. Charlottesville isn't as racist as people think it is. That perception is based on the events last year (most of those people werent even from VA, let alone Charlottesville). I've been all through VA and sometime you can feel the racism in the air in certain places. I never got that vibe in Charlottesville.

From my experience, I'd say they tend to treat people like people down there. I'm not sure if it matters but I'm black. If anybody is familiar with my post on these boards, they know I speak about racism all the time. I would def say there is a problem if I saw one.

Matter of fact, that whole 29 corridor from C'ville up to NOVA is cool. I met a lot of cool people rolling through there. No problems at all.

[kynight]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

I’m black, live in mostly white North Arlington, and I feel at home. Won’t be my home too much longer but it’s been good to me.

Thanks, but why are you moving?

[kynight]

Originally Posted by mikeyo321

Personally, I would say NoVa is far more class conscious then strictly race conscious. People are more likely to judge you on where you work and/or went to college/grad school then your ethnicity, race or nationality. That said, it probably depends on what type of environment you're used to and what your sensitivities are. It's tremendously diverse in many ways but if you're from somewhere like New York, San Francisco or LA it may seem a little more Southern. I have known AAs who have told me they feel slightly more comfortable in Maryland, PG County or DC but I've also known many AAs who grew up in NoVa who have no problems here whatsoever. Basically, you'll probably be fine but like anywhere in the US that doesn't mean you are immune to an incident here and there. Do remember, though, that Virginia gets very southern the further you go outside the DC area.

I'm familiar with "very southern" living west of Charlotte. There are also a lot of mixed people here, so it's a colorful type of southern. Class conscious doesn't bother me much. It can benefit some as a motivation.

[kynight]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

That would take us off topic. It is up to the OP to decide what kinds of things make them uncomfortable, and presumably they know enough about the Tea Party to make their own judgement of whether that is one of them, I just wanted to let them know where the Tea Party is more present.

But you can trust that my opinion is based on what I have seen people say and do, not on what the media "tells us to believe".

I didn't know people still talk about the Tea Party. I thought it was just some nonsense made up by Glen Beck to act like he's a "maverick" or "true conservative". A lot of good it did getting Obama re-elected, pretending people like Mitt Romney are conservative.

[kynight]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

Dear OP. There may be few racists in NoVa, but there will be people who challenge you for using a term as common as "person of color". You be the judge.

Yeah, someone else told me "oriental" is an outdated terminology. I guess Webster forgot to remove the word from the dictionary.

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by kevinm

Who is NOT a "person of color"? Why don't you just say non-white? White is a color too.

The very definition of "person (or people) of color" is: a person who is not white or of European parentage

So if one is white or of European descent - one is not a person of color.