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I know many of these elderly Pittsburghers. They are my friends' parents, my parents' friends, and in the case of some of the "younger elderly" the older brothers and sisters of my friends. I've known many of these people all my life. I knew them in their prime. I said upthread I'd heard just about every negative name for people of Eastern and Southern European ancestry. I've heard plenty of negative names for blacks too from these people. I agree with Steven P.
Mind you, it is much the same in my husband's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, which had more racial tension than you might imagine.
Well, in all fairness, Katiana, the young blacks don't exactly treat the elderly Pittsburghers well. I personally know two elderly people--a man and a women, both in their 70s--who were attacked by young blacks. The man was jumped on the way to his car and mugged, the women, robbed on the way home one afternoon. The woman in particular sustained pretty severe injuries and is still very fearful.
Some of the people that post here really believe that this city is damn near perfect, yet the second you step foot outside of it you run into racists/rednecks/confederates/soulless morons driving SUVs. It's as if there's no way a single bad element could exist inside your pristine city.
The blind devotion to a small geographical location is so strange to me, I don't think I've seen it any other place on the internet.
Would you make up your mind? You just posted that you don't think Pittsburgh is super racist. The very next post, you post that the second you step foot out the door you run into racists.
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Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl
Kinda on the fence about this one because myself and my father are latino (myself less so than him). The only time my dad experienced outright 100% racism was in Washington County. However, he has told me stories of subdued racism towards him while he was on the job. My grandfather never said anything about racism towards him, but he still chose to move out of the city to the middle of nowhere to be away from people.
Overall I don't know if I would say Pittsburgh is super racist (especially after visiting Japan where racism is so out in the open). OP don't let one moron dictate the vibe of the entire city.
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Originally Posted by fleetiebelle
I think that was just a reaction to the explanation that no one from Pittsburgh ever leaves Pittsburgh so obviously they wouldn't know what to make of an "ethnic" person in their midst. Pittsburgh isn't perfect, but the entire populace isn't made up of slack-jawed yokels, either.
Exactly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana
I have refrained from participating in this discussion b/c I haven't lived in Pittsburgh for ages.
Certainly when I lived there, there was plenty of racism to be seen. One did not have to go hunting for it.
That's irrelevant. We're talking about Pittsburgh today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sparrowmint
Granted, I don't know them all, but I know several Google employees who are transplants. They're the least likely people in the entire city to be prejudiced against Hispanics or anyone else. All very happy people who love life and have nothing to complain about anything (except other tech companies like Apple - Google employees are cult-like about their own products - they'll go out of their way to tell you what Google product you should be using instead of ________). Culturally, they're all very good people, and they reject negativity and cynicism. The types who hate Hispanics in California are not typically young, highly-educated tech nerds.
That's good to know about Google employees. It was a bad way of saying I know way more Californians are hating on Hispanics more than Pittsburghers. Uptown shared that Pittsburgh blacks don't have the traditional rift with Hispanics that exist other places because Pittsburgh blacks haven't been in conflict with them here. That really applies to most native Pittsburghers too. I personally can't relate to the hatred many in the southwestern states have towards Hispanics. When I hear about it on the news, read about it in a newspaper, or read people posting negative stuff here in other forums, I'm perplexed because they sound so full of hate.
Well, in all fairness, Katiana, the young blacks don't exactly treat the elderly Pittsburghers well. I personally know two elderly people--a man and a women, both in their 70s--who were attacked by young blacks. The man was jumped on the way to his car and mugged, the women, robbed on the way home one afternoon. The woman in particular sustained pretty severe injuries and is still very fearful.
So this is a reason to assume that ALL "young blacks" act like this?
So this is a reason to assume that ALL "young blacks" act like this?
No, they don't all act like this. That's a generalization, and as such, it doesn't hold true. However, this is probably the reason why many elderly Pittsburghers are a bit fearful.
Well, in all fairness, Katiana, the young blacks don't exactly treat the elderly Pittsburghers well. I personally know two elderly people--a man and a women, both in their 70s--who were attacked by young blacks. The man was jumped on the way to his car and mugged, the women, robbed on the way home one afternoon. The woman in particular sustained pretty severe injuries and is still very fearful.
I know her...well similar story given to me when she explained her rational for hating all blacks....but when asked if she would have hated all whites if she had been jumped by a white guy ...I just got a blank stare with a quick change of subject. These are the folks who fought hard to keep blacks from joining unions here...way before being jumped.
I know her...well similar story given to me when she explained her rational for hating all blacks....but when asked if she would have hated all whites if she had been jumped by a white guy ...I just got a blank stare with a quick change of subject. These are the folks who fought hard to keep blacks from joining unions here...way before being jumped.
Yes, haven't you learned by now. Only white people get to be individuals, and when a white individual does a bad thing, it is only a reflection on them as a person. None of the rest of us white people bear responsibility for them. When individual Blacks, Arabs, Hispanics, and other maligned groups do something wrong, it's a reflection on them as a group.
That's good to know about Google employees. It was a bad way of saying I know way more Californians are hating on Hispanics more than Pittsburghers. Uptown shared that Pittsburgh blacks don't have the traditional rift with Hispanics that exist other places because Pittsburgh blacks haven't been in conflict with them here. That really applies to most native Pittsburghers too. I personally can't relate to the hatred many in the southwestern states have towards Hispanics. When I hear about it on the news, read about it in a newspaper, or read people posting negative stuff here in other forums, I'm perplexed because they sound so full of hate.
Oh sure, there's a fair bit of hostility towards Hispanics in the west and in other areas where they are in high numbers. It's the "they're taking our jobs and/or using welfare/benefits" mentality, treating all Hispanics as illegal immigrants. This attitude isn't common here because Hispanics aren't as common here. If they ever grow in population, you'll see a lot more of it. Fears over immigrants is a pretty universal response from many people, not just in the United States. Where I'm from, rather than Hispanics, you'll hear the "they're taking our jobs and benefits" about Africans and Middle Easterners instead. I've heard it a bit about the Hispanics and Caribbean people temporarily brought in to work the orchards and berry farms in the summer as well, eventhough the owners of those types of places tried for years to get teenagers etc to work those jobs, and no one would take them.
I, too, lived in the South for a number of years (over a decade), and I have to tell you, you're wrong. In reality, most people who fly the Confederate flag or who have Confederate plates on their vehicles are not racists; to the contrary, these very normal individuals are merely displaying their "redneck" or "rebel" identity, or they're proud of the fact that their great-great-great grandfathers fought in the Civil War (or, as they call it, "the War Between the States"). To broad-brush all of these people as vile, mean-spirited racists is profoundly ignorant. To compare the Confederate flag, a symbol of Southern heritage and redneck/rebel identity, with the Swastika or any other symbol of true hate is absurd.
Not racist relative to what? Klan members? Your comment about "vile, mean spirited racists" is exactly what I'm talking about because you're assuming that to be racist one must be militant which is absolutely not true. Most of the people who sport the confederate flag aren't the kind of people to burn crosses or actively oppress minorities, but they are the kind of people who would take issue with their kids fraternizing or having relationships with anyone of a different skin color.
Living there is different from having family/being from there. Your social circles are wider and you see a different side of people who show more of their personality when they assume that they're among like minded company.
The "war between the states" is indicative of the "Gone with the Wind" version of history that they were taught from day one. The term was only adopted after Reconstruction when southern democrats retook control of southern governments, disenfranchising freed slaves of many of the rights that they had earned for the next 100 years.
The meaning of the rebel flag has morphed over time, assigning it an immutable racial significance is just historically inaccurate.
I don't think that CBS was making a racial statement with its General Lee sportscar on "Dukes of Hazzard" in the 1980's, and IMO, neither was Skynard in the 197s's.
Pictures of the Ku Klux Klan's march on Washington back in 1925 show the marchers displaying tens of thousands Stars and Stripes, no confederate flag can be seen.
You're right, just as the "N" word has come to symbolize something other than a racial slur when whites use it, and the swastika reverted to is Christian connotations after WW2.
Whites in Ohio, Butler County PA, or even Canada are adopting it because they have "southern pride"
Last edited by Q-tip motha; 08-11-2013 at 11:45 AM..
Traditional Pittsburghers are not bad people, and they're most definitely not racist. I wish people would stop with that nonsense. I talk to elderly Pittsburghers--people who are 70, 80, 90 years old--very often, and they're some of the nicest people you'll ever meet, particularly the ladies. Elderly Caucasian Pittsburghers, those oftentimes labeled "Yinzers," are seldom racist, and are very friendly. I'm gay, and I've yet to have a problem with one.
The younger (as a young person myself, I hate to say this), supposedly more tolerant, left-leaning Pittsburghers are the ones you're most likely to have issues with, racial or otherwise.
It's a complicated issue, because the currents of "talking racist" and "acting racist" often cut against each other.
For example, take a stereotypical working-class yinzer. They might make ignorant comments about "the blacks," or even drop the N word in conversation. But at the same time they're pretty likely these days to have biracial children or grandchildren. Even if not, they may work with black people, have black friends, and send their children to mixed-race public schools.
On the other hand the stereotypical upper-middle class East Ender would decry much of what the yinzer says as "racist." However, the East Ender is more likely to live in a socially segregated world which doesn't touch on the lives of black people whatsoever. They be more unlikely to have black friends, date black people, and probably send their kids to a private school which is disproportionately white.
To a large degree, I think people in the latter group are "not racist" because they seek the approval of their own (overwhelmingly white) peer group, not out of any real understanding of the lived experiences of people of color in the U.S. So the sort of racist talk which would cause dismay within the circle is scorned, but inadvertent segregation isn't something which touches your daily life, so it isn't reflected upon.
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