Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Closed Thread Start New Thread
 
Old 05-05-2008, 02:28 PM
 
27,537 posts, read 15,963,202 times
Reputation: 18955

Advertisements

Depends on what race you are.

 
Old 05-05-2008, 03:22 PM
 
8,978 posts, read 16,514,800 times
Reputation: 3020
Quote:
Originally Posted by hindsight2020 View Post
A lot of states get a free ride due to demographics. It is the proverbial "if a tree falls in the wood but nobody is there to hear it, did it make a sound?" argument. We live in Louisiana where racial tensions are overt and white people make colloquial use of racial derrogatives in family settings, regardless of education and income. I lived in Indiana where I met my fiancé and there is a considerably lighter density of black people in that state, therefore racial tensions are not a major signature of daily life. My fiancé noticed this difference shortly after moving here with me. The conclusion was that it's not that people are not racist in Indiana, but that they are perceived not to be by proxy, essentially because their sentiments haven't been challenged.

I will go further and suggest southern white people are generally more adept at race relations, in spite of the general use of racial derrogratives which I do not find constructive for moving ahead, than your average New Englander or Midwestern white. We've had acquaintances in Indiana straight up share privately that they'd move somewhere with our Louisiana weather in a hearbeat and forego the Indiana winter, but the opportunity cost of living in a [still] predominantly racially homogeneous place like Indiana makes it more desirable than giving it up for our better weather. And I buy every cent of that argument as genuine.

I particularly dislike places like Maine with their 98% white makeup for the purposes of the discussion at hand. How can anybody possibly argue race issues where there is NO race issue? I bet you my bottom dollar you start shaking those ol' money colonial communities up in the Pine Tree state and you'll see racial outlashes the magnitude that'd make a white Georgian blush. My best friend is a sociologist born and raised in Boston (and of Haitian ethincity) and he doesn't hold in very high regards the notion that New England in general is less racist than the South. And he and I went to college in Atlanta, so he definitively was a witness to racial difficulties in the South as a comparative point, even in the ATL.

For this reason I believe the question doesn't have an adequate control group to be answered objectively or with any kind of relevance. For whites, it's just a simple question of opportunity cost, the more homogeneous the community the less bothered they will be with "race issues", if that's of value to them. For blacks this is a little more complicated, as gravitating towards mostly black communities may not neccessary equate to no race issues, as some posters have already alluded to, the "hate whitey" syndrome may still surround them in a racially uneasy place in spite of race homogenity. For us, Lousiana offers nice weather, a lifestyle we enjoy and cost of living that suits us. We take race tensions as part of the price of living in louisiana, and when that becomes a more driving factor to our QOL (unlikely) maybe then we would seriously consider going back to freezing our asses off for 9 months to have white neighbors. TC To each their own.
I had intended not to get 'involved' on what I saw as a basically silly thread..after all, how does one even DEFINE a 'racist state'? But your post was well-written, and there's much truth in it. In the same way that Maine can't be compared to Louisiana in this regard, in many instances, we in the US are often compared to places for which there's no real comparison.

Western Europe, for example, is often cited as being more 'enlightened' than us....but is that so? And if so, is it because we're just 'primitive'?..or is it because we're trying to DO things that Europe is not? We have FAR more problems with acommodating immigrants, for example, than many places...but many places don't HAVE much immigration... so therefore, they're never 'mistreated'.

Your post points out a factor often ignored in making this sort of comparison.
 
Old 05-05-2008, 03:32 PM
 
13,624 posts, read 20,674,687 times
Reputation: 7629
Judging by the threads on this site, Hawaii wins hands down.
 
Old 05-05-2008, 04:07 PM
 
Location: Baton Rouge
794 posts, read 3,345,376 times
Reputation: 246
Having been to Utah, I can't believe that Utah is the least racist state. Maybe they aren't as open about it as say Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana but it's a very closed society over in Utah. I was very much made to feel like an outsider while in SLC.
It's hard to call an entire state racist or not because every state has areas that are completely open and others that aren't as much.
 
Old 05-05-2008, 04:30 PM
 
Location: part of the Matrix--for now!
1,031 posts, read 1,310,419 times
Reputation: 328
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scraper Enthusiast View Post
Racism is within most of mankind, as people notice the differences of different groups of people, and given that they feel most comfortable around those that look like themselves, they act accordingly. Hence racial transition.
This is simultaneously laughable and contemptible, but of no surprise coming from an American. A group of people whose social backwardness is legendary. The above comment is nothing more than a pathetic attempt at passing off sociopathological attitudes and dispositions as normal human behavior. It is--in a sense--simple cowardice.

Differences in appearance does not equal hostility, which is precisely what racism is about; hostility.
 
Old 05-05-2008, 04:31 PM
 
Location: part of the Matrix--for now!
1,031 posts, read 1,310,419 times
Reputation: 328
Amerikkka is a racist country pure and simple.
 
Old 05-05-2008, 04:55 PM
 
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,683 posts, read 41,553,646 times
Reputation: 41302
I can vouch for east Texas being racist. My mom was raised in East Texas on the border of Arkansas and she basically was compelled to join the military because she was black and no one would hire her for a quality office job.

I dont know what state AINT racist.
 
Old 05-05-2008, 04:59 PM
 
Location: Near Manito
20,170 posts, read 24,246,106 times
Reputation: 15284
Quote:
Originally Posted by macmeal View Post
I had intended not to get 'involved' on what I saw as a basically silly thread..after all, how does one even DEFINE a 'racist state'? But your post was well-written, and there's much truth in it. In the same way that Maine can't be compared to Louisiana in this regard, in many instances, we in the US are often compared to places for which there's no real comparison.

Western Europe, for example, is often cited as being more 'enlightened' than us....but is that so? And if so, is it because we're just 'primitive'?..or is it because we're trying to DO things that Europe is not? We have FAR more problems with acommodating immigrants, for example, than many places...but many places don't HAVE much immigration... so therefore, they're never 'mistreated'.

Your post points out a factor often ignored in making this sort of comparison.
Good post, especially in reference to the caution with which comparisons between the US and Europe should be undertaken. It continually surprises me how many otherwise intelligent posters eschew such caution...
 
Old 05-05-2008, 05:08 PM
 
9,408 posts, read 11,887,843 times
Reputation: 12439
I would agree with what others have said: It's going to vary based on your race, your economic status, and personal experiences. What may have been a racists place to live to one person may not have been to someone else.
 
Old 05-05-2008, 05:18 PM
 
Location: northeast US
739 posts, read 2,177,900 times
Reputation: 446
Franklin County in western Massachusetts is one of the most unexamined, knee-jerk racist areas I've ever been, even when compared to rural Texas. The towns of Greenfield, Orange, Athol, New Salem in particular.

A redneck hillbilly is a redneck hillbilly, southern drawl or northern accent, it's the same culture.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Closed Thread


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top