race relations in the upstate (Greenville: restaurants, food, culture)

[GoPadge]

I'm white and grew up in the Carolinas (Greenville, NC; Rock Hill, Florence and Columbia), graduated high school in Columbia, attended Clemson for 5 years. I left when I joined the Navy in '93 and returned in '99. From there I lived in Lexington, but traveled throughout NC, SC, and GA as a part of my work.

(I left again in '04 for Texas, but that's a different story.)

In all my time in SC I have seen the cultural attitudes toward blacks (that was the polite term when I was growing up,) change over those years. When I was younger, I can recall people using much less polite terms, but for the most part those attitudes have changed. (Or I've gotten much wiser about who I hang around.)

In early '04 we were considering moving from Redbank (rural Lexington county) back into Columbia. One of the areas we seriously considered was the Waverly Historic District, a predominantly African-American neighborhood. (And one of the first suburbs of Columbia.) Educationally the schools were not as good as some of the others in town, but we were planing to home school at that point anyway.

My point being, that I felt, and have always felt comfortable being around most African-Americans, much as I've always felt comfortable being around most whites. Yes, there are some people who would makes comments about you and/or your spouse not "being true to your race". But you'll hear that from both sides of the isle, as you wonder through Wal-mart, (but that's also a different story.)

[Houndofgrey]

My brother has lived in Greenville for nearly 20 years. He has never mentioned any difficult race relations in all that time. Meanwhile, here in Connecticut, I (Caucasian) have witnessed plenty of racism. Usually whispered by the most ardent promoters of diversity and tolerance.

As an old man I can assure you there are idiots everywhere. North or South.

I also know that the politically correct preachers of tolerance and diversity are the most intolerant and monolithically thinking people I've ever known.

Soon my wife and I will move to SC. To escape the weather, yes. To escape the enormous taxes, true. But also to escape the stifling political correctness and collectivist thinking that have turned the Northeast into a replica of East Germany circa 1960.

When I get there the race and origin of my neighbors will not be important. For the people I've already met in SC it has not been important either.

Much has changed in the past 60 years.

[carolinajack]

Houndofgrey, I totally agree with you as I was born and raised in SC, Fl, MS and Texas and experienced very little in the way of racism(some but not what people normally think) but in New England(Rhode Island, Massachusetts, upstate New York and Ct and here in Pennsylvania and New Jersey) ive experienced quite a lot of both Covert and Overt racism.

so it can be found in SC yes, i am not going to lie about that, but you will experience it just as much in the Northeastern US

[kenniwil]

I don't know if this post if still being monitored but I wanted to add a little of my 2 cents. I also am considering moving to Greenville, SC, I have done alot of research, Greenville has been identified as the "Jewel of the South" and one of the best small cities in America and I very, very excited about the city and all it has to offer. However, in the back of my mind even as I am reading and looking at all of the wonderful pictures of Greenville, the Downtown area, the parks, part of me wonders if that huge "sell" is aimed at me. I am African-American and I am not from the South and I am a little ashamed to admit that when I was growing up, we were told that the South was the most back-asswards and barbaric place on earth and we had pictures to prove it. I think what people dont understand is when you are not from the South, you really do not know what to expect sometimes. We all know there are places in the South where attitudes will never change, but you dont know where those places are and you just dont want to put yourself or your family through an ordeal.

For those of us who grew up outside the South, the South is still in kind of a time warp for us, we grew up knowing it was a place you were never, ever welcome and while blacks and whites who are from the South, you can tell what has changed and what remains the same, where you are comfortable and what is tolerable and what is not, but if you were not here for the change, you just dont know.

My family was from Oregon also, my grandmother was born in Utah and spent her formative years in Portland and West Linn before moving to California, she went to a school that was always integrated as did my mother. All of my uncles are in their 70's and have always been interacially married and I grew up thinking everyone's family looked pretty much like mine, race was never an issue mentioned by anyone in our family, not my White or Japanese or Italian aunts, uncles and cousins, I really never had pause to think a thing about it until I moved South. My grandmother was born in 1916, when she was coming up, there were no people being beaten in the streets, having water hoses turned on them, being spat at and on just for breathing the same air, there were no seperate faucets, toilets, there was no sense that if white folks lost their birthright to the possibility of slave ownership, and complete dominance over other men, they would somehow never attain the status in life they were so hell bent on preserving.... you just dont have the same history in alot of places that you have in the south.

Those southern images and thoughts are embedded in your mind forever, especially when it sometimes feels as if those same tensions are right at the surface and both groups, black and white in the south and they seem to be waiting for each other to just step the wrong way, or say the wrong thing so that all the old hatred is allowed to breath once more.

I had an experience shortly after moving to NC where I was accused of taking a co-workers picture of Robert Lee off the wall..every one knew he'd done it himself, it was a tactic he used to stir controversy...at the time...not really making the "History" connection, I had no clue who he was talking about, I thought Robert Lee was head of a rock band and I told him I could care less what rock star he had on his wall.. He looked at me like I was insane...I returned the look.

I hope my experience in Greenville, SC will be a good one and I hope that no one will make assumptions about who I am because of the color of my skin and I will do the same. For all you southerners, black and white, not everyone outside the south shares your views, your issues...quite Frankly..Scarlett & Rhett..we just don't give a damn.

[kmalone4]

I can defiantely relate to where Portlandfamily is coming from. I'm moving to Summerville in early '07, and I was a little worried about the race issue. I didn't worry just because Summerville is in the south, but I would worry about that issue no matter where would move to. I've been blessed to have lived in many types of neighborhoods~ some predominately black, others mostly white and one that has a little of everyone in it (my personal favorite). It is a very important issue to me because I want my son (who just turned two) to go to a good school where he is comfortable. I know what it feels like to be the only black kid in class. It wasn't a terrible situation by any stretch of the imagination~ but it would have been nice to see someone who looked like me once in a while.
I commend you for looking out for your family in such a way. That is one of the first things I looked into when I decided to move to Summerville. I agree that racism is everywhere, and blacks as well as whites can be prejudiced. I think Portlandfamily is just trying to find a good fit, and this falls in one of the many categories of issues they are weighing before they make their move. I've asked similar questions on another thread, and would never want to offend anyone. I think they just may have been looking for a good "fit".

[dmjam]

R u guys for real?

[Skyliner]

You do realize that this discussion was finished well over a year ago, right?

[southernmeltdown]

you now what s.c folks hates the worst?not blacks,not aisians,not even latino's they hate someone who moves here and immediantly tries to change everything like they had back home ....come here adapt make friends and you will have no problems....wanna tick off a southerner ??? say this ...we did it back home this way why can't you guys adapt....

[guestposter24]

Originally Posted by southernmeltdown

you now what s.c folks hates the worst?not blacks,not aisians,not even latino's they hate someone who moves here and immediantly tries to change everything like they had back home ....come here adapt make friends and you will have no problems....wanna tick off a southerner ??? say this ...we did it back home this way why can't you guys adapt....

And there you go... I have a problem with that, not skin color.

I'll put it this way:I heard the N-word more than once at school last year and some comments about people needing to "stick to their own kind". I have heard racist comments (including the n-word) from a few friends' parents.

I really think black and white Southerners have things in common culturally. Same foods, family reunions, etc. Although, politically the two races usually differ.

[Greenville]

Originally Posted by guestposter24

And there you go... I have a problem with that, not skin color.

I'll put it this way:I heard the N-word more than once at school last year and some comments about people needing to "stick to their own kind". I have heard racist comments (including the n-word) from a few friends' parents.

I really think black and white Southerners have things in common culturally. Same foods, family reunions, etc. Although, politically the two races usually differ.

So because someone is from the South, they automatically eat the same food as everyone else in the South and have family reunions like everyone in the South? Wow, talk about stereotyping!