Racism in St. Louis (University City, Maryland Heights: wedding reception, schools, young professionals)

[arthurdietrich]

Originally Posted by May Garsson

Great post jay33. I work and play in Oakland Ca and love the diversity and acceptance of diff cultures. BUT its too damn expensive so am thinking of relocating to SL. The real estate in SL is unreal cheap. But racism is not for me nor is an overchurchified society. Your post helped me see what's underneath the look good storybook houses without having to come and sniff it out myself. by the way I'm white.

Oh my. You're going to base whether you check out STL on an internet post? That internet post?

[stlcitygirl]

Originally Posted by May Garsson

Great post jay33. I work and play in Oakland Ca and love the diversity and acceptance of diff cultures. BUT its too damn expensive so am thinking of relocating to SL. The real estate in SL is unreal cheap. But racism is not for me nor is an overchurchified society. Your post helped me see what's underneath the look good storybook houses without having to come and sniff it out myself. by the way I'm white.

Don't even have the energy...

[kshe95girl]

May Garsson....... thanks.......your post made me throw up just a little bit in my mouth..... we need people like you in STL like a fish needs a bicycle

[STLMetro]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

You don't have to venture far outside the StL city / county limits to find the guns, god and glory attitudes of the bible belt.

Same with LA and California...

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by STLMetro

Same with LA and California...

Outside of CA you have Nevada and Arizona. Still the wild west. Especially Arizona.
But even there it is a more livertarian approach: Do what you want as long as you don't raise my taxes.

I will admit that Orange County has its fair share of mega churches, and is the home of some of the more notorious white supremacist movements. But these groups do not have as much of an influence on the overall culture of area as I see here.

They represent a much smaller percentage of the overall population.

[Azalea City Man]

Even with that, I love me some Arizona .

[Marksman84]

Originally Posted by goat314

Depending where you live St. Louis is far from being a "overchurchified" community. There is a heavy Catholic component here, but definitely not the bible belt. As far as racism, no more racist than any other Midwestern major city. This is coming from a liberal, black guy in his 20s.

I'm 50/50 on this.

I concur with STL not being a "Bible Belt" city: I do emphasize city, as South County is where one starts seeing the Pro-Life Billboards (in close proximity to the Casino billboards, ironically). St. Louis is more religiously tolerant than its rep dictates.

However, I disagree with the "no more racist than any other Midwestern major city." My wife and I have spent time in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Des Moines, and as a mixed-race couple with a 7-year-old, St. Louis has been the most unpleasant city from that standpoint, with Des Moines as a close second. Now, before the City Anti-Defamation League freaks, this is mostly attributable to parts of the County and outlying areas. Usually it's just dirty looks from low-class members of either race (which we really don't care about, because these samples are generally unable to even complete a sentence with a subject and predicate), but on occasion we have heard the extremely inappropirate racist comment that has escalated into an unpleasant situation. I don't care what anyone says about me, but if they crack on my wife or daugther, I politely remind them that I have four marksmanship awards and a CCP .

We chose Creve Coeur/Maryland Heights because it's fairly diverse, populated by fellow educated professionals, and is close enough to our favorite City hangouts.

[imperialmog]

Originally Posted by Marksman84

I'm 50/50 on this.

I concur with STL not being a "Bible Belt" city: I do emphasize city, as South County is where one starts seeing the Pro-Life Billboards (in close proximity to the Casino billboards, ironically). St. Louis is more religiously tolerant than its rep dictates.

However, I disagree with the "no more racist than any other Midwestern major city." My wife and I have spent time in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Des Moines, and as a mixed-race couple with a 7-year-old, St. Louis has been the most unpleasant city from that standpoint, with Des Moines as a close second. Now, before the City Anti-Defamation League freaks, this is mostly attributable to parts of the County and outlying areas. Usually it's just dirty looks from low-class members of either race (which we really don't care about, because these samples are generally unable to even complete a sentence with a subject and predicate), but on occasion we have heard the extremely inappropirate racist comment that has escalated into an unpleasant situation. I don't care what anyone says about me, but if they crack on my wife or daugther, I politely remind them that I have four marksmanship awards and a CCP .

We chose Creve Coeur/Maryland Heights because it's fairly diverse, populated by fellow educated professionals, and is close enough to our favorite City hangouts.

In terms of Bible Belt, that has a definition of Evangelical Protestantism so the St. Louis area fails on the definiton. Though the stregnth of Catholicism is a rather unique aspect that is hard to find in any other place, but compared to the Bible Belt even conservative Catholics would be considered moderates there due to not interpreting the Bible literally and its consequences. People might be devout but still tolerant of others.

In terms of race, consider it was the only large Midwest city that also had Jim Crow laws on the books so the area got hobbled by the worst parts in terms of race of both North and South. Also a lot of the race issues now are mixed in with class as well.

[DinsdalePirahna]

I think the key words are "low-class"

Although I have met a few educated and mid-upper "class" people (and not just in this area) that are just outright bigots.

[OC Investor2]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

Outside of CA you have Nevada and Arizona. Still the wild west. Especially Arizona.
But even there it is a more livertarian approach: Do what you want as long as you don't raise my taxes.

I will admit that Orange County has its fair share of mega churches, and is the home of some of the more notorious white supremacist movements. But these groups do not have as much of an influence on the overall culture of area as I see here.

They represent a much smaller percentage of the overall population.

Actually all you have to do in LA/OC is go to the inland empire in riverside/ San Bernadino county to feel like you are in the rural south or midwest. Lots of Okies and Southerners came to CA during the depression (think Grapes of Wrath) and brought their rural/ southern/ religous values with them. Those values, attitude and culture are still prevalent today in the IE.

OC has always been knocked as being rich, white and a bit racist and people, particularly Angeleno's, love to point to some of the isolated white supremicist incidents as an indictment of the county. The reality is OC is one of the most truly diverse counties in America with large East Asian, South Asian and hispanic populations.

Just ask the 4 skinheads who jumped & stabbed a mexican guy in Huntington Beach. By the time the cops showed up his hispanic neighbors had put a beat down on them. So not only are the skinheads going to jail for assault & hate crimes, they got their butts kicked too.

Back to STL: What are the more diverse/cosmopolitan parts of St. Louis county? Any suburbs that are known for a particularly positive racial climate?