Upstate NY to STL? (St. Louis, Jennings: living, move, racist)

[LeavingNY2011]

Originally Posted by muman

BTW, you missed the 'burbs in KC? I'm not sure how they could be missed. Even if you fly in, you go through 15 minutes of suburbs in the north before you get down to the city proper, and almost all of Johnson County, Kansas is very typical suburbia.

I flew into KC airport, got taken to the Argosy, and spent one day driving around, mostly in search of champagne. We did drive to downtown KC, which I have to say was very, very pretty. We didn't do much exploring in the neighborhoods, my tour guide showed me 3 of the biggest churches I have ever seen, and down a few side streets off the highways. Maybe my burbs in upstate are different, idk!?

[ktCakes]

Originally Posted by LeavingNY2011

But-and a big but here: Is racism really an issue? My son is bi-racial, which around here is no big deal, we get the occasional sideways glance, but I certainly don't want to pick up and move somewhere where it is a significant issue. I am heading to STL in the Spring to check it out, and tour some of the suburbs.

It will be interesting to see what this year's census data tells us. According to the 2000 census, St. Louis is the number 4 most segregated city in America. (Though according to some studies we are number 13) Up there with Milwaukee, Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland etc.
CensusScope -- Segregation: Dissimilarity Indices

That being said, what I have noticed as far as experiencing personal racism is all about classism. Yes, the historical segregation of a northern city in a slave state has led to an oppression of a great deal of the black population into poverty leading to a vicious cycle of poor education, poor opportunity. But, as far as encountering racist attitudes against your person, it comes down to class. If you are dressed nicely and professionally, you will be fine. If you dress in the stereotype of the "gansta" then you will have people lock their car doors as you walk by.

As to how the African-American population will respond to your son, I cannot answer. But, again I think it falls along the same lines of ignorance and education.

[LeavingNY2011]

Originally Posted by ktCakes

It will be interesting to see what this year's census data tells us. According to the 2000 census, St. Louis is the number 4 most segregated city in America. (Though according to some studies we are number 13) Up there with Milwaukee, Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland etc.
CensusScope -- Segregation: Dissimilarity Indices

That being said, what I have noticed as far as experiencing personal racism is all about classism. Yes, the historical segregation of a northern city in a slave state has led to an oppression of a great deal of the black population into poverty leading to a vicious cycle of poor education, poor opportunity. But, as far as encountering racist attitudes against your person, it comes down to class. If you are dressed nicely and professionally, you will be fine. If you dress in the stereotype of the "gansta" then you will have people lock their car doors as you walk by.

As to how the African-American population will respond to your son, I cannot answer. But, again I think it falls along the same lines of ignorance and education.

I appreciate the honesty. We are a somewhat typical middle-class duo. I work in non-profit as an accountant, and my son, well...he's a nondescript 4 year old. Obviously, the problems exist everywhere, but if it's a rampant problem, nice to know ahead of time!

I also wonder if there are any other parents of bi-racial children who visit this board what their impression is..I am white, and I would hope it doesn't matter, but when we went down south to visit friends, it clearly rubbed people the wrong way to see a white woman with a bi-racial son.

[stlcitygirl]

^
I cannot speak for the outer suburbs. The city and innerburbs (Richmond Heights, University City, Maplewood, Brentwood) are very diverse and you would be fine. I also think you would be just fine in Webster Groves, Kirkwood and Glendale. Marksman84 can probably help you on the Creve Couer area.

[moorlander]

if both of you two are white with a bi racial son I can't imagine that being an issue but I can't speak from experience. Missouri is definately not THE SOUTH but the farther you go from the city center the more backward people can be. This is true most anywhere I would think

[ktCakes]

Originally Posted by LeavingNY2011

I appreciate the honesty. We are a somewhat typical middle-class duo. I work in non-profit as an accountant, and my son, well...he's a nondescript 4 year old. Obviously, the problems exist everywhere, but if it's a rampant problem, nice to know ahead of time!

I also wonder if there are any other parents of bi-racial children who visit this board what their impression is..I am white, and I would hope it doesn't matter, but when we went down south to visit friends, it clearly rubbed people the wrong way to see a white woman with a bi-racial son.

I honestly don't see this being an issue. Maybe occasionally it would rear its ugly head, but I see and awful lot of mixed race families around here. Of course, I live in the city so I'm not sure what you'll find so much county-wide. My only concern is for "darker" or black children in the county schools getting the poor treatment that comes with the desegregation kids that come in from the city because it is assumed that he is one and those poor kids have a lot of baggage at the county schools.

[Brickmama]

You will not have a problem with racism if you live in the city or inner ring burbs. It will be an issue in Lake STL.

[Marksman84]

Creve Coeur/Maryland Heights are cool. I'm White, my wife is Black and beautiful, our daughter is a precious blessing, and it's all good. Our neighbors are White, Jewish, Black, Hispanic and Indian (Middle Eastern). We only have one j@ckass on the block who hates everyone, and not surprisingly this person is a liberal Catholic lawyer, mad at the world. Race relations are improving in most areas of St. Louis.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by alidost

I The natives are always in denial, and when statistics come out, instead of looking inside to see what's wrong with this place they object to criteria and reports.

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So I am not the only one that noticed that.Its funny when the Forbes charts come out. If the city is ranked well, they will be the first to spread the links areound. But god forbid if their is anything negative about StL

Originally Posted by alidost

St. Louis was ranked repeatedly as the top most dangerous city since 2006 even in the 90's with SLU being one of the most dangerous campuses in the country. Do some search, you'll find it.

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St. Louis is relatively safe, Crime is pretty much confined some real crappy areas

Originally Posted by alidost

Obviously there are many good things here that can't be found elsewhere: people are friendly, many attractions are free, family oriented, and so on. But still, when compared to Dallas or Boston, it has a long way to go.

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There is enough in StL to keep you amused, But nothing that you can't find in similar sized cities

Originally Posted by LeavingNY2011

Okay- That was a lot of negativity to take in all at one time. Lake Saint Louis was rated as one of the top ten best places to live in 2009.

Lake Saint Louis is one of the nicer areas of the STL metro Area and the second safest city in MO. But to many of the locals, it is an outer edge burb way to far from the city. Its only 30 miles, but when you are a local that doesn't venture more than 5 or 10 miles from your front door, it may seem like a real haul,

Originally Posted by LeavingNY2011

But-and a big but here: Is racism really an issue? My son is bi-racial, which around here is no big deal, we get the occasional sideways glance, but I certainly don't want to pick up and move somewhere where it is a significant issue. I am heading to STL in the Spring to check it out, and tour some of the suburbs.

Its changing but still an issue and it works both ways. You really have to check the neighborhoods

[moorlander]

Originally Posted by alidost

If you don't believe the media and question criteria, go to your nearest library and do some off-line research with government data. You'll see. but then of course, you won't believe gov data either.

Ha, that's funny because I was just going to suggest you do the same. I'm sorry but YOU ARE the one who is uninformed.

The reason St. Louis City tops the crime lists every year has more to do with the fact that St. louis City did not annex the neighboring burbs than with the true crime numbers. If St. Louis had annexed neighboring burbs our crime stats would be middle of the pack.

***I'm not saying we don't have a problem with crime I just think it's important to understand the statistics and the the criteria used for the polls.