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Hello,
My husband and myself are thinking of moving to the Greenbrier area, WV from California for a job ( white sulphur springs) and are wondering how well we would be received, considering that I am black/white and my husband is white. We have three children and one of them, our little girl, has Down syndrome. I am a translator and my husband is a Chef. To us a few things need to be considered before we accept the job:
1) how well are interracial families accepted nowadays in this area and West Virginia in general ?
2)Would living in Virginia and working in WV better?
3) how is the education?. we were raised in France where education is very complete.
4)How well are people/kids with disabilities accepted ?
If anyone has a few ideas, I would greatly appreciate it.
I've read a lot of threads about the notion of racism in West Virginia, however the opinions are extremely varied and I could not get a straight idea. I did not know if in our case Virginia,around Roanoke, Covington would be better for us. I have also heard about Lewisburg.
Thanks !
You did not mention 'What race you would be representing...
It won't matter...there shouldn't be any problem unless you are 'hailing from a prior legislative group....there seems to be a lot of prejudice against lawyers and elected officials...at least in my neighborhoods...
I expect there are thousands of caucasian/negroid couples here...we have many indians..what we are lacking is Pacific Islanders and Eskimos...I think they stay away because the snowfall is either too great or to small.
Racism exists with the ignorant where ever a person goes...not as bad as Hawaii...so that's a plus.
Let me say that The Greenbriar is a world class neighborhood...let him add it to the great places that he will work...If you visited the mountains of europe, you will feel a little bit at home...just order a few WVU ball caps and start working on your new dialect.
Thank you so much for these reassuring words... I do agree with you and that you will find ignorance and therefore racism virtually wherever you go. Unfortunately some places more than others. It also depends on how you present yourself and how you treat others. Our family is very laid back and we try not to judge anyone,so generally speaking we have no trouble whatsoever when we go places. We were raised that way.
As far as race goes, I am white ( French) and indian( India) and my husband is Irish/Scottish and part Cherokee, so quite a mix and we love it !. We were both raised in Europe and have traveled many places . We settled down in Southern California, where people are mixed and you will also experience racism occasionally from all races and nationalities, just like you said, vastly due to ignorance and sometimes lack of "brains" ...
yes, I have heard that the Greenbriar area was beautiful and that Lewisburg for example was a very hip and lively little town...
Thank you again for your message,as it was very interesting,just like your other blogs that I've read.
....and, thus, my disdain for pop culture is intensified.
It's not 1943 and the most popular man in the state, bar none, is a black fellow named Pat White. I think it'll be fine.
I'm married to a Jew and am yet to be dragged into the center of town and be put into the stocks. When I, a 6th (I think..) Generation Scots-Irish hilljack, was raised from age 7 in the hills of West Virginia by a black stepfather.....nobody really seemed to care. I was just a kid with a black stepdaddy. Nobody gave us weird looks at Burger King.
But level here with us for a second...you should understand what it's like for us. Even though WV was the only territory during the Civil War to specifically secede from the Confederacy and join the Union...we still get the stigma of backwardness moreso than any other state.
Recently, this election cycle angered us even more. The media took it upon themselves to ride the countryside during the WV primary in search of racists to portray the state in an ultrasensationalist light. They've done it for centuries. They find one yolkel to say some racist epithet about Obama and the media portrays the entire state as racist.
To be blunt - what annoys us more than anything is the popular insistence that the state is racist. It's a kind of ironic reverse prejudice that the rest of the country doesn't seem to get. I beg you...don't go around telling people how you were afraid of the typical West Virginian racist. That'll **** off everyone in town faster than you could imagine. It's as bad as accusing us of any other hillbilly stereotype such as propensity towards incest or being too backwards to have electricity. With the internet, popular culture, and easier transportation, the incidence of xenophobic fear against blacks is as nullified as anywhere else in the country.
So, no, in my opinion you won't have any trouble. You might find the occasional ignorant fool....but you get that everywhere.
Sorry for the potentially unwanted rant....
Oh, and children with disabilities aren't treated any differently than anywhere else, too.
Last edited by WVUPharm2007; 08-24-2008 at 06:35 PM..
Thanks for the all the responses. WVUPHARM2007,your response was very enlightening and...passionate !. I am aware that it is 2008 and that the world has changed quite a bit since the burning crosses, I am also aware of what image the media as well as the internet is portraying of west Virginia, which i find deplorable. That was the whole purpose of my enquiry,to find out what you guys thought. because you are the true voice of reason, and not some politically driven medias... Do not get me started on the Obama thing, it is completely ridiculous and so frustrating to read all the moronics things they say about the black and white stuff...My enquiry had nothing to do with the Obama's campaign in West Virginia, but rather more about what I had read and heard in general. Being from France for example, I have heard some strange and completely untrue statements made about that country, things that ,just like you I always make a point of rectifying...As far as kids with disabilities,what i meant was how well will my little girl be intergrated in the education system, as in some areas (some towns near us for example), the programs are not that great, and some are really advanced in other areas : sorry what i wrote sounded otherwise...
Anyway, I truly apreciate everyone's opinions on this, the fun ones, and the passionate ones too..
I'm still new here, but this is my sense of it: Coming to north central WV from socal , I noticed a lot of interracial couples, and another thing I noticed is that in stores and public places, black and white actually talk to each other like neighbors. In Ca. they share common space but ignore each other.
. . I am also aware of what image the media as well as the internet is portraying of west Virginia, which i find deplorable.
I've read a lot smears about West Virginia in the tone a preacher takes warning the congregation about the ways to Hell, "Remember Deliverance! That's in West Virginia!"
So there it is, West Virginia isn't "almost heaven" after all.
Actually, the movie Deliverance was about north Georgia, and if one of these fire breathers would ever look on a map, they could easily see we are seperated by at least 2 States from the sodomites. Since you mentioned cross burning, I believe that's a tradition of the sodomite State again (see link below), so maybe people really should be warned, "Remember Deliverance!"
I have seen crosses in West Virginia, grouped in 3's by the roadside representing calgary. Often in 2's, in backyards with ropes tied between them to hang laundry from. Either way, none burning.
Now as much fun as it sounds I can't go around calling everyone sodomites, but East Virginia had a case go all the way to the US Supreme Court because apparently some folks can't see this practice as a perfectly good waste of crosses. How are people supposed to dry laundry?
Arkansas burns em', Florida too, Alabama, South and North Carolina. The harder I look, the more I find them . . Kentucky has a mind of its own, but Washington, California and Wisconsin? Wait a minute, isn't this supposed to be a "southern" thing? I guess it should'nt surprise me because I've heard country music in New York City. But have people burned crosses in West Virginia? Probably. More likely, what you will find is people "alluding to" West Virginia burning them, "alluding to" West Virginia being the most racist State in the country, etc.
We're #1 whoo hoo!
Like most things of this nature, these are conversations that don't always concern facts.
In a previous post I mentioned the 'White Boy Riots in Ireland in the early part of the 1700's...those mobs did their house burnings dressed in white robes...and I'm sure this was remembered with the Klan. Almost a carbon copy of the insurrection this country experienced during 'Reconstruction, but driven by religion and political oppression.
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