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Any comments on diversity in Asheville? I have never been to the Western Carolina area and have only heard negative things from others. Please provide honest feedback on racism/diversity.
What diverse means to me, may not be your def of 'diverse'...
Rather than any of us posting a few anecdotes or quick opins to your vague question, (esp the "negative things" phrase), why not hit the Search This Forum Tab, on western NC, plug in 'diversity', and read some threads from the crowd...
The writing style of the OP isn't typical of someone actually seeking information. Definitely, ones across as disingenuous. I don't think we will hear from this person again.
I agree. The thought crosses my mind that these types of posts are written by certain individuals with some sort of vested interest in City-Data to present potentially controversial memes in order to increase web traffic to their site. Who knows. Not that I really care. Just seems kind of phony. I mean think about it; 6 posts and a reputation of 10. Seems kind of contrived.
First of all, I am a human being. Wow. Didn't think my "forum" way of typing would set off conspiracies. LOL! The reason I only have 6 post is because my first post, a month or so ago, was my first post. My ONLY reason for using this forum is to read different opinions. I am currently in the military so move around a lot. Being that I do have a family, I thought this would be a great way to find out more about potential places we may move to. Relax everyone. I don't even know what my "reputation of 10" means.
I'm a longtime City-Data poster, resident of Durham, with a summer place in Yancey Co. Before addressing your question, I want to address the fundamental bias of CD in general, and the WNC board in particular.
This is, in and of itself, not a diverse board. It skews white, upper middle class, and moderately conservative, IMO. When you ask questions about diversity here, you will get answers that imply everything from a belief in reverse racism to simmering political beliefs about why race shouldn't matter, so why are you asking, anyway. My guess is it has something to do with the fact that WNC is disproportionately white, and since vacation homes aren't cheap, also higher SES, which correlates highly with conservatism. (My wife and I are economically very fortunate, but also in our late 30s and liberal, so my perspective may be a wee bit different here.). There was a thread recently from an African-American woman seeking perspectives on being black in AVL, and I believe the first response was that she should stop referring to herself by race. Sigh...
In any case, to your question. In the mountain areas surrounding AVL, you'll find typically white communities with few Latino or black residents. I haven't seen enough interactions in Yancey to have any negativel sense of race, but really, the homogeneity of this community makes it hard to make any assessment on race - for instance, I've yet to see an interracial couple at the local supermarket. In my experience in other places, rural, white communities tend not to be the most welcoming of diversity. Yancey has the reputation of having the highest per-capita concentration of working artists in the US, per its own press, yet I've never seen many signs of diversity among the arts community.
Inside Asheville itself, I think you'll find the city itself to be one of the most progressive in NC. On race, with a 13% Af-Am population, Asheville is less diverse than the urban Piedmont or the largely-black agricultural NE counties! but the city prides itself on being tolerant and open. Downtown and some of the urban neighborhoods are very welcoming on sexual and racial diversity terms.
You will have a hard time finding perspectives on diversity on this board - and take what I'm saying with a grain if salt, as a white male, FWIW.
I agree with Bull City. People confuse diverse with creative and tolerant.
Is Asheville tolerant? Yes. Are the surroundings beautiful? Yes. But is it diverse, when it comes to racial and ethnic makeup? I’ve lived in five areas in my adult life for a year or more, and Asheville is the least diverse of that group by far. The numbers on the city-data site will bear that out.
My normal answer to people who claim Asheville is diverse is that we have people that are fat, thin, athletic, normally-proportioned, tall, short, medium height, smart, dumb, average intelligence, fast, gay, straight, both, neither, slow, regular speed, happy, unhappy, liberal, conservative, politically independent, temperamental, even-tempered, logical, emotional, religious, atheists, agnostics, sun worshippers, rich, poor, white collar, blue collar, active, inactive, old, young, and middle-age. The one thing nearly all have in common, including me, is they are white.
Asheville is a lot of things, but diverse is no especially on the list. That is a rumor promoted by the City PR folks.
Yancey has the reputation of having the highest per-capita concentration of working artists in the US, per its own press, yet I've never seen many signs of diversity among the arts community.
Those who have internalized the meme that 'diversity' is defined by skin color and ethnicity (rather than ideas and culture) strike me as being like those who embraced post WWII materialism. Both groups are vapid and shallow.
It took a liberal to try to give this thread some relevance, but it has none because diversity is more than skin deep. In fact, diversity has nothing to do with skin color except to very shallow minds.
FWIW, the OP posted in a Seattle-based thread (a very liberal area) wondering how he would fare as a gun-toting conservative; and posted here (the conservative south) about 'diversity' (a sacred liberal touchstone). Seem strange? Anyone who has done a scintilla of research about Asheville would know that it is a diverse city.
There was a thread recently from an African-American woman seeking perspectives on being black in AVL, and I believe the first response was that she should stop referring to herself by race. Sigh...
The woman you're referring to was openly obsessed with skin color, and was put in her place with a Martin Luther King quote that expressed his dream of a world in which persons are not judged by their skin color.
[quote=motordavid;34706291]What diverse means to me, may not be your def of 'diverse'...
Motordavid right the word diverse covers alot of ground it. Maybe posters should be asked in what context racial, ethnic, religious, age, educationally, politically before answering. It is a valid question for someone who is unfamilar with an area to ask. Yes, you can look up the statistics but getting a people feel is most helpful. Asheville is diverse in many ways but racially, ethnically not so much.
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