Why does minnesota seem so segregated?? (moving to, rated, deal)

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by MN55

There's just simply historical patterns for the way people settle. There's a reason St Louis Park is very Jewish and the NSP/Maplewood/Oakdale/WBL/Eastside corridor is very Catholic. The majority of people tend to live more or less somewhat close to where they grew up and with groups similar to them. And when people do move out, they generally move in clumps with similar demographics. Thus many blacks from the Northside are migrating out to Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. The many Catholic families from the Eastside have largely spread out to Oakdale, North Saint Paul, and White Bear. Almost all my friends growing up live in those places. People who went to Johnson largely now live in White Bear or NSP. People who went to Harding often live in Oakdale and Woodbury. Hill kids like me are spread over all those places. Rarely do eastsiders move further west in the city like I have- this area as largely dominated by Cretin and Central grads as well as non-native St Paulites.

That has been the traditional pattern. Nowadays, more African-Americans are moving to places like Savage, Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Richfield, even out to places like Plymouth. The African-American population is also growing in places such as Rochester and St. Cloud. However, I can see the correlations.

[audadvnc]

Originally Posted by MN55

And when people do move out, they generally move in clumps with similar demographics.

Reminds me of a college friend who lived in a rental property near the Groveland neighborhood some years back. His landlord (and every other homeowner on the block) sold their properties to a Catholic Church congregation who wanted to establish their own little community in the middle of St. Paul. So, not being a member of that church, he had to move. He since went on to become a rock star and a mover-and-shaker in the Buddhist music scene, so that eviction was OK in reflection.

[vincentmassey]

Originally Posted by daboywonder2002

Let me explain. It just seems like very few blacks live in the suburbs here. I live in edina and barely ever see blacks. But yet, you go downtown especially northside like broadway and its nothing but blacks. Now i understand that there are some areas where you will have majority of african americans. But im from philadelphia and even blacks live in the suburbs of philly. you'll see blacks in upper darby pa, or lansdowne, ridley park. In maryland, you dont see all the blacks living in baltimore. blacks live in suburbs of bmore too. Yet here in minnesota, its like all the african americans are on the northside and thats it

Not all suburbs of Phildelphia has black people. Look at the places in Central Bucks County or Doylestown, Upper Montgomery County, Upper Bucks County. Also, the person that make this question " why is minnesota segregated" is racist. Not all part of USA will have a lot black people

[plain and simple]

The answer is simple. The people here segregate themselves by choice. No one race or culture is doing it to another. People here tend to live and gather around others like them. There is no mysterious reason or blame to assign.

There are neighborhoods that are predominantly white, black, asian, hispanic, muslim, somalian, native american, etc., People from other cultures or races aren't prevented from moving into these areas.

[audadvnc]

Yet there are other neighborhoods where segregation doesn't apply, and are a mix of all sorts. I met a few new neighbors in my neighborhood over the weekend; an elderly white nun, an African American church lady & her son selling lemonade on the corner, a couple old blues men and their happy (but ferocious) pit bull, a Latino family working on their car, a city councilman, some home boys sauntering down the streets with their pants on the ground, a gaggle of Hmong kids on bicycles and jump ropes, lots and lots of volunteers for the city tornado cleanup.

Nowadays, you have a choice of your preferred neighborhood. If you need the security of residing in a neighborhood where everybody looks and acts like your cousins, there are plenty of places like that. If you prefer some variety in your life, you can find that too - but you may have to move into town to get it.

[Chaz7538]

Very interesting. My partner and I recently moved to Prior Lake from Atlanta. If you have ever been to Atlanta I'm sure you can imagine the culture shock. It is rare that we see another African American. We do get the looks of suprise from the neighborhood and our daughter is the only African American at her school. (We have had our challenges with that). We truly believe in diversity and it is fascinating to us that someplace could be so "white". I appreciate your comments. It has truley put some light on the subject.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by daboywonder2002

Let me explain. It just seems like very few blacks live in the suburbs here. I live in edina and barely ever see blacks. But yet, you go downtown especially northside like broadway and its nothing but blacks. Now i understand that there are some areas where you will have majority of african americans. But im from philadelphia and even blacks live in the suburbs of philly. you'll see blacks in upper darby pa, or lansdowne, ridley park. In maryland, you dont see all the blacks living in baltimore. blacks live in suburbs of bmore too. Yet here in minnesota, its like all the african americans are on the northside and thats it

It's just demographics. Minnesota doesn't have a large Black population due to our geography (far from the deep South) and that we never had a huge manufacturing base or the jobs they created, which attracted Blacks to the North like in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Gary Ind. & Pennsylvania. We just have very few Black people here, it is what it is.

What that means, is there was never really a Black middle-class created here. That leaves us with the very successful & the very unsuccessful. There are far more in the very unsuccessful category sadly & that's where you see the large concentration of poor Blacks in low income urban areas like North Mpls & Frogtown in St Paul. Also, the Black people who do move here seem to generally (not always of course) be poor and come from places like Chicago, trying to find a safer, better life. They will find employment very difficult because they're competing against a highly educated, professional demographic here in native Minnesotans. They will often end up competing with Somali, Asian and Latino immigrants, for lower skilled jobs & find it tough to get decent work. That perpetuates the cycle of living in the inner city, in mostly low income, Black neighborhoods as work is hard to find, transportation is often an issue, etc.

Blacks in Minnesota who do very well, often move to the wealthiest suburbs and a generation later, they're married White people, have mixed race children & basically assimilated into the well-off culture of those suburbs, rather than create a permanent Black enclave.

The closest thing we have to what you're talking about are suburbs like Brooklyn Park, Burnsville & Apple Valley, imo.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by Chaz7538

Very interesting. My partner and I recently moved to Prior Lake from Atlanta. If you have ever been to Atlanta I'm sure you can imagine the culture shock. It is rare that we see another African American. We do get the looks of suprise from the neighborhood and our daughter is the only African American at her school. (We have had our challenges with that). We truly believe in diversity and it is fascinating to us that someplace could be so "white". I appreciate your comments. It has truley put some light on the subject.

This is a valid thought, and I have seen similar discussions here in the past that turned ugly as people openly criticized us for being "Too White" or "Not having culture", which I realize you're not doing. That would be like me criticizing New Orleans for being "Too Black", or San Antonio for being "Too Latino" or San Francisco for being "Too Asian". This is who lives in Minnesota. We were founded by Scandinavian, German & Irish farmers. We're not a huge port city like New York, Baltimore or San Francisco. We're land locked in the Midwest, so we never had much immigration. We're far from the deep South & never had a major manufacturing base here so there was no draw for Black people to come here. That said, it's a great place. We're near the top in the nation every single year for literacy, health, education, lowest crime rate & quality of life. There is plenty to like, but I understand it's a culture shock for Black folks accustomed to seeing a lot more other Black folks around.

[mr roboto]

Plus, Prior Lake. Until 10 years ago it wasn't even a suburb. It's very much on the fringe of the metro.

[Minntoaz]

Originally Posted by Mason3000

This is a valid thought, and I have seen similar discussions here in the past that turned ugly as people openly criticized us for being "Too White" or "Not having culture", which I realize you're not doing. That would be like me criticizing New Orleans for being "Too Black", or San Antonio for being "Too Latino" or San Francisco for being "Too Asian". This is who lives in Minnesota. We were founded by Scandinavian, German & Irish farmers. We're not a huge port city like New York, Baltimore or San Francisco. We're land locked in the Midwest, so we never had much immigration. We're far from the deep South & never had a major manufacturing base here so there was no draw for Black people to come here. That said, it's a great place. We're near the top in the nation every single year for literacy, health, education, lowest crime rate & quality of life. There is plenty to like, but I understand it's a culture shock for Black folks accustomed to seeing a lot more other Black folks around.

Exactly and to add to your sound point 75% of people born in Minnesota end up here. That's a huge native population and obviously people just keep adding on to their roots... which like you stated started with Scandanavians or Irish, etc; immigrants. In addition there is a HUGE Catholic population here which in the 60's and 70's mostly did not believe in birth control so we have plenty of folks with 7+ kids from that generation. The demographics I do think will shift in the coming years but the weather aspect I believe keeps a lot of people raised in South or really anywhere else from moving to cold Minnesota.