Question about racism in Minnesota.... (Minneapolis, St. Paul: transplants, neighborhoods, live in)

[monti]

Originally Posted by Bagira

MN is WAY better than CA that whole state except for maybe san diego and san francisco can go away. The pay is above average, housing is considerably less than CA unless your in fresno or something lol. Winter is not as bad as some say it hardly even snows in the TC metro area now....compared to the 70's and 80's. Wish we where living back in Minneapolis now....suburban DC is an awful place but the job market is fantastic.

Wow, you're wrong.

Reverse every statement this man just wrote (except for the part about living in Suburban DC, I agree it's pretty bland over there)

[SouthernHospitality]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

I have learned one thing about life and racism(or racial prejudice): Every place is infected with it in one way or another. The thing that makes Minnesota unique is that Minnesota(as far as I know) never had a hard reputation for it. My own father has said that Minnesota is more progressive than GA(where I live now). This is his experience.
No place is completely free of racism and no place is that perfect as to not have it. Even MN. It isn't the worst from what I know and here from others, but it is just coming to the surface now.

I agree with you Pirate. I still live here in Georgia and am planning on staying in the Atlanta area until we move to the Duluth area because the rural parts of the Georgia are not as forward thinking when it comes to race and everyone doesn't always get along- especially politically and within the school system.

I am half white and half Mexican/American (my grandparents were born in the U.S., but are culturally still connected to their Mexican roots). My new grandbaby is half black and half white, so I have seen racism rear it's ugly head, but those people with the closed minds have the problem and are few and far between. I get bad vibes from backwards folks sometimes in Wisconsin and in Georgia, but I think society in the United States is changing in a good way. I think that media really is helping that. Look at the famous Interacial couples in the news. The United States and this world is in for a big change in the next 20 years as we all get older and the people who were around during the Civil Rights movement are not around anymore.

Sydniesmommy, I think you and your husband should feel at ease and I believe you should move where you want to, and be a part of making people realize that unfamiliarity is something to welcome and embrace. Remember: "Love knows no boundaries." I wish you luck.

[sydniesmommy]

Thank you all for your input and advice. I really do appreciate it. Having an interracial family seems to require a bit more caution since I don't want my kids to go though a lot of pain or hurt due to racism. How do I delete this post now? And once again, thank you all very much for your input and advice!

[JenLee]

Originally Posted by sydniesmommy

Thank you all for your input and advice. I really do appreciate it. Having an interracial family seems to require a bit more caution since I don't want my kids to go though a lot of pain or hurt due to racism. How do I delete this post now? And once again, thank you all very much for your input and advice!

You don't have to delete this post; I said that back at the beginning because I thought you were just one more person/troll trying to stir up trouble here! I was wrong for doing that; forgive me for jumping to conclusions.

And I hope that if and when you DO move to Mn; you won't find any racism here.

[santos]

If you move to Minnesota with the intent of going on welfare and getting other forms of state aid, likely you will encounter racism--you would if you were white too.

Just be a contributing member to society, bide your time--people in some parts of Minnesota are slow to accept newcomers--and you will be fine. If you go up there with a chip on your shoulder you will encounter what you are looking for.

[JameeLynn25]

Originally Posted by santos

If you move to Minnesota with the intent of going on welfare and getting other forms of state aid, likely you will encounter racism--you would if you were white too.

Just be a contributing member to society, bide your time--people in some parts of Minnesota are slow to accept newcomers--and you will be fine. If you go up there with a chip on your shoulder you will encounter what you are looking for.

Your are 100% right about this!

[QueenBee]

I think this depends on where you go and, unfortunately, what race you are. My husband and I are interracial also. He is Asian, I am white. We have lived here together for 11 1/2 years and have had absolutely NO problems, not one racist comment or action. We live in the Twin Cities where there is lots of diversity. I see interracial couples everywhere and biracial children in many areas are very common. I think people are used to it here. But if you go to a small town your experience may be different. I have family that lives in a small town and heard plenty of racist comments because these people really haven't been exposed to people of different ethnicity. Hopefully things have started to turn around but change does take time and small towns are for the most part pretty white still.

I wouldn't worry about it. Stick to a city and you will be just fine.

[BigSassy]

For what it's worth, I'm black and I live with my white wife in Duluth, MN. We've never ever had problems. Never had a weird looks, or people keeping their distance, or any kind of hostility towards me or my wife.

My two cents.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by sydniesmommy

My intent isn't to upset anyone. We have heard a lot of talk about the majority of Minnesota being racist. I do apologize that it is a sore spot, but with us planning to have a large family, I want to see how it will affect our children. We genuinely want to move there and just wanted to know. And I have met plenty of Liberals who are racist. In fact my husband's grandmother is. She refuses to see our children because they are biracial, yet she is a Liberal. So that doesn't matter, but since it isn't a hot topic there, we just might move there next year.

Thanks

Racially, MN is a very homogenous, white state compared to most other medium and large states. Some people associate the degree of "whiteness" of a place with racism. If you are of that view, you'll find this a racist state. If you are a critical thinker, you'll find the people of MN quite open to people of other races.

[kizzeith]

This state votes democratic because more than half of the 4.5 million people here live in the Metro area. If you look at the voting maps, you see a blue SouthEast corner in an otherwise completely red state. There is racism here. It's just more prominent in smaller communities.

I am biracial (Caucasian-German/Filipino) and grew up in a small town in MN. Because I grew up there, I was accepted for the most part, besides occasional "guys being guys/giving you crap jokes."

In that small town though, I always felt uncomfortable listening to people make racist comments toward mexicans and blacks (pretty common.) There are a lot of racists in small-town MN.

I went to college in Fargo-Moorhead and it was less common there, and it's even less common in the twin cities or Duluth (where I live now.)

A few months ago I was in a town of about 200 in central MN and there was a drunk 20-something year old shooting off his best "Ni***r" jokes for a good 15 minutes. It was disgusting, and everyone in the bar thought it was funny.

If you move here, I wouldn't live in central Minnesota. You will get looks and you will feel uncomfortable, but that's probably as deep as it would get.

Stay in a bigger city and live around people that are more accepting/modern and liberal-minded. The twin cities would be ideal, then maybe Duluth. St. Cloud/Fargo-Moorhead would be decent third choices.