Unfortunately, bad parts of towns are what some can only afford. Back in the late 90's, my wife lived in the Rampart area of L.A.. "Rampart" was the area where the Rampart Division of the L.A. Police was. She got tied of hearing sirens and the LAPD helicopter overhead each night and moved. When I tell folks that I worked in EMS (mid 70's) in South Central L.A., Watts and Compton, they get pretty shocked. Why? Because I'm White and those areas are predominantly Black. My ambulance partner was Black and a great guy. IOW, he took care of me.
I think that there is a very definite difference between preferring to live with people that are similar in habits and customs (and maybe even speech) that you are familiar with, and being a racist, which means that you are prejudiced again another race. Like @Ken Anderson pointed out, we are more comfortable when people speak our language, and grocery stores sell the foods we like to eat. So whether we are Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, or , Hindee, we all like living where we feel comfortable and accepted. I want to shop at a grocery store where the cashier speaks English; but if I were Hispanic, then I would want to shop at one where Spanish was spoken, or at least understood. Being a racist is not just wanting to live with people of your same race; it is being prejudiced against some race, or sometimes religious beliefs. It can even be about how you dress. Back in the 50's, we started getting the first hippie-type people. They were called "Beatniks" back then; but the look was similar, long hair, sloppy clothes, and usually doing drugs of some kind. I grew up in Idaho, in a friendly little town of around 5,000 people. Everyone smiled and said hello, and helped each other out if their car got stuck in the snow or mud. However, we had no black people in the area, and no hippies either. They were not allowed in town, and if any came into the town, they were told to leave. Basically , this was prejudice against both black people and hippies, which were white people, although non-conformists. It was more than just racist, because they simply didn't allow people to live there who were different, regardless of race. As a child, I had no idea that this happened, of course. I was almost an adult before I ever saw a black person, and that was in Spokane, a much larger city, and probably not so easy to control as our little town was. This does not still happen there now, naturally; but back in the 1950's, things were different. I think that it is because of those kinds of attitudes, that many non-white people feel the need to now consider any treatment that they do not like, as racist. Rather than saying " I was arrested for committing a crime", they think "I was arrested because I am black/Hispanic, etc. "
When I worked in Anaheim, a co-worker's car broke down so I gave him a ride home after work every night for about a month. I was working the 3-11 shift then, so it would be close to midnight when I drove him home. I lived and worked in Anaheim, and he lived in an almost exclusively Mexican-American neighborhood in Santa Anna, one that included a lot of gang activity. Plus, I drove a motorcycle. My co-worker was Mexican-American and, from the tattoos, he was (or had been) a member of one of the gangs, although he always seemed like a pretty nice guy at work. When I first started driving him home, he had me drive him around the neighborhood so that everyone could see that he was with me, and warned me not to get lost on the way out. Yeah, the gang members looked to be pretty thick in his neighborhood. He waved at them, and we stopped to talk to a few. By the second week, they were waving at me on my way out. Still, it wasn't entirely comfortable.
They throw that racist card for everything but the classification is quite limited and it does not cover Islamic or Mexican Race Categories American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used in addition to "Black or African American". Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. Ethnicity Categories Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term, "Spanish origin", can be used in addition to "Hispanic or Latino". http://www.iowadatacenter.org/aboutdata/raceclassificationNot Hispanic of Latino
In rural areas or small towns there are no "race areas" as you see in larger cities. Here in Clarksville there are very few Black people, several Asians and quite a few Hispanics but the vast majority are White. But the great thing is that everyone no matter their race is just part of the community. I have seen no evidence at all of any racism against any group.
Here where we live, about half of the population is black. Don't know why, but seems like all of the fast-food restaurants have all black employees. There are parks, in some parts of the city, that only blacks go to. We went by a park here a few years ago and it was like going by a park in South Central (L.A.), Compton or Watts. Now, the mall, down the street from us, is definitely a combo of whites and blacks, but no Indians (India). This area has a very low concentration of Hispanics or Asians. Seems like all the crime that is done here is done by whites and blacks. Never have heard of any Indians involved in crime, even though this area is getting a bigger population of Indians yearly. Where we keep our boat stored, there was an older black guy who was working on his boat. The Dock Master told me that he is the only black person with a boat there. The guy was very nice and I talked to him about his boat.
I hardly see any blacks in my section of Fresno but I do see many Hispanics, next it's Asians. I actually don't even notice someone is Hispanic...just a person.
If you are in need of a blood transfusion-are you going to ask what race the donor is? How many military people in need of rescuing or saving, denies help because of race? Your child is drowning, and you can not reach them, are you going to stop the person who jumps in to save them, because of race? Race seems only to create issues, when there is a clash of cultural and religious differences. Do you look and feel the same about-um, Colin Powell, as you would say ...Spike Lee? Both are black men, but their appearance, their persona are quite different. The point I am trying to make, it is not about color,it is about cultural differences and for some religious ones. I could say so much more, but will not bore you any further- today at least
In my last reply, I wasn't talking about anything you are talking about here. I was talking about demographics..........period. What the Thread is about.
Ok, but she was asking some questions that weren't really related to the Thread. I done the Thread discussing certain areas of the U.S. and how one race is mainly, if not all, a part of that area. And, asking if those people who live in those areas were racists, of which I don't believe they are. But..........
Well ..........I welcome contributions and sometimes its just what we think at that time We don't necessarily have to be to 'the letter' - we can diverse a bit, right Cody ? Be reasonable