are you in the racial minority in your neighborhood? - Page 3

[BookGoddess]

No, not at all. We live in a predominantly white area but there are many many multicultural families. I feel quite at home here. One neighbor is a Japanese family. The other is an old time Portuguese family. Another neighbor is from New York City though of Indian heritage and her husband is from the South. There are Chinese, Filipino, and part-Hawaiian families nearby as well so we fit in very well in our area. There are many children who have nearly the same ethnic makeup as DD. I feel blessed to live where we do. I don't think I could live somewhere where *I* was the source of the diversity! I need to see others that resemble me.

[seoul_mama]

yep. Caucasian Americans constitute over 80% of the pop in my town. I belong to a "thriving" 3% of the "Asian" population.

[aussiemum]

In answer to the op, no, I am not a racial minority in my neighbourhood. Where we live is somewhat diverse, as most 'inner-suburb' areas are, but still the majority of my neighbours are 'white'.

I used to cop a bit of shit for having an American accent, but it has been a few years now since anything has come up. My back gate was kicked in the last time, but that had more to do with the amphetemines the bloke was clearly on. The accent was just a trigger, kwim?

[somerset]

Originally Posted by shayinme

That said 6 years later, I am fine here, the bigger issue is my 16 yo son who currently lives with his Dad and wants to finish HS here with me. He recently was here on spring break and had his first encounter with the police, he supposedly fit the description of some young hooligan (who it turns out was white), however when the cop brought him home and saw where we lived in town and dh( who is white) suddenly it was a misunderstanding ::. I am concerned about my son being here, he is biracial (looks Latino) and 6'2 which in a small white town seems to be a potential issue.

I'm curious, what did you decide to do? Will he come to live with you?

[somerset]

When I first moved to this little village it was really white. There was one black family who lived next door and a mother raising her biracial son (black/white) across the street.

About a year later a hispanic/white family moved in down the street and three years later an Asian family moved in and right next door to them lives a black/Hispanic family. It's great to see more families of color (and diverse families at that) move into the area.

The village probably still is very white but there are more races milling about and moving in.

[princessoflove]

Our neighborhood and city is very diverse, and of course I love it.

We have a lot Inter-racial couples of Black-White, and Hispanic-White. Other families in the community include Cuban, Mexican, Filipino, Korean, Arab, Jews, Muslims, Christians, non-religious, Same-sex, you name we have it. The neighborhood kids are completely color-blind to friendship.

[Teenytoona]

I'm not, but the rest of my family is. The town seems to be getting a little less white, but they're certainly in the minority. My youngest two DSD are Mexican/Black, my DD and oldest DSD are white/black and DP is black.

[Cyann]

I'm not, but my husband is. There aren't many places in the US where South Asians are in the majority, though, so that's nothing special! The neighborhood is pretty darn white overall, though, more so than I thought when we moved in.

I'm not really sure how our son will be perceived, yet.

[dawningmama]

As a biracial woman (white mama, lack father), I find this question hard to answer. I guess, the answer is "yes." My neighborhood is about 70% Latino and I look Puerto Rican, am mistaken for Puerto Rican pretty often, actually. So I may be a minority statistically but I don't "stick out" here--no one does, which is why I love my neighborhood so much. The other 30% is mostly black, with some white and a small number of Asian. But, I would say, informally, that a good 30% of the children are multiracial, blending white, black, Latino, Asian and American Indian heritages.

[misswerewolf]

No. We live in a university town with a huge foreign-student and foreign-researcher population, so there's plenty of diversity around. Interracial relationships and families are not uncommon.

It's pretty much the same all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

[expat-mama]

Definitely YES. But I live in Asia, so, well, go figure
DH and I live in Seoul where there are a actually a lot of foreigners (mainly US soldiers, but also Europeans, South Asians, N. Americans, even a few Africans and South Americans I've met), but a few thousand foreigners lost in a huge sea of about 11+ millions Koreans in a densely over-populated space doesn't feel like much most times. In our big crowded neighbourhood, far from where most of the foreigners and US soldiers live, I've seen/met about 5 non-Asians.

It's really difficult living here as a foreigner sometimes. This country is VERY, VERY, VERY homogenous and has a history of being quite isolated and a bit hostile to foreigners. We speak a lot of the local language and constantly overhear Koreans making really racist statments about both DH (who is white) and me (biracial, black+white). It is common for people to point and laugh at us and declare that we are "Americans" even though we are Canadian. We get lots of stares and head turns and even some harrassment from old drunks and rowdy teenagers. I know another Canadian who has been seriously assaulted by a local and had the police laugh at him and I worry about DHs and my safety sometimes amidst all the anti-foreign sentiment.

The people we work with, as well as a small population of locals, are used to being around foreigners and can be very kind and welcoming, but of course lack basic understanding of what it's like to be different and stand out or be a "foreigner". Both my husband and I, having lived and travelled in many countries and having advanced degrees in Cultural Studies/Anthropology and Sociology understand WHY the locals are ignorant about racism and have an "other" mentality about foreigners, but that doesn't make it any easier.
We've found it surprising, that of all the different countries we have lived in/traveled (Asia, Africa, S. America, E. Europe), after a couple of years here we've found Korea is the most difficult place to live as a foreigner. We didn't expect that. Being black, I've faced a fair amount of racism in a lot of places, but not such constant racism and ignorance that permeates every activity outside the walls of my home. Needless to say, we live a pretty insulated (but fairly happy) life, with just a few foreign and Korean friends and it's okay most of the time, but DH and I plan to leave in a year or so. Another adventure, this time New Zealand.

[cappuccinosmom]

Yes. We are in a primarily black neighborhood, and I am white.

I don't think the tensions we felt in the first few years on this street were race related. There was active drug dealing going on, and the rentals were occupied by frightening people. Our car was stolen from our driveway while we were home, and for about a week, several young men made a point of wearing their "don't snitch" t-shirts and pointing at them and glaring at us whenever we went by.

Over time, though, the good neighbors stayed put and won out. The people in the houses surrounding ours are friendly and comfortable to be around, and just as desirous of a peaceful, safe neighborhood as dh and I so, we feel at home with them. :

It is more comfortable here for me than in Ethiopia, where dh is from. As a white woman I really, really stood out and being a foreigner put me at serious risk in certain areas.

[basilisa76]

My husband is Puerto Rican and I am Peruvian. We live in an area where 99% of the people are caucasian. Everybody has been nice so far with a few comments such as: "So and so are so attached to their hispanic heritage...blah, blah, blah" but not in a bad way, i think most of them are just curious... I have to tell you, though that even though everybody is nice and polite, nobody has invited us to their houses yet...

Gigi