What is the least racist major US City?

[downtown]

Chicago and New Orleans have very large (even larger in main parts of the city/ all the metro? ) black american populations, and iirc both have had black people as mayors for a long time. So wouldn't that also signify that the segregation is down to chronic negative attitudes not just by the 'white' people there?

Anyway, i vote for some city in Florida

I'm 28, and Chicago hasn't had a black mayor since I've been alive. New Orleans has had black mayors before, but their current mayor (and mayor since 2010), is white.

I think determining how 'racist" a city is WAY more complicated than say, the number of people who would say racial slurs, or their willingness to vote for a minority politician. Both Chicago and NOLA are highly residentially segregated, have structured their school systems in ways that disproportionately hurt minorities, have gaping public transportation gaps that serve heavily minority areas, and have had public and famous problems with police violence and attitudes towards minorities. They arguably have racist policies.

Hell, the school district that I taught just outside of New Orleans was found not fully compliant with Brown v Board of Education...IN 2009.

 

[.Shane.]

I live in the greater Sacramento area (have for almost 20 years) and have taught at each of the JCs in the area and they are extremely diverse in terms of the makeup of the student body and what I would see in my classroom.

 

[Hygro]

What about structural blocks to success and enfranchisement? Should we be looking at the cities with the most economic mobility? #1 is Salt Lake City...

 

[warpus]

Sacramento seems like a swell place. They are trying to get their foot in the MLS, I hope they do.

 

[Hygro]

Helped my friend move to midtown Sacramento a couple months back and I really dug it.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Here are the figures from the 538 piece.

Well that's pretty much /thread then!

 

[Arwon]

Honolulu? In terms of institutional and structural racism?

 

[Cutlass]

I've read that proximity and familiarity reduce racism on an individual level, but of course many of our most diverse cities are actually very segregated on a neighborhood level. I know Boston is like that. It is, or is close to becoming, a "majority minority" city. If you take the subway during rush hour, you'll hear Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Hindi, Haitian Creole, and Brazilian Portuguese, and yet a lot of those people will be coming from neighborhoods or suburbs that are not well integrated.


I would expect that it would depend on your own ethnicity, or that of your family.

Hartford long since became a majority minority city. The peculiarities of how Connecticut is put together means that the city is overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic, and the town that's immediately adjacent is an entirely separate political jurisdiction, and is the opposite.

 

[IglooDame]

Honolulu? In terms of institutional and structural racism?

Anecdote:
I lived on Oahu for three years (courtesy of USN) and my wife in having a civilian job made many friends among the locals. On Oahu, the segregation is Japanese tourist, American tourist (haole) and native (kama'aina). Many places quietly charge Japanese tourists more and give a discount to locals. She was able to confirm this empirically, at least regarding the native discount side.

 

[Cutlass]

I have a friend in the Navy who is about as white as they come. He was stationed in Puerto Rico for a tour. He said that when he was off base without his wife, who was a native of PR, he was treated pretty bad. But with her he was treated well.

 

[Domen]

On Oahu, the segregation is Japanese tourist, American tourist (haole) and native (kama'aina). Many places quietly charge Japanese tourists more and give a discount to locals. She was able to confirm this empirically, at least regarding the native discount side.

What does it have to do with racism? This is true for most places which are popular tourist destinations around the world. If you go to Tunisia, Egypt or other places where haggling is common, they will also charge you more (or start haggling from a higher price) than locals, or even Eastern Europeans.

If they know that you come from a rich (and/or naive) nation, they will try to extract more money from your wallet.

 

[Arwon]

I'd have thought Hawaii had more of a local-outsider thing than anything else. And presumably beef with military people.

Also: what about places like Santa Fe and Albuquerque?

 

[Domen]

Basically it seems that the most Hispanic-inhabited cities are the least racist ones.

Which makes sense since Hispanic people have a recent history of race mixing.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'd have thought Hawaii had more of a local-outsider thing than anything else. And presumably beef with military people.

Also: what about places like Santa Fe and Albuquerque?

Local-outsider thing definitely, but I found Hawaii to be extremely welcoming to military people. Probably the most so of anywhere I was stationed.

 

[MjM]

Houston is actually the most diverse city in the country. It has a ton of different ethnic groups, and for the most part, the city is not segregated whatsoever. We all get along pretty well here. Much better than out West in LA.

 

[Hygro]

Yeah I hear Houston is pretty legit when it comes to race. Never been or researched so can't confirm.

 

[warpus]

Anecdote:
I lived on Oahu for three years (courtesy of USN) and my wife in having a civilian job made many friends among the locals. On Oahu, the segregation is Japanese tourist, American tourist (haole) and native (kama'aina). Many places quietly charge Japanese tourists more and give a discount to locals. She was able to confirm this empirically, at least regarding the native discount side.

That's a very common tactic in places where the locals are not as well off as the tourists who visit them. Sort of. Usually it's white travellers who are targeted, at least from my experiences in South America and Thailand. In a lot of places in South America there is for example an unspoken "gringo tax". They see you, they guess where you're from based on your looks and what you're wearing, and they charge you more because they figure you have more money than a local. The best thing you can do is wear non-backpacker-like clothing and carry yourself like you belong.

I'm not sure how well off the locals are in Hawaii, but I wouldn't immediately put this down to racism.. Well, it sort of is, but.. They would do the exact same thing if they had another way of identifying you as a "person who potentially has a lot more money than me". From my experience Japanese tourists who travel tend to be rather well off, so I'm not surprised they're being targeted. In New Zealand for example, which is another place that gets a decent amount of Japanese tourists, 95%+ of the people I saw on the expensive version of the hike I was doing (think $1,500+) were Japanese. The cheaper version of the hike (stay in lesser huts, there's less comforts, no food provided, only costs about $250 total etc.) was all tourists from European countries, North America, Australians, etc. It was easy to distinguish between members of organized hikes (the expensive one) vs independent hikers due to the clothing, so.. that and similar experiences is what gives me the "Japanese tourists who travel tend to be rather well off financially speaking" idea. It's anecdotal, but that's probably why they are targeted.

edit: sorta xpost

 

[classical_hero]

Stop and Frisk. All of the events surrounding Eric Garner.

You mean how he was surrounded by a multiracial group of officers? Also how since stop and frisk has been slowed down the crime rate has risen in NYC?

 

[Hygro]

You mean how he was surrounded by a multiracial group of officers? Also how since stop and frisk has been slowed down the crime rate has risen in NYC?

Crime is down nationally.

 

[downtown]

Well that's pretty much /thread then!

I guess if we define "least racist" 100% by residential segregation levels. I bet that's a huge factor, but I don't think it's the only one.

Houston is actually the most diverse city in the country.

By what metric?