Thoughts on bigotry and socio-political machinations.

[BlueStreak]

I grew up in a small Midwestern town. It has changed a little since I left in 1982, but not by much. The folks there always seemed very nice and pleasant enough. Still do. But, when there look around you, you won't see very much diversity at all. This is no accident and it is not unique to my hometown. My mother, who passed in 2008 at 84 years old could tell you the subtle ways in which it was quietly kept that way. "Certain people just weren't ever allowed to get comfortable with being here.", was something she once told me.

Hatred doesn't have to be overt. Separatism doesn't have to be as obvious as a sign at the city limits. The devil is in the details and evil often hides behind things ordinarily seen as good; patriotism, religion, security, financial matters and so on; "We have to keep them out. It's for the children and their future."

It can manifest itself in the wink of an eye or the shrug of a shoulder. The careful turn of a phrase that alludes to a particular race, religion or other trait without naming anything or anyone specific. Sometimes saying or doing nothing, exhibiting a lack of empathy, refusing to express compassion or outrage is as damning as a bigoted outburst.

I read comments here and elsewhere, I listen to the words of others and sometimes, yes I will admit, even my own......and I shudder to think what would happen if all of this pent up emotion were to come to the fore.

But, more importantly, I wonder how we can prevent that from ever happening.

Dave

[JJIII]

Food for thought. Good post Dave.

[donquixote99]

You have some good insight into this stuff, Dave.

It's a matter of overcoming. The instinct is to exclude 'others.' But there's also instinct is to be welcoming, and make folks comfortable, when they are 'one of us.' Just have to be more 'liberal' about who's in that category. It needs to be OK if they don't look just like us, or don't believe in our god, or don't vote like us.

The 'national identity' says all that is allowed, for Americans. But the national identity is something of a problem nowadays. The right has tried to hijack it and make it a lot more restrictive; the left, in rejecting that, sometimes rejects the whole thing.

[mpholland]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I grew up in a small Midwestern town. It has changed a little since I left in 1982, but not by much. The folks there always seemed very nice and pleasant enough. Still do. But, when there look around you, you won't see very much diversity at all. This is no accident and it is not unique to my hometown. My mother, who passed in 2008 at 84 years old could tell you the subtle ways in which it was quietly kept that way. "Certain people just weren't ever allowed to get comfortable with being here.", was something she once told me.

Hatred doesn't have to be overt. Separatism doesn't have to be as obvious as a sign at the city limits. The devil is in the details and evil often hides behind things ordinarily seen as good; patriotism, religion, security, financial matters and so on; "We have to keep them out. It's for the children and their future."

It can manifest itself in the wink of an eye or the shrug of a shoulder. The careful turn of a phrase that alludes to a particular race, religion or other trait without naming anything or anyone specific. Sometimes saying or doing nothing, exhibiting a lack of empathy, refusing to express compassion or outrage is as damning as a bigoted outburst.

I read comments here and elsewhere, I listen to the words of others and sometimes, yes I will admit, even my own......and I shudder to think what would happen if all of this pent up emotion were to come to the fore.

But, more importantly, I wonder how we can prevent that from ever happening.

Dave

It existed throughout my youth. I was born in Lake Oswego, which was nicknamed Lake No-Negro. I moved from there to Woodburn. That was serious culture shock, as it is an immigrant town with more Hispanics and Eastern Europeans than American citizens. The schools weren't necessarily segregated, but for the most part "Russians" and Americans went to Washington School and "Mexicans" and Americans went to Nellie Muir school. This was back in the 70's and the town reminded me of stories from New York, Philly, and Chicago back in the 20's and 30's. It was really kind of a lawless place lost in time and space. A lot of gangs. Stabbings and shootings happened quite regularly.

Getting back on topic, I was turning into quite the little "delinquent", so my parents decided to move to 20 acres just north of Colville, WA. Guess they figured I couldn't find trouble up there (boy, were they wrong). Anyhow, it is a small town up in the corner of northeast WA., snugged up by northern Idaho and Canada borders. The same culture you described was very evident there. I always marveled that there was no diversity there. No blacks, Hispanics, Russians or even Indians from the local reservation. Just "good ol' boys", most of them being descendants of town settlers. I was never even accepted into the town and I am white as a ghost. There were hippies and hiders sprinkled throughout the outskirts of town, but not in the town itself. It was said that there were more ex-Hells Angels patch-holders living secluded between Colville and the Canadian border than anywhere else in the country. Guess that's where I got my fondness for bikers and hippies.

[bobabode]

Different experience here. Grew up in SoCentral LA, then two years in Kingston, Jamaica WI, then what appeared to be redneckistan in Takoma Park, Md. Got in a fistfight first week for being called a n***er lover right before class in 7th grade. Dropped that honky on his ass, I don't know who was more surprised, him or me. We settled up after school. Yeah, I'm fairly pale too, German/Englsh heritage for the most part. Heinz 57 mutt. I never got the racism thing except to be disgusted.

[mpholland]

You don't have the mutt market cornered. German/English on my dads side, French/Swiss on my moms. Call it you're a peein' descent.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Different experience here. Grew up in SoCentral LA, then two years in Kingston, Jamaica WI, then what appeared to be redneckistan in Takoma Park, Md. Got in a fistfight first week for being called a n***er lover right before class in 7th grade. Dropped that honky on his ass, I don't know who was more surprised, him or me. We settled up after school. Yeah, I'm fairly pale too, German/Englsh heritage for the most part. Heinz 57 mutt. I never got the racism thing except to be disgusted.

Originally Posted by mpholland

You don't have the mutt market cornered. German/English on my dads side, French/Swiss on my moms. Call it you're a peein' descent.

German/English?

French Swiss?

And you call yourselves Mutts?

Dudes it doesn't get much whiter than that.



I'm Polish/Dutch by the way.

And I don't pretend to be anything other than white.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I grew up in a small Midwestern town. It has changed a little since I left in 1982, but not by much. The folks there always seemed very nice and pleasant enough. Still do. But, when there look around you, you won't see very much diversity at all. This is no accident and it is not unique to my hometown. My mother, who passed in 2008 at 84 years old could tell you the subtle ways in which it was quietly kept that way. "Certain people just weren't ever allowed to get comfortable with being here.", was something she once told me.

Hatred doesn't have to be overt. Separatism doesn't have to be as obvious as a sign at the city limits. The devil is in the details and evil often hides behind things ordinarily seen as good; patriotism, religion, security, financial matters and so on; "We have to keep them out. It's for the children and their future."

It can manifest itself in the wink of an eye or the shrug of a shoulder. The careful turn of a phrase that alludes to a particular race, religion or other trait without naming anything or anyone specific. Sometimes saying or doing nothing, exhibiting a lack of empathy, refusing to express compassion or outrage is as damning as a bigoted outburst.

I read comments here and elsewhere, I listen to the words of others and sometimes, yes I will admit, even my own......and I shudder to think what would happen if all of this pent up emotion were to come to the fore.

But, more importantly, I wonder how we can prevent that from ever happening.

Dave

Reminds me of a Bruce Springsteen song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CSFSX-Qh54

[4-2-7]

Dave you said,
"But, more importantly, I wonder how we can prevent that from ever happening."

I would say continuing.

That said it's a comfort zone that all races cultures and countries have. Maybe more to do with trust and fear of a established space within a community. I live my life in a divers community but even a small divers community it is comprised of cultural neighborhoods. Most not that different than the other from an economic residential stand point. Even these neighborhoods have changed over time from one culture to another. Although anybody could move into them they generally attract there culture in large. Your Moms "We have to keep them out. It's for the children and their future." Now Im sure she was polite to most people in her life. But she also looked at a cultural surrounding as important to her.


The same thing goes for all these other neighborhoods, the comfort zone is there culture. All the businesses will be catering to the needs of that community for there comfort. I have known Mexicans that rarely ever leave the mission district in San Francisco. Everything they want or want to surround themselves with is there. The same can be said for Chinatown, hell you could hardly get a car in there to shop if you wanted to. If I moved in I would be scrutinized not by all but by most.

I'll let wiki do some splaing

San Francisco mainland within the city limits roughly forms a "seven-by-seven-mile square," a common local colloquialism referring to the city's shape.

Neighborhoods

The historic center of San Francisco is the northeast quadrant of the city anchored by Market Street and the waterfront. It is here that the Financial District is centered, with Union Square, the principal shopping and hotel district, nearby. Cable cars carry riders up steep inclines to the summit of Nob Hill, once the home of the city's business tycoons, and down to the waterfront tourist attractions of Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39, where many restaurants feature Dungeness crab from a still-active fishing industry. Also in this quadrant are Russian Hill, a residential neighborhood with the famously crooked Lombard Street; North Beach, the city's Little Italy and the former center of the Beat Generation; and Telegraph Hill, which features Coit Tower. Between Russian Hill and North Beach is San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in North America.[67][68][69][70] The South of Market, which was once San Francisco's industrial core, has seen significant redevelopment following the addition of AT&T Park and an infusion of startup companies. New skyscrapers, live-work lofts, and condominiums dot the area. Further development is taking place just to the south in Mission Bay, a former railyard now anchored by a second campus of the University of California, San Francisco.


West of downtown, across Van Ness Avenue, lies the large Western Addition neighborhood, which became established with a large African American population after World War II. The Western Addition is usually divided into smaller neighborhoods including Hayes Valley, the Fillmore, and Japantown, which was once the largest Japantown in North America but suffered when its Japanese American residents were forcibly removed and interned during World War II. The Western Addition survived the 1906 earthquake with its Victorians largely intact, including the famous "Painted Ladies", standing alongside Alamo Square. To the south, near the geographic center of the city is Haight-Ashbury, famously associated with 1960s hippie culture. The Haight is now home to some expensive boutiques[71] and a few controversial chain stores,[72] although it still retains some bohemian character. North of the Western Addition is Pacific Heights, a wealthy neighborhood that features the mansions built by the San Francisco business elite in the wake of the 1906 earthquake. Directly north of Pacific Heights facing the waterfront is the Marina, a neighborhood popular with young professionals that was largely built on reclaimed land from the Bay.[73]


In the south-east quadrant of the city is the Mission District—populated in the 19th century by Californios and working-class immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Scandinavia. In the 1910s, a wave of Central American immigrants settled in the Mission and, in the 1950s, immigrants from Mexico began to predominate.[74] In recent years, gentrification has changed the demographics of parts of the Mission from Latino, to twenty-something professionals. Noe Valley to the southwest and Bernal Heights to the south are both increasingly popular among young families with children. East of the Mission is the Potrero Hill neighborhood, a mostly residential neighborhood that features sweeping views of downtown San Francisco. West of the Mission, the area historically known as Eureka Valley, now popularly called the Castro, was once a working-class Scandinavian and Irish area. It has become North America's first and best known gay village, and is now the center of gay life in the city.[75] Located near the city's southern border, the Excelsior District is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco. The predominately African American Bayview-Hunters Point in the far southeast corner of the city is one of the poorest neighborhoods and suffers from a high rate of crime, though the area has been the focus of several revitalizing and controversial urban renewal projects.

The construction of the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1918 connected southwest neighborhoods to downtown via streetcar, hastening the development of West Portal, and nearby affluent Forest Hill and St. Francis Wood. Further west, stretching all the way to the Pacific Ocean and north to Golden Gate Park lies the vast Sunset District, a large middle class area with a predominantly Asian population.[76] The northwestern quadrant of the city contains the Richmond, also a mostly middle-class neighborhood north of Golden Gate Park, home to immigrants from other parts of Asia as well as many Russian and Ukrainian immigrants. Together, these areas are known as The Avenues. These two districts are each sometimes further divided into two regions: the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset can refer to the more western portions of their respective district and the Inner Richmond and Inner Sunset can refer to the more eastern portions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco

The point being is people are comfortable living among their race and culture. They feel safe and secure with the availability of goods and services that cater to them. Langue is also a big part of it, communication is important to everybody. All and all though people go about their day intermingling being polite like your mom, then go home to the stores they wants to shop and to the neighbors they enjoy.

And i'm so lucky to be a speck in this diversity. Not to mention the food, and volume of restaurants. I could eat a different ethnic meal every night for at least three week. If I had dinner out every night of the year I would not be able to eat at every restaurant in the city. But this is not afforded to me in one neighborhood but from the divers community at large. So I like a bit of separation of cultures because that's true diversity.

[Rajoo]

Great post Dave and I will follow it with keen interest.