Inter-racial relations in America.

[frustrated_lefty]

At various times in my adult live, I've lived in New Orleans, Tuscaloosa, San Diego, San Francisco and, most recently, Philadelphia. I think I've been in Philly long enough to have a sense of it.

Fairly frequently, posts are made on this forum impugning the South for racism.

There is a functional integration in all of those cities, as far as I've seen, except Philly. It was mostly Asians, Hispanics and Caucasians in California, but they lived together, they were co-workers, neighbors and friends. In New Orleans and Tuscaloosa, it was mostly African American and Caucasian populations, but, again, we were neighbors and not infrequently friends.

Philadelphia ia wayyyyy different. I have never in my life seen such segregation. It's not hostile. It's more like the different racial groups pretend the other doesn't exist.

Are my perceptions off here?

[godhatesrepublicans]

1. Nope, I get that vibe from Phillie too.

Baltimore is much the same. It's like two populations that just ignore each other as much as possible.

I'm unsure if it's an improvement over open hostility or not. But it's weird.

[Asgaya Dihi]

2. Perceptions seem right to me

In my early 20's my wife and I figured out that I had moved almost as many times as I had been years alive, covered much of the east coast, Texas, Colorado and California. The most racist place on a broad scale I've ever lived was Maryland, Texas has some serious problems in other respects but oddly Austin was ranked one of the best places in the nation for an interracial couple shortly before I moved into the area and some of the other larger cities aren't too bad, though not as good as Austin.

There are always the small towns that tend toward more problems, but for the most part they seem more between the police and minority populations than between the population groups themselves. I can't really say that for the parts of the north and east I've lived in. California was a mixed bag, as much or more black/hispanic tension as there was between whites and either. Prison gangs probably contribute sharply to that.

[ArbustoBuster]

3. Another Philly native here...

I'll certainly agree that there's a significant amount of physical self-segregation here, although the newer suburbs further out appear to be less segregated, partly because they self-segregate by income level (i.e. by who can afford to buy the homes) rather than race.

On the other hand, when I was younger I worked a lot of physical jobs like construction and warehousing. The most racist employees and coworkers I knew were transplants from the South. I didn't see as many problems with locals. For all I know, though, this was a purely anecdotal problem that was bad where I worked and wasn't as bad elsewhere.

[Voltaire]

4. Philadelphian born and raised

living in Indianapolis now though. There is much truth in what you say about Philadelphia, it is an EXTREMELY segregated city. I think the only thing that unites everyone is the Eagles, I kid you not.