Is your neighborhood a United Nations.. or mostly ethnically homogeneous?

Question

Where I live in Northern VA it is truely a United Nations of people. Us white folks are now a minority. The public spaces is full of people speaking a hundred foreign languages and most people are Asian or Hispanic. We have tons of people from Korea, India and China. On the streets are hundreds of people (immigrant Day Laborers) standing waiting for someone to pick them up and give them work. I feel like I am in a foreign country.

Back in Minnesota things are more traditional. We have ethnic minorities but they are maybe 20 percent of the population but white people still are a clear majority.

I am not making a value judgement but wonder what you have in your community.

Answer 1

I live in a gated community that appears to be about 70% white, 15% Asisan, 10% Black and 5% Hispanic.

When I leave the gates and go up to the corner grocery store .... those statistics change pretty darn dramatically........white goes down to 30-35%, Asian and Hispanic go way up, Blacks somewhat up.

Answer 2

I feel i'm in Mexico or some 3rd world city in 90 percent of Los Angeles now (used to be 75 percent about 10 years ago).

I wrote to my politicians, they dont care, so i may move away

Answer 3

I'm in Northern Virginia too.  Luckily, I think I'm in a better part than you.  We're multicultural but we have more of a diverse mix than you do.  (I'll bet you are in Fairfax or Arlington.)

Answer 4

Ten years ago, this area was homogenous...well, American.

Clean, quiet, attractive place to live.

Now, property values have plummeted and houses have been up for sale for years because of the hispanic influx.

Parks have been trashed. The local paper listings in the crime section each week is enormous and 3/4's of the names are hispanic.

We were lucky enough to sell before the situation got bad, and bought a home in a gated community with strict rules. Our neighbors are white and black, but all American now.

Answer 5

We have a very diversified group here in our little town of about 87,000, just outside Los Angeles. We boast no fewer than 16 different Hispanic gangs.  They love and appreciate being in the U.S. so much that they can't contain their glee and joyfully shoot each other whenever possible.  The sounds of helicopters overhead at night with their searchlights shining like welcoming beacons add to the merriment of my community.

Answer 6

I live in Miami, Florida, Gateway to the Americas.

Well, let's see, about 53% of the population was born in a foreign country.... I think that ranks among the highest in the world, the last I heard.

I love where I live.  Now, I am afraid to say this, lest I be mocked -- I'M CUBAN!

Is this why I love Miami?  No.  My Spanish is horrible, my skin is white, I can't read a high-level book in Spanish, one of my best classes is English, my favorite class is World History...

US white folks are farrrrrrr from "minority" status.  A hundred foreign languages is way too big of an estimate.

Why do you feel you are in a foreign country?  Minnesota is just different I suppose; I mean, the U.S. is HUGE -- not like France, or Germany, which are small, and there is a far more similar culture spread throughout.  Look at China -- Not all forms of the Chinese language are the same; many citizens probably would'nt be able to understand eachother.  Spain has many different dialects among the citizens.

I have learned, through my history classes (my last two taught by -- US white folk, did you call them? -- men) that America is a melting pot of different cultures.  

There are two things I don't like about the question (sorry) -- the "traditional" remark, and the "standing waiting for someone to pick them up" remark.  I just find them a bit...offensive, I suppose.

You'd be waiting too -- in fact, a third of all American's ancestors were "waiting," after the mass migrations from Europe in the 1800s -- Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ring a bell?

Well, I'm not saying that it's a racist question - sorry if I made it sound that way.

Yeah, my community is vastly multi-racial.  I have a hispanic friend from almost every country in Central & South America, know a few from Japan and China, as well as Caucasian friends.

I find Miami to be prosperous; up to a year ago, when Bush's administration really began to take a toll on the economy (gas is up to about 4.19 - not as bad as in places like California, but pretty bad.)

I'm happy where I am, though if I had the choice, I mighhhhttttt just move, for the sake of change.  (I've always wanted to live in New York City for about a year -- I've visited a few times and loved it, but can't imagine myself actually living there for good).

Answer 7

I lived in a city that was like what you call a United Nations - I called it third world. I moved.

Answer 8

Welcome to multiculturalism. Ask yourself why you feel uncomfortable being a minority.This should give you an idea how minorities feel in Minnesota. I cannot help but feel you are making a "value" judgement otherwise what is the relevance of your question. especially the part in which you state"(immigrant day labourers) standing waiting for some one to pick them up and give them work" It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. At least have the guts to say what you really mean. I live in Toronto which is very multicultural. How boring would it be if everyone was white? Also, get over yourself "tall model looking girl" you come across as insecure and shallow.  From short, fat, hunchback, dog face girl with bad breath and severe acne.

Answer 9

When you say white folks are a minority, do you mean minority to the earlier minorities? Or do you mean an actual minority. Americans seem to think that if there are say 40 percent whites and 60 percent of a mix of many different "races", they are a minority...

Answer 10

My community is like the United Nations, too, and I love it!  It makes me smile to walk down the street and hear different languages being spoken and see diverse groups of people playing basketball or having dinner together.

I think that communities like ours are the way of the future, and I think they are the best way to overcome racism and other prejudices.  If you have friends or neighbors from different races and cultures, you will get to know them and stop feeling scared of them.