Amusing article on race in Montana

[Alcon]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR2008102904331_pf.html

This is the other side of the bigotry coin.  And, yes, having been to Montana, this is pretty much the common racial attitude in a lot of these towns.  Not so much in Missoula or Billings, but the lily-white Montana type of racism is just all-around weird.

Well-written, worth a read.

[JSojourner]

Thanks, Al.  It was.  Very well-written.

[Lunar]

Amusing.  What percentage of Montana lives in crappy little villages, out of curiosity?  (I grew up in a crappy 3,000 person "city," so I can make fun of them).


...whites in states such as Montana are faced with a unique situation when it comes to Obama. "They really are being asked to think on two different planes: One is saying, 'I don't know people like this,' and the other is saying, 'Okay, I'll have to look at what the country needs.' Now, how they play those two feelings out is the issue here...

...Mary Weaver is about to sit down for breakfast at McDonald's. She's 56 and works compiling medical records. She says she is curious about black people but is reduced to learning about them from TV and movies. "I'm probably more afraid of black men because of the movies," she says, reeling off examples of robbers, criminals and gang members. "It gives me the chills. I do make exceptions, though. If the black man is handsome, I tend not to think so badly about him. But just take the rappers in the movies. They's so angry. They've got these gangs. I know that's not all black people, but . . ." She trails off. She picks back up: "I had a nephew, though, in a gang once. Of course, he's white."..

[TheresNoMoney]

I can relate to this. I can go for a month or two in my town here in New Hampshire without seeing a black person. We only have about 10 black people in this state, and they all live in Manchester.

[TheGlobalizer]

Needless to say, I can't relate.

LOL.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Some of those people could have come straight out a Dennis Potter play (if they spoke Forest dialect).

[Alcon]

Another interesting thing, here:  Notice how no one in the article really connects race with policy or character until prompted.  Probably a difference between the sort of racism where there's a vested interest,  a sense of 'us vs. them', with blacks at odds with white success.  Here, it's just kind of a foreign thing, but not necessarily hostile--depending on the person.

Interesting, anyway

[Ban my account ffs!]

There aren't very many black people here, either... and people have plenty of prejudices... but it certainly hasn't been Obama's skin color that has impressed people here.

[J. J.]

I never met a black person until I went to college.

[??????????]

I never met a black person until I went to college.

Complete opposite for me. I knew more blacks then whites for quite a while in my years.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I never met a black person until I went to college.

I never went to school with a black person till I went to college.

[ilikeverin]

There aren't very many black people here, either... and people have plenty of prejudices... but it certainly hasn't been Obama's skin color that has impressed people here.

Plymouth is only about 3% black.

Yet somehow my best friend from K-2 was black... whaddya know?

[J. J.]

There aren't very many black people here, either... and people have plenty of prejudices... but it certainly hasn't been Obama's skin color that has impressed people here.

Plymouth is only about 3% black.

Yet somehow my best friend from K-2 was black... whaddya know?

My best friend is half black, and was raised in a Spanish speaking household.  She read at my father's memorial service, was at my confirmation, and is the executrix of my will.  We have been friends for 26 years.

[Eraserhead]

I never go a day without some black folks in it, so yeah, I can't really relate.

[Torie]

I went to college with a guy from Miles City (his dad owned the local newspaper). He said there was one black in town, the shoe shine guy, and folks treated him with disrespect. FWIW.

[Ronnie]

I went to college with a guy from Miles City (his dad owned the local newspaper). He said there was one black in town, the shoe shine guy, and folks treated him with disrespect. FWIW.

Well, Torie, we aren't in the cretaceous period anymore.

[Sensei]

My town is one half of one percent black, but about 5 percent of people at my high school were black. For some reason, I've never had a black friend or even had a long conversation with a black person. Don't ask me why.

[HardRCafé]

Being from the South, it's creepy to me blacks and whites barely interact in Illinois.

[MR maverick]

You guys talk about blacks like they are some objects you have never seen before or rare to come by LOL  Everyother person I see is black here.

Interest note about the south... despite how racist some may claim it is, theres lots of interracial dating and mixed kids.   Walmart on the weekends are great to see what great nation we have become.