White liberals are the true racists

[DodosAreDead]

You assume it's a choice

Well most people who live there weren't born there. 

It's a great city with good employers such as Intel... my parents lived in Portland for 14 years and were pretty well assimilated with white people, although they're both fiercely proud of their south asian culture and heritage too. It's not like white liberals can't be racist, but I don't think that choosing to live in Portland has a whole lot to do with that.

[Dr H]

I do think it's suspicious that white liberals tend to live in the whitest cities. Portland is literally the whitest major city in America. I mean, isn't it a little racist to want to live in the whitest areas you can find?

Sometimes you find out about places after you move there.  The state of Oregon as a whole is 88% non-Hispanic white -- but I had no idea about that when I moved here.  I just went were the grad school was.  If you wanted to change it, what could you do?  Forcibly relocate 2-4 million people to East LA?

I grew up in a city in the northeast that was 1/3 black, in a neighborhood in which at least 9 languages were spoken regularly.  I didn't think anything about it when I was there.  It was just "home".  It was only after I'd been away for a while that I began to realize what  unique environment it was, and to miss the diversity.  By then, though, it was a matter of staying where the job was.

[CapnAwesome]

I do think it's suspicious that white liberals tend to live in the whitest cities. Portland is literally the whitest major city in America. I mean, isn't it a little racist to want to live in the whitest areas you can find?

Sometimes you find out about places after you move there.  The state of Oregon as a whole is 88% non-Hispanic white -- but I had no idea about that when I moved here.  I just went were the grad school was.  If you wanted to change it, what could you do?  Forcibly relocate 2-4 million people to East LA?

I grew up in a city in the northeast that was 1/3 black, in a neighborhood in which at least 9 languages were spoken regularly.  I didn't think anything about it when I was there.  It was just "home".  It was only after I'd been away for a while that I began to realize what  unique environment it was, and to miss the diversity.  By then, though, it was a matter of staying where the job was.

If it were just a single person I'd say you are right. But white people, and white liberals are no exception, tend to move where there are tons of white people. I don't think hundreds of thousands of white liberals who moved to Portland or Boulder or whatever all didn't know that it was just white people there.

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Well most people who live there weren't born there. 

It's a great city with good employers such as Intel... my parents lived in Portland for 14 years and were pretty well assimilated with white people, although they're both fiercely proud of their south asian culture and heritage too. It's not like white liberals can't be racist, but I don't think that choosing to live in Portland has a whole lot to do with that.

I don't think it's entirely a coincidence either. This seems like a double standard for me. If a conservative wants live around just white people it's going to be called racist but when liberals do it it's just some sort of coincidence. That doesn't seem right to me. Especially when it's so in mass. The other city I have a lot of experience with is Seattle. Now I lived in the hispanic part of town, and there was narry a white person in site. All the white liberals pretty much lived with other white liberals. I don't know if there has been any research done on it, but it's more than just Portland.

[Dr H]

If it were just a single person I'd say you are right. But white people, and white liberals are no exception, tend to move where there are tons of white people. I don't think hundreds of thousands of white liberals who moved to Portland or Boulder or whatever all didn't know that it was just white people there.

Well, I think you may be exaggerating just a trifle.  The whole population of Oregon is just over 4 million, and Portland's population is less than 700,000, so I don't think there are "hundreds of thousands of white liberals" -- or hundreds of thousands of anything else, for that matter -- moving in.  Average population growth for the city over the past decade has been about 10,000 per year, and some of those people are actually born there.  Also, as Oregon goes, Portland is actually more diverse that the rest of the state:  just over 70% non-Hispanic white, compared to 88% for the state overall.

Yeah, they still got a ways to go as far as diversity.  But it's not like "the white liberals" are taking over and building bunkers against the apocalypse.  Their proportion among new migrants is falling, and is being replaced by Hispanic and Asian migrants.  Of course a lot of these Hispanic and Asian migrants might also identify as "liberal" . . . one never knows . . .

[vulcanlogician]

After you guys are done talking about whatever it is you are talking about, please let this thread die.

[CapnAwesome]

After you guys are done talking about whatever it is you are talking about, please let this thread die.

Haha, okay. Final point. Liberals have their own racism to deal with. Being liberal hardly means someone is not a racist just because they are racist. White liberals stick to their own kind, don't seem to live with any more diversity than white conservatives but simply excuse that because they are liberal, as though thought matters more than action.

Capn awesome out of thread.

[vulcanlogician]

After you guys are done talking about whatever it is you are talking about, please let this thread die.

Haha, okay. Final point. Liberals have their own racism to deal with. Being liberal hardly means someone is not a racist just because they are racist. White liberals stick to their own kind, don't seem to live with any more diversity than white conservatives but simply excuse that because they are liberal, as though thought matters more than action.

Capn awesome out of thread.

I was just fuckin' around Cap'n. Don't stop the conversation on my account.

[CapnAwesome]

Haha, okay. Final point. Liberals have their own racism to deal with. Being liberal hardly means someone is not a racist just because they are racist. White liberals stick to their own kind, don't seem to live with any more diversity than white conservatives but simply excuse that because they are liberal, as though thought matters more than action.

Capn awesome out of thread.

I was just fuckin' around Cap'n. Don't stop the conversation on my account.

Haha, I'm pretty much out of things to say on the subject anyway.

[epronovost]

There has been research done on the subject of self-segregation. Non-hispanic whites in the US are the most segregated group there is. One of the main reason is that they are the majority of the population so it's easier for them to be found in areas where they are in vast majority. They are also present in majority in all regions of hte country unlike some minorities which are geographically more numerous in some regions like afro-americans in the south-east or Asians in large urban areas. There is no real correlation between political affiliation between and self-segregation. Liberal and conservative people aren't more likely to segregate. The drive in racial segregation is mostly linked to income. Minorities are much less numerous in the higher income bracket and those who are, are usually in urban area. Rich people living outside large urban centers are the most self-segregated individuals. Self-segregation isn't necessarily a sign of racism, though it can be help biases to remain unchallenged.

[Dr H]

 Self-segregation isn't necessarily a sign of racism,

True; it could also be a sign of misanthropy.