Moving Advice: Racially Diverse Rural Town??

[FurryFett]

Hi all,

Sorry if this is an odd place to ask this question - not exactly chicken-related but I figured some of ya'll might have relevant experience with this. Hubby and I are finally getting to the point where we are starting to seriously look for a house/property to buy (fingers crossed everything keeps going in the right direction), and finally get started with some serious homesteading goals (Chickens!! Goats!!) after renting for so long. We're looking at rural areas as we want about 5 acres of property. But I feel a bit lost as to where to start looking, because we're wanting to go out of state. The biggest concern we both have is racism that tends to be stronger in more rural areas. My husband is Indian and I am white. Whereever we move, we plan to raise our mixed-race children there, and we dont want our family or our kids to be the targeted for ill-will. We will probably also be obviously city-dwellers, since both of us have lived most of our lives in major metropolitan areas. I've done searches for 'least racist' states, etc but when you start looking at people's comments, it highlights that every state has areas that are more bigoted and areas that are more welcoming, even among the "most racist" or "least racist" states. I live in Florida, for example. In South Florida, its very diverse and relatively welcoming to people from all different backgrounds (but you can't escape the sprawling metropolis!). But if you drive a few hours north, its almost all white with a strong KKK presence, and many who would not welcome a Black or Brown person into their neighborhood. We're looking to get out of Florida, anyway, though (too hot and humid for me to enjoy being outside, especially working). We dont have a particular state in mind, but a place with all 4 seasons would be nice - some zone that isn't too hard to grow crops in.

So I guess I'm looking for recommendations of a particular town, city, area that you have experience in (especially would love to hear your experience if you are not white since you'd notice the subtleties that my kids would be subject to). Since a state is too broad to accurately comment on.

Where are the rural areas that are racially diverse (not all Black or all White) and welcoming?
Or a place where most people would welcome someone Brown even if its not that diverse?


I'm going to make a request that this thread doesnt become a debate about racism in general - there's plenty of places on the internet for that, but this isnt one of them. I just want to see if anyone here can give me some good tips as to which towns/areas might be a good place to start looking for a safe, peaceful place to raise my family.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and recommendations!

 

[333113]

Well, I would have said "Welcome to Missouri!" until I read the part about getting out of Florida because it's too hot and humid. We have our own version of the annual heat and humidity festival that's probably not an improvement over Florida!

Seriously, we live near Saint Louis, Missouri and are pretty much in the country. The small towns near us are pretty tolerant of diversity. Pacific, in particular, has had a black mayor and judge. Eureka has foreign exchange students working during the summer at Six Flags. Much of the working population around here takes the highway east into Saint Louis and its near suburbs for work, where the populations are more diverse. So most white people around here have seen and worked with and shopped with people who aren't white.

I am not expert on this by any means since my family is white, but I do have some black and Latino friends from work who have told me they aren't afraid to visit us...even after they've been here!

On the opposite side of the river, there's a lot of country area around Belleville and Scott Air Force Base. Because of the base, it's a fairly diverse area. If you chose to live there, you could still commute into the Saint Louis area for work and live in the country. Closer to Saint Louis on the east side, the areas are poorer and my impression is that there is more prejudice against non-whites, so I can't recommend that, even though the land is cheap.

Hope this helps! Are you looking for a big piece of property or small? I only have three acres, myself. Be sure to look at the property tax and the school system rating, no matter where you shop. There can be a huge difference in both just by crossing a county line.

 

[FurryFett]

Thank you! Its good to hear the real personal experience! And thank you for the tip about property tax...I haven't really thought that part through yet.
We're looking for at least 5 acres. Mostly trying to escape the humidity, and have a winter, see snow each year, etc.

 

[FurryFett]

Hmm no other locations anyone might suggest?