So, I went to Bethesda yesterday

[Anonymous]

In case it might lead to progress in this discussion, there is city demographic info on Wikipedia:

Bethesda: 86% white, 3% AA, 8% Asian, 5% Latino
Rockville: 68% white, 9% AA, 15% Asian, 12% Latino
Washington DC: 36% white, 56% AA, 3% Asian, 8% Latino
Silver Spring: 47% white, 28% AA, 8% Asian, 22% Latino

[Anonymous]

OP has stereotyped an entire community. I believe that she is making an incorrect judgement about the residents of Bethesda. It is not a community that holds on to its "white flight" past. If you are familiar with certain suburbs of Boston (where there are communities that black folks can't step foot in) or even communities outside of Los Angeles you would really understand the difference. I experienced it myself - Bethesda is NOT one of these NO WAY - NO HOW.

The stats may show that there are few minorities in Bethesda - but as a member of a minority group I can honestly say that if it made sense for my family I wouldn't have a problem moving there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In case it might lead to progress in this discussion, there is city demographic info on Wikipedia:

Bethesda: 86% white, 3% AA, 8% Asian, 5% Latino
Rockville: 68% white, 9% AA, 15% Asian, 12% Latino
Washington DC: 36% white, 56% AA, 3% Asian, 8% Latino
Silver Spring: 47% white, 28% AA, 8% Asian, 22% Latino

I and probably others appreciate the effort to make progress. But OP doesn't want progress. She doesn't want to hear that a lot of what's going on has to do with house prices, schools and safety. If you say "safety" she wants to assume that it's code for racism instead of taking what you say at face value. She hurls accusations, then she disingenuosly says that she's not trying to provoke people.

OP is a troll. Worse, she's trolling on an important and sensitive issue like race.

Don't waste your own time, and don't feed the troll be responding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case it might lead to progress in this discussion, there is city demographic info on Wikipedia:

Bethesda: 86% white, 3% AA, 8% Asian, 5% Latino
Rockville: 68% white, 9% AA, 15% Asian, 12% Latino
Washington DC: 36% white, 56% AA, 3% Asian, 8% Latino
Silver Spring: 47% white, 28% AA, 8% Asian, 22% Latino

I and probably others appreciate the effort to make progress. But OP doesn't want progress. She doesn't want to hear that a lot of what's going on has to do with house prices, schools and safety. If you say "safety" she wants to assume that it's code for racism instead of taking what you say at face value. She hurls accusations, then she disingenuosly says that she's not trying to provoke people.

OP is a troll. Worse, she's trolling on an important and sensitive issue like race.

Don't waste your own time, and don't feed the troll be responding.

I am the OP. I have been on this board for years now, and never once had anything I posted gotten so many responses, and so out of hand.

I never called anyone a racist, I was trying to understand why racial diversity isn't important to everyone. I don't get why people would not wish to expose their children to everything life has to offer, instead of locking them in an area where everyone else is just like them. This is different than racism. You have to actively hate other races to be a racist. I couldn't figure out why people in an area that wasn't diverse. Maybe asking people to justify that, wasn't the right wording, but I was trying to look for an answer, and got a lot of flack, but also some answers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case it might lead to progress in this discussion, there is city demographic info on Wikipedia:

Bethesda: 86% white, 3% AA, 8% Asian, 5% Latino
Rockville: 68% white, 9% AA, 15% Asian, 12% Latino
Washington DC: 36% white, 56% AA, 3% Asian, 8% Latino
Silver Spring: 47% white, 28% AA, 8% Asian, 22% Latino

I and probably others appreciate the effort to make progress. But OP doesn't want progress. She doesn't want to hear that a lot of what's going on has to do with house prices, schools and safety. If you say "safety" she wants to assume that it's code for racism instead of taking what you say at face value. She hurls accusations, then she disingenuosly says that she's not trying to provoke people.

OP is a troll. Worse, she's trolling on an important and sensitive issue like race.

Don't waste your own time, and don't feed the troll be responding.

I am the OP. I have been on this board for years now, and never once had anything I posted gotten so many responses, and so out of hand.

I never called anyone a racist, I was trying to understand why racial diversity isn't important to everyone. I don't get why people would not wish to expose their children to everything life has to offer, instead of locking them in an area where everyone else is just like them. This is different than racism. You have to actively hate other races to be a racist. I couldn't figure out why people in an area that wasn't diverse. Maybe asking people to justify that, wasn't the right wording, but I was trying to look for an answer, and got a lot of flack, but also some answers.

Neither was this wording. You are totally offensive. FYI, I am white and feel different from almost all my white neighbors. If only life were so easy that I could "click" with other people just because they share my skin color. How stupid.

[Anonymous]

OP I don't believe you are racist. You are a bit clumsy with your words but your post made complete sense to me. But whne posting on this board you really have to consider your audience. You will catch a lot of flack over a post like this because of the sheer amount of people that you can offend with your post. I'm baffled by how clearly everyone sees you streotyping and are so offended by it, but I was the lone opposition to the post about the African American community naming all their kids names that started with De. Interesting how no one saw the streotypes thrown around and being laughed about in that post. People should go take a look at it so they can see the hypocrisy. Like it or not, Op has a point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I don't believe you are racist. You are a bit clumsy with your words but your post made complete sense to me. But whne posting on this board you really have to consider your audience. You will catch a lot of flack over a post like this because of the sheer amount of people that you can offend with your post. I'm baffled by how clearly everyone sees you streotyping and are so offended by it, but I was the lone opposition to the post about the African American community naming all their kids names that started with De. Interesting how no one saw the streotypes thrown around and being laughed about in that post. People should go take a look at it so they can see the hypocrisy. Like it or not, Op has a point.

So can you articulate her point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I, for one, can't help but think that many who flee to Bethesda (or Clarksburg, for that matter) have an irrational fear of certain minorities, and on the "unlucky" chance that they had to visit our town, would definitely avoid one of our local Starbucks. God forbid they should share space with a construction worker who takes the bus.

Basically, people self-segregate - mainly due to fear and ignorance.

You are the one stereotyping here. I set out my reasons earlier for "fleeing" to Bethesda. Irrational fear of certain minorities was nothing to do with it. Real desire for higher quality of life was. You are the one who is ignorant, and I suspect somewhat envious, and I pity you.

I love the last part of that line - ". . . somewhat envious."

not envious at all - So please don't waste your pity on me.

I am amazed, however, at how you've managed to illustrate your elitist views using so few words.

Thank you for proving my point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I don't get why people would not wish to expose their children to everything life has to offer, instead of locking them in an area where everyone else is just like them.

I agree, this is totally offensive. Burying it in the middle of a paragraph doesn't make it less so.

OP, you start with the assumptions that (a) other people are not allowed to have different priorities than you and (b) other priorities are not valid. That's a really bad place to start. If you had started your thread in a more democratic spirit, you would have had a much more constructive conversation.

[Anonymous]

OP, can you say that you've learned anything from hearing other people's points of view? Your post at 12:29 indicates you haven't been listening at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sort of off course, but I am here in Cape Cod and I haven't seen any black people in 5 days. Seriously. It is freaking me and my biracial child out.[

Since the population of Massachusetts is about 90% white, and the town I am in on Cape Cod is 96% white, I am not totally surprised, although I actually see a little more diversity than those stats would indicate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In case it might lead to progress in this discussion, there is city demographic info on Wikipedia:

Bethesda: 86% white, 3% AA, 8% Asian, 5% Latino
Rockville: 68% white, 9% AA, 15% Asian, 12% Latino
Washington DC: 36% white, 56% AA, 3% Asian, 8% Latino
Silver Spring: 47% white, 28% AA, 8% Asian, 22% Latino

Non-Bethesdan here and I can't remember what the racial makeup was last time I was visiting Bethesda so I'm trying to decide all this from a distance. (Although it's making me want to visit real soon so I can judge for myself.) However, if these percentages are correct (and they're from wikipedia so I guess I should check the census figures) Bethesda is less diverse than the United States overall. I don't know percentages of Asians but for the US as a whole I believe AAs are at 12% and Latinos at 13% with non-Hispanic whites probably being around 75%. I do think OP has a point. While Bethesda is no doubt more diverse than some other parts of the United States, it doesn't seem all that diverse for the DC metro area. But it is certainly more diverse than the well-to-do small town where I grew up in Ohio so I would choose it any day over that town. But I wouldn't choose it over other areas in DC, in part for its comparative lack of diversity.

Also I want to address the issue of safety. I do think there is a way in which the media have linked criminality and AA majority neighborhoods in the minds of white people. I wouldn't want to live in Bethesda, because living in a place like that would make me more fearful of other parts of the DC area -- more fearful than is necessary. I say that because I grew up in a small town afraid of cities and working class people and poor people (both white and of color) and people of color generally. Once I became comfortable living in cities, I started seeing how where I live does shape the way I look at the world. Yeah there are parts of DC that are less safe than Bethesda (so true) yet it is possible to live and shop there and travel through them. Some of those neighborhoods are so much less dangerous than they appear but if I were living in Bethesda I wouldn't really understand that and I'd avoid them.

I'm not saying that people who live in Bethesda because they feel safer there should all move out or that people who live in Bethesda would act the way I know I would. If you want to live there, fine, and I'm sure there are people who would not be affected by their surroundings the way I would. But all I'm asking is for people to consider whether fears about safety might be a little overblown for some people (maybe not you) and that they might be (whether consciously or not) linked to the racial and class makeup of a neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case it might lead to progress in this discussion, there is city demographic info on Wikipedia:

Bethesda: 86% white, 3% AA, 8% Asian, 5% Latino
Rockville: 68% white, 9% AA, 15% Asian, 12% Latino
Washington DC: 36% white, 56% AA, 3% Asian, 8% Latino
Silver Spring: 47% white, 28% AA, 8% Asian, 22% Latino

Non-Bethesdan here and I can't remember what the racial makeup was last time I was visiting Bethesda so I'm trying to decide all this from a distance. (Although it's making me want to visit real soon so I can judge for myself.) However, if these percentages are correct (and they're from wikipedia so I guess I should check the census figures) Bethesda is less diverse than the United States overall. I don't know percentages of Asians but for the US as a whole I believe AAs are at 12% and Latinos at 13% with non-Hispanic whites probably being around 75%. I do think OP has a point. While Bethesda is no doubt more diverse than some other parts of the United States, it doesn't seem all that diverse for the DC metro area. But it is certainly more diverse than the well-to-do small town where I grew up in Ohio so I would choose it any day over that town. But I wouldn't choose it over other areas in DC, in part for its comparative lack of diversity.

Also I want to address the issue of safety. I do think there is a way in which the media have linked criminality and AA majority neighborhoods in the minds of white people. I wouldn't want to live in Bethesda, because living in a place like that would make me more fearful of other parts of the DC area -- more fearful than is necessary. I say that because I grew up in a small town afraid of cities and working class people and poor people (both white and of color) and people of color generally. Once I became comfortable living in cities, I started seeing how where I live does shape the way I look at the world. Yeah there are parts of DC that are less safe than Bethesda (so true) yet it is possible to live and shop there and travel through them. Some of those neighborhoods are so much less dangerous than they appear but if I were living in Bethesda I wouldn't really understand that and I'd avoid them.

I'm not saying that people who live in Bethesda because they feel safer there should all move out or that people who live in Bethesda would act the way I know I would. If you want to live there, fine, and I'm sure there are people who would not be affected by their surroundings the way I would. But all I'm asking is for people to consider whether fears about safety might be a little overblown for some people (maybe not you) and that they might be (whether consciously or not) linked to the racial and class makeup of a neighborhood.

I guess you believe that we in Bethesda are "locked away" from the rest of the world. Most of us have lived in cities before we moved here and are comfortable living in them. Why do you think neighborhoods in dc "appear" dangerous to people who live in Bethesda????

I think the 'appearance' of safety in Bethesda is irrelevant; the real safety of bethesda versus any other part of the dc area -- and probably the world -- can be verified very easily by the internet any time. Try crimereports.com and see what you come up with.

Again, I am amazed at the generalizations being made about this town!! Incredibly ignorant.

[Anonymous]

PP, I said some people and maybe not you. Obviously I don't mean you.