Race Relations in Seattle

[AvenueBoii]

Still working on making my way out to Seattle.

Anyway, was watching something on TV about a racially motivated lynching (not in the old sense of white hoods and burning crosses) in Tacoma by members of a local chapter of the "growing" neo-nazi movement. Yeah I know, it's Tacoma, but it's close enough for influence.

Now, I know Seattle is mostly white and I'd think white-collar liberals for the most part as well. So I don't really expect any problems whatsoever. But regardless, for the simple fact that it's a huge, mostly white city, it could be a target area for groups like these especially in high schools -- not to say it wouldn't happen in Detroit, but I'd think a predominately white town/city would be a primary destination for recruiters. This bothers me mostly because I've got a baby on the way and like any other parent I'm concerned for it's future.

Guess I'm wondering if people get along out there. I'm in an interracial marriage, I'm black and my wife is white and I know that's kind of touchy from both sides of the fence. I get funny looks from white men and black women just as much as the other. But living in New York, nobody even notices most of the time. How's Seattle with things like that?

I need some perspective on the city's overall views on interracial couples and whether or not hate-crimes and the so-called "growing" neo-nazi movement are real problems at all.

BTW I don't want to make it sound like wherever there's a large white population, there's going to be skins and klansmen, I just know they're out there now so it's a reasonable possibility in Seattle.

[Tcmetro]

Its probably not a problem in large metro areas, like Seattle. I've heard of hate crimes in small towns though.

[jessejb]

Yea racial problems beyond some benign segregation arent too prevalent here and I think any sort of movement like that would be shot down pretty quick in this city.

[Seattlelife]

I think Seattle is a very open minded city and I would be extremely surprised if you found more trouble in Seattle than in other large cities. I may not be the right person to ask seeing as I am white and spent 20 years of my life in the suburbs and only 2 so far within the city limits of Seattle, but I don't think there is any such problem of white supremacy or bias against interracial relationships. I personally have many friends that are in interracial relationships right now. They are all between someone white and either asian or mexican.

The best guess I can make is that you will not find any more trouble here than you would any other city. In fact, I would be surprised if you found any trouble at all but I may not be the right person to ask about that.

And I agree with Jesse, any movement like that in the Seattle area would certainly be shot down quickly and very much frowned upon.

I hope you decide to come out here and if so...

Welcome to Seattle!!!

[Bond James Bond]

You will always get stuff like this wherever you go, but seriously, I would put this waaaay down on your list of concerns about moving to Seattle. Dealing with days and days of rain in the winter is a higher priority than this, frankly.

[mhays]

Washington and Seattle have some of the highest "mixed marriage" and "mixed race" percentages in the country. We also have some of the highest percentages of Asians, Pacific Islanders, and American Indians. We're in the upper half for Hispanics. Only blacks are really less represented here, and we do have significant historically-black neighborhoods in Seattle and Tacoma.

We have racial tensions like everyone else, but I'd say we have less than most states.

[zappa]

It should be noted also that 'white' Seattle elected a black mayor who could have won again if he had run, and has a black man who is King County Executive now, and has continually been re-elected. If race was much of an issue here, neither man could have been elected because there isn't a large enough African American population to do it on their own.
Other than feeling like more of a minority than you might in NY, I just don't think it's an issue here for the vast majority.

[XiaoBai]

You have nothing to worry about. In my own experience (being involved in several interracial relationships in Seattle), despite being over 50% white, Seattle comes very close to the so-called "melting pot" society--in fact more so than just about any other city I've been to--and the city almost seems to promote and encourage interracial relationships...almost to the point where it appears to be a birth-right. Although as it is a pacific rim city, this usually results in white/asian concoctions, but you get my drift. The only faction that may potentially give you shit is the endless plague of drunken bums, vagrants and junkies who will use any ammo they can after you refuse to give them money.

[BoulderGrad]

For comparrison's sake (source: Wikipedia):

Racial makeup of Seattle:
67.1% White (all nationalities)
16.6% Asian
9.7% African American
2.4% Other Races
1.0% Native American
0.5% Pacific Islander
4.5% From 2 or more races
6.3% Hispanic or Latino from any race

Racial Makeup of New York City:
White: 45%
White (Non-Hispanic): 37%
African American: 28%
Hispanic (Any ethnicity): 27%
Asian: 10%

[Nutterbug]

Sorry to say this, but even as a black man, you're probably safer around mostly white people than you are around mostly blacks.

Take this article for size: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7499442

[AvenueBoii]

^ You're right. But I don't want this thread to shift focus.

[captredbeard]

AvenueBoii I would say you are better off in the PNW then many other areas. You are more likely to get treated better here than a white person from all the people wanting to be pc. Reverse discrimination here is more common then the traditional southern discrimination. Also I think Seattle is less white then you think, it really just depends on which area you live in. Races here seem to be pretty separated. Look at some school stats and see that some schools are 80% black, others 80% white. Here in Bellevue some schools are over half Asian.

Unless you are going to send your kid to a private school I would not recommend Seattle, but the nice burbs like Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond. Good luck, - capt

[mhays]

Seattle has one of the best inner city school systems in the country. I wouldn't worry about it.

[captredbeard]

"Seattle has one of the best inner city school systems in the country."

Sorry Hays but I'm going to bust chops on this one. It's like saying Detroit no longer has the highest crime rate in the US....whoopee it's still terrible.

[mhays]

What are you basing that on?

[captredbeard]

http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us

But you can use any metric you like.

Let's take a peek at one Metric, the WASL Math and Science:

Bellevue High School: 68% Science 74% Math
Bellevue is an average school

Cleveland High School: 8% Science 18% Math
one of the worst Seattle schools

Ballard High School: 46% Science 65% Math
top 2 Seattle schools


After looking through the WASL it appears that 2 Seattle high schools (Garfield and Ballard) would fit with the rest of of Bellevue's schools (although they would bring down our average). From what I looked at the rest of the high schools are pretty abysmal. Interesting fact: If Seattle's top two scoring high schools were in Bellevue they would still bring our averages down.

[mhays]

Some of that is who is being taught. Seattle schools on average have a lot more poor residents, and larger numbers in ethnic groups where education isn't generally as favored. Even residents of the ethnically-diverse sections of Bellevue tend to be groups that culturally value education a lot more.

I agree that a lot of Seattle students aren't doing well, obviously. But a student interested in doing well can be very successful in Seattle schools.

Either way, my comment was about "inner city schools", not Seattle vs. Eastside. To debate my point you'd need to find another inner city and parallel statistics (which of course are much more useful in context).

[other page]

I live in Olympia and am in a black/white interracial relationship. Niether my partner or I can ever recall anybody ever having issues with it, and Olympia is far more white and rural than Seattle. It's definately NOT like the south out here.

There's probably still groups of skinheads out in the burbs, but not any more than you'd see in suburban L.A. or Chicago.