After Katrina, black family warily adjusts to Utah
 

That is one of the stupidest, most biased articles I've ever read.

From the article:
"They say economic opportunity and lower crime rates there are offset by subtle racism the black family encounters."

Hmm, the black family encounters subtle racism? Great, give us an example. Oops - not a single example of "subtle racism" was presented. The most racist sentiments in the article were expressed by the black families themselves:

"People in Utah don't know how to act toward black people," he said in his suburban rental home surrounded by lawn. "I personally believe that is my reason, to teach these people how to get along with people of color."

Huh? Why is there some special way I'm supposed to acto toward black people? Why would I act differently toward black people than I do towards any other person? They didn't list a single instance of racism or of not getting along, yet this guy wants to teach me "how to get along with people of color"???

This particular quote is one of the stupidest things I've ever read:

'A year later, Larry Andrews is still filled with doubts:
"We (blacks) used to live in Africa and we were moved to New Orleans and we had to adapt there," he said. "Now we are in Utah and we have to adapt here. We're tired of adapting."'

That's like saying "we're tired of being human beings". I love how people equate every bad thing that ever happened to one of their ancestors as happening to them. And somehow preserving those "feelings" that their ancestors had across generations and generations. And then somehow extending those feelings across all the descendants of their ancestors. This quote makes about as much sense as Larry Andrews quote:

"We (human beings) used to live in caves with stone tools and then somebody invented bronze and we had to adapt. And then someone invented iron and then steel and we had to adapt to those too. We're tired of adapting."

Bottom line: The only racists in this article were the black people themselves. Feeling uncomfortable for no other reason than you are part of a racial minority makes YOU the racist.

Hypothetically speaking here: Never would you see an article that goes. "White Mormon Utah family adjusting to Compton after Major Earthquake in Salt Lake".

I had to have Mrs Hippie read the article too just to see if I had read it correctly...

I disagree with BFMeanie... I think the only "real" racist is the author. It's like he took every comment and tried as hard as he could to make it into something controvercial.

The way I read it the family, with the exception of the "we're tired of adapting" guy, all say...

"It's kind of weird here, it's not like NO. There aren't any black people here. We feel a little uneasy. We get the feeling some of the people here aren't used to having black people around but we kind of like it so we'll stay."

The author would have us believe there is this major turmoil when it seems like it's just a regular old status report.

Well, it was written by a Salt Lake Trib writer, if that makes any difference.

Contrast that with this story in Thursday's Deseret News:

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645195591,00.html

LOL, I saw that headline yesterday while on break in my Legal Skills class. At the time it was one of Yahoo's Ten Most Popular Stories of the day. Most of my class knows I am from Salt Lake City, and I was sarcastically beaming with pride pointing attention to it on my laptop.

The best part was Christina asking, "Idaho is even whiter than Utah, right?"

It is now... Our black student dropped out of U of I law.

I think any non-Utahn (esp. non-Mormon) would have some issues adapting to Utah. But this is hardly news.

I don't disagree with what EQ said. Not much anyway. I have remarked to my wife a couple of times though when race comes up that when I think about the irrational persecution complex that so many members of the church suffer from based upon events from roughly the same time period as slavery which, though horrible for the people who suffered them, pale in comparison to the entire slavery and discrimination experience blacks have been through, it gets a lot easier for me to see why the "black" world view is so colored by the past.

I think it is also irrational in many ways, but it is understandable IMO.

Isn't that "Legal Skillz" these days?