Posted on 09/09/2005 2:35:47 PM PDT by RWR8189
CAMP WILLIAMS, Utah (Reuters) - Asked whether he would relocate permanently to Utah after being brought here as a refugee from Hurricane Katrina, Larry Andrew rattled off a series of questions on Friday on the delicate issue of race.
"How do the adults really feel about us moving in?" he asked at Camp Williams, a military base 21 miles south of Salt Lake City housing about 400 refugees from last weeks disaster. "What if I find a Caucasian girl and decide to date her?
"Will I have to deal with whispering behind me and eyeballing me?" asked the 36-year-old black man.
For the mostly poor, black refugees evacuated from New Orleans, few places are as geographically remote and culturally alien as this corner of Utah, where 0.2 percent of the population in the nearest town is black.
Still, some refugees, especially younger adults, say they are ready to make a new start in the region even though they did not know they were coming until the doors shut on the airplane evacuating them from New Orleans.
"I'm planning a whole new life," said Phillip Johnson II, 23, who has already arranged an apartment in Salt Lake City. "It's an opportunity knocking for me out here."
He said even though the population of New Orleans was two-thirds black, his appearance with dreadlocks and a goatee still worked against him. "In New Orleans, being a young black man, you get harassed a lot, stereotyped a lot," he said.
One of the volunteers at the base, Newton Gborway, who moved to Utah from Liberia in West Africa five years ago, shared his first-hand impression of life in an economically prosperous state with a less than one percent black population.
"Don't be shocked and surprised if you meet someone who is mean to you or doesn't want to associate with you because you are black," he told Darisn Evans. "You don't worry about the negative stuff."
"Everything is going to be okay, but it is just a matter of time."
Evans said he would remain in Utah, and would like to work either as a handyman or as a highway patrolman.
His ex-wife Tanya Andrews, 44, said race played a part in their escape from flooded New Orleans, an adventure which she said included looting food, a television and a boat to get to higher land. She said rescuers picked them up only after a lighter-skinned black woman waved down a helicopter.
UTAH OPEN ARMS
So far the local community has welcomed the refugees with open arms, although they say they face an adjustment to life in Utah, stronghold of the socially conservative Mormon Church.
"Any time you go in where you are in the minority -- and I'm experienced in this -- it's going to be more difficult," said Wayne Mortimer, mayor of Bluffdale next to Camp Williams.
He cited his past missionary work in Canada when he was a relatively rare Mormon. Mortimer said his town of 6,500, a well-to-do bedroom community of Salt Lake City, had 20 low-income housing units available for the refugees.
"When you are an affluent community like we have, the greatest blessing we can have is to lift someone else," he said in an interview.
Larry Andrew's brother Adrian and sister Tanya, despite initial shock about being sent to Utah, say they will remain in Utah. Even Larry, despite his doubts, says the state is offering him a unique chance.
"According to what I see, it will be beneficial to me economically, even socially," he said. "But how would they adapt to me?"
Wow, you live in Montgomery too?
all w/o telling my parents.
.....lol... Ain't life great!
LOL - I feel your pain!!!
You are so right, Gracey.
Thanks that's my second English lesson ;-)
Dont' dismiss her comment as paranoia.Light skinned blacks DO get favoritism in black New Orleans.Thats a FACT!
Goodnight all. My kids will call social services on me if I don't pay them some attention.
Possible reason he wouldn't want to take her to Mississippi. I didn't buy the 'risk of hanging' story. If you read her response to me, she has met the family, so my suggestion, while legitimate, didn't pan out.
Not being black, I can't speak as to whether it's a fact or not, but such prejudice would be historically centered.
Well, at least according to a book I read on quadroons and octaroons, and the men who were their lovers. In essence, the lighter the skin of the mistress, the more desireable she was, and the higher the price.
New Orleans really does have an odd and sordid history.
Sorry if it was a dupe -- I didn't thoroughly read through all the responses -- just those that I thought made sense, like yours.
There are a lot of black women who dislike the idea of a black man dating a white woman. It works both ways
When I was a kid we spent summers in the South and I was appalled at how they treated Blacks. I remember asking my mom why they didn't move to NM where we had always been integrated.
Incoming mail.
It really depends which part of the state you live in. I spent the first 24 years of my life there and know that certain cities are more accustomed to non-LDS people than others. The state is about 65% Mormon, so there are non-members there. It's not so much that there is bigotry against non-members as much as ignorance (and I don't mean that in a mean way). It's just really easy to live your whole life there with people who are exactly like you. In that kind of environment, anyone else would be identified as being "different."
The LDS population there is extremely tight-knit. It's part of the culture. Unfortunately, most of the activities are centered around the church. I think this is viewed by non-members as being non-inclusive. It's not meant to be that way as LDS people want to be kind to everyone, it's just sometimes an unfortunate side effect.
Also, I think a lot of LDS people are afraid of letting the outside world in because of the general decay of morals and values in America. It's not that there aren't great, decent, non-Mormons (my experience living outside of Utah is evidence of that), but I think a lot of LDS parents are concerned about wordly influences on their children.
Trust me when I say that the great majority of Utah Mormons (there are always exceptions) are well-meaning and would bend over backwards for anyone who needs help, friendship, etc. The trick is for non-Mormons in Utah is to not get so easily offended.
I hear you.
I think we've come a long way, but we've got a long way to go, too.
How can we all help to make it better?
The church that couldn't shoot straight. When I was young, I left the United Methodists after 5 generations in my family because they were so behind the times with racial acceptance/integration. I went back 25 years later -- for awhile. Now, I have left them for the final time because of the Northeast conference's enthusiasm for being an extension of the Democrat National Committee, anti-war hypocrisy, and unqualified support for gay behaviorists in the pews and in the pulpit.
LOL!! You be da bomb!
Proud of my heritage. It's the dogma I can't handle.
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