MeFi Filter: Segregated Seattle
Last Friday, a post on MetaFilter linked to a University of Washington website (created by the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project) called “Segregated Seattle“. The sobering first paragraph:
For most of its history Seattle was a segregated city, as committed to white supremacy as any location in America. People of color were excluded from most jobs, most neighborhoods and schools, and many stores, restaurants, hotels, and other commercial establishments, even hospitals. As in other western states, the system of severe racial discrimination in Seattle targeted not just African Americans but also Native Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, people of Mexican ancestry, and also, at times, Jews.
Without exception, MeFi commenters were fascinated by the history of segregation in Seattle and were quick to add that it still very much exists. Mefite y2karl had this to say:
I would agree. This is a very liberal city politically but it has the largest white population of any American city outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul. I have friends who moved here from Washington D.C. who find the submerged racial tension here really off-putting. They tell me you can have a civil conversation on the street between the races there but not here.
There is a lot of tension. The Torchlight Parade downtown is white at the north end and black and brown at the south end. The light rail is above ground in the south end and a subway in the white north end. Racial violence at public events is not uncommon.
As documented many times over, Seattle can be a chilly place. Politely rude is the expression I use to describe it. Unfortunately, we may have to think about adding “racially intolerant” to the list of less than admirable qualities.
You had the right words there, but juuuust missed putting them in the right order:
“Politely rude” is easy to think of as “racially intolerant.”
In fact, the average middle-class Seattleite has a difficult time with people who are different in any way from themself: my father is old, hunched over from a spinal issue, and prefers to dress in jeans, sneakers and windbreakers (he’s white, for the record). He has tried to ask directions on the street, and most people simply act as if he doesn’t exist, or shake their heads as if to say “I don’t have any spare change for you.”
So be careful when painting with the brush of race, when that brush may simply be “people who aren’t just like me.” Both may be wrong, but the latter is much less, ah, politically charged.
That’s a fair point, Michael. And you may be right that our chilly nature could be misinterpreted as racist. However, there seems to be a preponderance of evidence — both in the historical record and of the modern anecdotal variety — that suggests there may be something a little more sinister at work. At the very least, it’s probably a topic worth thinking and talking about.
It totally exists here, and it’s not a surprise given the heavily white demographic (and that’s despite the steady influx of Asians, and enough Latinos to disrupt traffic with a Downtown immigration rally).
Gomez’s comment reminds me that there is also reaction from the Live Journal community (discovered after I posted here). Although, it appears it devolved pretty quickly into a debate about whether Seattle is friendly or not.
Wayan from DC Metroblogging here, and while my fair city is not without its racial tensions, we all do get along for the most part.
Having been to Seattle back int he day (early 90′s) and Portland just last week, I was struck more by the total lack of color on your streets. I don’t remember seeing many black or Hispanic faces. Certainly not like here, where my whole neighbourhood is pepper with a dash of salt and paprika.
The MeFi poster is wrong. Seattle does not have the 2nd largest white population of any US city, although it is near the top (percentage-wise). Seattle is, however, whiter than both Minneapolis and St. Paul. So the MeFi poster was wrong on that count too.