Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 13:02:54 +0100
From: Dave Coull <coull-AT-onetel.net.uk>
Subject: Re: Ronald Reagan: Corpse to sheathed in diamonds and shot  



I wrote

 > while neither Santa Cruz nor SF are entirely "without racism",
 > both have folks from many different ethnic backgrounds, and for
 > that reason alone there may be less racism there than there is
 > here (or in Erik's Belchum, for that matter).

and Erik comments

 > strange reasoning
 >
 > Brussels is a very mixed town regarding ethnicity.
 > I foolishly believed that by being exposed to many
 > different kinds of cultures, races etc people are
 > more open.

I remember a couple of years ago some English university
or research body did quite a widespread survey which compared
attitudes towards "different kinds of cultures, races etc"
in different parts of England. No, I can't remember which
university or research body it was that did this, I can't cite
any details, but I am not imagining this, such a survey was
indeed done. Their most important finding was that, considering
only people who were "white and English", racist attitudes
were far stronger amongst such people in rural, or suburban,
overwhelmingly "white" areas, than they were amongst such
people in more mixed urban areas. In other words, regular
contact with people from "different kinds of cultures, races
etc" really did make people less racist. My "reasoning"
was based on remembering the results of that survey.
On the basis of my own personal experiences of living
in different cities and rural areas, sometimes in very "mixed"
areas and sometimes in far more ethnically homogenous
ones (as at present), I would say there is some truth in this.

 > If one looks at the rersults of our elections : as well in miced
 > neighbourhoods as in plain white ones the racist party gains.

Okay, I admit I haven't looked at the Belchum election results
in detail, but in any case election results aren't the only
indicator of racism. Racists might feel more "threatened"
by people from "different kinds of cultures, races etc"
in urban areas, but that doesn't mean that people
in rural or suburban areas must be less racist.

Dave C