Living in the NY metro area, and working in Manhattan, I see/hear little to no true racial overtones in broad view. Generally, I do think we have a rather progressive, open view towards race. However, I'm certain that prejudices exists and that they're politely kept inside.
People, generally speaking, are slow to divorce themselves totally from prejudices. My father, for example, is far from as 'open' as his sons are.
With that said, my office is a prime example of how race mingling can work. And work well. I have fellow co-workers born in Afghanistan, Iraq, Portugal, the Caribean, Germany, China, Korea, and, of course, America. And I'm certain to be omitting some. We also have a number of openly homosexuals working here. And so what? They're really no different from heterosexuals.
And, at the end of the day, we all generally get along quite well.
Ironically, the greatest disputes are amongst liberal vs consvervative, as we debate hard & heavy (ie: argue!), but these are always the most fun! My best mates here are either extremelly liberal or extremelly conservative. Ironic, that.
Anyway, every day, I walk past the WTC site (on the way to meet my wife, who was born in China) and ponder the grand fate of our mixed daughter's future. More likely than not, things will continue to get worse before they get better (overall, on the world stage). With that said, however, I do think that race relation in NY are TEN TIMES better than they were 15 years ago....when things were much hairier here. The LA riots really opened up a lot of eyes in America, as I see it. The problems we had here in NY in the 90s also shed light on the issue (police raping an immigrant with a broom-stick, etc).
All in all, I'd really have to assume that what just transpired in Australia is unlikely to occur in any of the major US cities where there is intermingling and race-mixing. But, I could be very wrong. I hope I am, at least.
As you travel up the line into upstate NY, the trend mentioned above reverses itself a bit. Friends and family I have upstate are no where near as accepting as I am, and even had a bit of a hard time with my marrying outside of my race. BUT, once they ice broke, and they got to know my wife, they became accepting of her. And, ultimately, that's the key: exposure to 'the other'. The more we know of others, the more the silly barriers break. And, we realize, we're the same. The differences are cultural...nothing more (of course, cultural differences count for a lot, I know). BUT, they can be overcome...
People, generally speaking, are slow to divorce themselves totally from prejudices. My father, for example, is far from as 'open' as his sons are.
With that said, my office is a prime example of how race mingling can work. And work well. I have fellow co-workers born in Afghanistan, Iraq, Portugal, the Caribean, Germany, China, Korea, and, of course, America. And I'm certain to be omitting some. We also have a number of openly homosexuals working here. And so what? They're really no different from heterosexuals.
And, at the end of the day, we all generally get along quite well.
Ironically, the greatest disputes are amongst liberal vs consvervative, as we debate hard & heavy (ie: argue!), but these are always the most fun! My best mates here are either extremelly liberal or extremelly conservative. Ironic, that.
Anyway, every day, I walk past the WTC site (on the way to meet my wife, who was born in China) and ponder the grand fate of our mixed daughter's future. More likely than not, things will continue to get worse before they get better (overall, on the world stage). With that said, however, I do think that race relation in NY are TEN TIMES better than they were 15 years ago....when things were much hairier here. The LA riots really opened up a lot of eyes in America, as I see it. The problems we had here in NY in the 90s also shed light on the issue (police raping an immigrant with a broom-stick, etc).
All in all, I'd really have to assume that what just transpired in Australia is unlikely to occur in any of the major US cities where there is intermingling and race-mixing. But, I could be very wrong. I hope I am, at least.
As you travel up the line into upstate NY, the trend mentioned above reverses itself a bit. Friends and family I have upstate are no where near as accepting as I am, and even had a bit of a hard time with my marrying outside of my race. BUT, once they ice broke, and they got to know my wife, they became accepting of her. And, ultimately, that's the key: exposure to 'the other'. The more we know of others, the more the silly barriers break. And, we realize, we're the same. The differences are cultural...nothing more (of course, cultural differences count for a lot, I know). BUT, they can be overcome...
), then in English...Mosque, shoot me 
