<p>I'm moving to the States in September. I'm originally from Canada, but I'm not Caucasian. And I've been hearing about a lot of racism in America and all that, and that there's a lot of culture shock. I haven't been to the States apart from the grad school visit (which was about 2 days), and I'm getting slightly scared. Of course, the people I've talked to here over the years have been really nice, and I'm wondering what you guys think about the Canada-US culture difference.</p>
<p>Please comment on anything you think is relevant - I'd like to hear especially about racism, the general rudeness/helpfulness, etc.</p>
<p>It depends where you’re going. I’m also Canadian and I’m black.</p>
<p>I live in Toronto (prolly the most multicultural city in the world) and there is little to no racism obviously but if you move outside Toronto to smaller towns don’t think there is no racism becuz there is.</p>
<p>The same thing goes in the States. You prolly won’t find the big cities all that bad. Smaller, less multi-ethnic towns are usually the issue.</p>
<p>If you’re moving to NY, Boston, Chicago, the big Cali cities, etc. racism shouldn’t be an issue.</p>
<p>I thought this was all common knowledge. </p>
<p>You have to do this on a city by city or town by town basis. There is no inherent US culture or Canadian culture. </p>
<p>Culturally, Toronto prolly has more in common with many big US cities than some Canadian towns.</p>
<p>I would think that racism might be an issue in very small towns which are predominately white, or in the deep south. Other than that, I think we’re fine. Of course, I have a bit of a bias.</p>
<p>Huh, that’s funny. I’m indeed moving to a big American city. I come from a very small town, and I never had an issue with racism, despite the fact that throughout elementary/high school, I was the only coloured person. I thought racism was a big city thing. I thought Toronto had its share of problems with racism as well.</p>
<p>In any case, this makes me feel better. Thanks guys!</p>
<p>I’m going to disagree slightly with some of the above posters: it’s not a big city/small town sort of thing, but instead more of an individual issue. You can decrease your chances of encountering racism by going to a socially liberal area since, by definition, the area will be more tolerant of diversity. Some big cities fit this description, and some do not, just as small towns may or may not. Usually areas around universities (because universities tend to be socially liberal as a whole) tend to embrace diversity to a much higher degree than elsewhere.</p>
<p>Overt racism is rare in the United States. The kind of racism that exists (and I’ll bet this includes Canada) is more internal, usually the kind where white guilt makes a person go out of his way to prove he is NOT racist or where someone thinks of you as less capable until proven otherwise. How you dress and how you speak may influence the reactions you get from strangers. This is most likely the kind of day-to-day racism you’ll encounter in the US, and it won’t be from everyone.</p>
<p>Despite what people have said above, the Deep South does not have the corner on the market for racism. In fact, a high percentage of blacks live in the South, and they hold positions of power – politically, financially, and academically. In the North, except in the major cities, this usually isn’t the case. </p>
<p>Because of our history, Americans tend to discuss racism openly, even if we do not acknowledge it in our daily lives, making it seem to outsiders that it is worse here than anywhere else in the world. The fact is, people have always identified with their group and have been suspicious of those unlike them. And the majority always has the upper hand. This is not just in black/white relations – all you have to do is look at genocides throughout the world to know that this ugliness is a human-wide problem. </p>
<p>You <em>will</em> be safe in the US, and you <em>will</em> fit in as well here as you would in a Canadian university. You will make friends and be respected for the work you do. Yes, you will encounter some racism, most likely closeted, but it will be in certain individuals, not in the culture as a whole.</p>
<p>First cultural change: coloured = colored. lol. Although, that term isn’t at all politically correct either…</p>
<p>Joking aside, there are certainly racial issues to be aware of, even in large cities. Some American urban universities are located in neighborhoods that are otherwise lower-class black, and that can often generate racial tension. I remember two or three years ago at the University of Chicago (although I’m having trouble googling it now for the specifics) a black graduate student was confronted by the UofC police and asked for his ID. When he refused the conflict escalated and he was beaten pretty badly…</p>
<p>Of course things like this are very rare, and you probably shouldn’t worry too much, but this is at a pretty diverse university, so I guess my point is: things happen.</p>
<p>Another thing that I have noticed is that there can be (at least at Chicago there was) a pretty interesting schism between African-Americans and black people who were not raised in the states. It has a lot to do with the ways that the African Americans have dealt with racism in their lives, and the identity politics behind race that they do not share with black people who grew up outside of the US. </p>
<p>So anyway, I don’t want to scare you. I wouldn’t let these factors affect your decision to study in the US. I just think you should be aware that racial issues can be very complicated, so just be aware at first.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you for your amazing responses! Hopefully I can fit in! I found that Canadians are very open about the whole racism issue, and we often make jokes about the “political correctness” of racism etc. Maybe that’s not the smartest thing to do in the States =P Now that I think about it, I don’t even know what the politically correct term is for a lot of these racial issues…</p>
<p>I have a black (is this correct? <em>confused</em>) friend who recently moved to Chicago, and he is a Canadian through and through. And a lot of responses he got from Americans was “why are you acting so white?” And he said it was kind of uncomfortable… Is something like that common?</p>
<p>Any Canadian-American speaking from their experience?</p>
<p>Acting so white… as in proper manners? Like President Obama? Again, you will have to refer to American social and cultural history to understand why there are such comments like this. It’s a matter of class difference as well- the majority of Americans are white and by history, the whites tend to be highly educated and proper and in middle to upper class whereas the blacks were of lower class. Lower class people tended not to have much exposure to high society. Of course, it’s all changing, slowly. But sometimes people just can’t help but be ignorant and learn about the Other Race through media, including movies (Big Momma’s House, Madea Goes to Jail, Crash, etc, movies that major characters as blacks, and acting in black stereotypes). </p>
<p>Also, we now have a <em>black</em> president so for the next 3 1/2 years, the race issue will come up quite more frequently than usual since President Obama sometimes gets involved in racism (as with the recent case of Harvard professor), and people point that out.</p>
<p>In everyone i met and have been around in Vancouver are really nice. I would accidently bump into people at public places and they would apologize to me before i can even say sorry to them. Really nice people. Im not sure about Vancouver but i know in Toronto some people have this thing against what they call ( brown people) indians, pakistans , middle eastern. I think because there are middle eastern gangs or something. I dont know how true this is but it was told by to me by 2 of my cousins who are born and raised in Toronto. for the most part they are not really culturally different, most canadians are so nice its almost wierd.</p>
<p>I grew up on the Canadian border, spent most of the summers when I was a kid in Canada, and have a bunch of Canadian relatives who live in Toronto and Montreal.</p>
<p>Really, I think you are only going to find two major differences between Canada and the U.S. First, Canadian society is just plain quieter and more polite. People in the U.S., certainly in big cities, and in lots of rural areas as well, feel privileged to express themselves noisily and rudely to an extent that would generally be unthinkable in Canada. </p>
<p>This summer, I was at a bar in the States with my 20-something Canadian nieces when some guys started hitting on them. The guys definitely had a few brews under their belts, but their behavior didn’t strike me as particularly obnoxious, and they certainly took “no” for an answer, albeit reluctantly. My nieces were scandalized. As far as they were concerned, the boys were way over the line; they simply didn’t experience stuff like that in Canada.</p>
<p>Applying that in a different context, you could feel threatened in a situation where no one actually intended to be threatening you, or even hostile. Or someone may verbalize his hostility to you, but while in Canada that would mean he was about to go nuclear, in the U.S. that is probably the end to it.</p>
<p>Second, the political spectrum in the U.S. is far, far, far to the right of what it is in Canada. That can be pretty shocking. Policy-wise the most conservative Canadian parties probably correspond to centrist Democrats here – i.e., a little left of the political center. Lots of things about which there is pretty broad social consensus in Canada – including treatment of immigrants, anti-racism, war, religious freedom, etc. – can be controversial here.</p>