Woah now, calm down y’all.
I was just saying that the argument that Hyde Park votes 95% Dem isn’t a good point towards it not being racist (it isn’t, but that’s not because it’s on the left). Yes, racists do tend to vote GOP more often, but I would say the difference in racism between a community that’s 95% Dem and one that’s 95% GOP would be minimal.
@dietz199 I’m not here to present a new position or make some new claim. I don’t need to defend something on which others have conducted research. They made their claims and made their defenses. If you want to scrutinize their work, then by all means, do so. I am not here to play educator, nor am I going to attempt to appropriate their work.If you have a genuine interest in the subject, then there are plenty of scholarly articles available on studies conducted regarding behavior patterns and racism. You can find these publications and scrutinize them yourself.
@LegacyMom Studies have measured what you might call ‘outward’ racism, expressed in intentionally racist comments; and ‘implicit’ racism, which is evident in how subjects respond to certain questions.
Psychologists have done studies finding racism (implicit or explicit) linked to lower IQs and lower IQs linked to conservative tendencies. Political scientists have done other, more explicitly linked, research into racism and political ideology.
I am no political scientist (It’s been at least 5 years since I’ve gone near any substantive political science), so I would be unable to provide you with the most up-to-date contemporary research on the issue (e.g. case studies in particular geographic areas). Google scholar (as much as I dislike it), if you have no access to databases, should provide a number of articles. ‘Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes’ conducted by researchers at Brock University comes immediately to mind. I believe someone at Stanford has published a recent study on voting and racism in the 2008-2012 period as well.
@NYU2013 Ok, so you’re saying psychological studies have linked IQ to “racism” and psychological studies have linked lower IQ to “conservative tendencies.” Thus voting GOP is correlated to racism. Alrighty then.
When you get into notions like “tendencies” and psychological tests, I’m a bit skeptical. One of the articles I linked below questions the notion of going by tendencies. For example, African Americans voted overwhelmingly against gay marriage in CA, yet voted overwhelmingly for Obama in the same election. So how would you score their “tendency”? I thought you were talking about measurable correlations to voting patterns. I am not aware of any direct data between voting and IQ – not sure how that could even be collected since most people probably have no idea what their IQ is.
I do know that, dating back to the seventies, the least educated voters have consistently voted for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections. (There has been some fluctuation in the most highly educated sector, with that trending toward the democrats, but the least-educated have consistently voted democrat) I’m not saying that necessarily means they have lower IQs, but it is the only direct measure we have to voting patterns:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/139880/election-polls-presidential-vote-groups.aspx
Here are some more interesting articles on the subject:
http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2011/02/blue-state-and-red-state-iq-is.html
http://www.aei.org/publication/are-liberals-smarter-than-conservatives/
Anyway, I know we’ve gotten far off track from the OP, but I think it is important to question the prevailing wisdom.
@NYU2013 And, here are a few critiques of the Bright Minds “research”.
off course the victim is a white woman and her children who were attacked by black people because of her race . I think that non blacks would need to be more concerned with being the victim of a racial attack in chicago.
http://abc7chicago.com/news/abc7-exclusive-woman-allegedly-attacked-by-group-near-uofc-campus/841913/
kaarboer
" Yes, racists do tend to vote GOP more often" that is way over the top, perhaps you did not mean to make such a silly statement.
As a resident of the city of Chicago and someone who is familiar with the South Side I will say this: Don’t worry about racism. This is not to say that it doesn’t exist in the city of Chicago or the South Side, but racism is every where - be it in the northeast, the West Coast, middle America or the South. Some places it may be more palpable, but I always give wherever I am traveling the benefit of the doubt - it is only fair to the people residing there. If I were you I’d concern myself with urban safety, be it traveling at night and how to get around the city safely when the street lamps turn on. This goes for anyone moving to Chicago, be it a female or male.
A little about me: I am Asian and I went to a university located in the cornfields of the Midwest; the city it was in was no larger than 22, 000 people and the population of the university was a little over 12, 000. I was an ethnic minority at my school and mentored a young (white) boy nine years of age at an adjacent city no more than a ten minute drive away. His family was borderline food stamp worthy. When I first visited the family I was worried that my ethnicity might be a problem - my worries were not fulfilled. The family welcomed me and I voiced to the boy’s mother, when I was alone with her, about my hesitation. She politely said that me being not white was a good thing since she thought her son could learn something from me. Take that as you will. On our last day together before I graduated he said that he’d miss me, to which I asked “Why?” “Because you’re a good person.”
In the small city I was attending university I never experienced any racism or “microaggression,” at least to my knowledge and reflections on my daily interactions with the locals. In fact, it was me that was entering the city filled with negative presumptions as I talked to my philosophy professor during student orientation. I said some unflattering things about the city which I now regret; I am lucky it was behind closed doors.
As for the narrative that the GOP vote being more racist, please grow up. As I moved away from the academic & modern liberal bubble that is higher learning I have shed such insecurities and unfair beliefs.
The areas sounding Hyde park, and the south side in general are not all that safe. The areas just north and west are very, very bad. Remember the Chris Rock joke about avoiding any street named MLK? There is MLK Dr running N-S and on the western border of Hyde Park, just west of U Chicago. Chicago has one of the highest crime rates of any major city. Just make sure to use common sense precautions, don’t walk alone and be especially careful after dark. I worked and traveled in the area for years, and the major safety concerns for a student are going back and forth from the loop after dark. Buses and the el are fine, I’ve never had any issues at any time of the day or night.
The lake front trail is a great place to jog or ride your bike.
I’d only be concerned about racism if you are a black conservative. Chicago is a rough and tumble Democratic union town, full of good people and corrupt politicians. Most people will just see you as a college student.
Devils are in the details.
Most of the crime happens in the poorer inner South Side neighborhoods; next up are the poorer West Side neighborhoods. The violence occur in pockets in each case. Chicago news usually tells us, the audience, what neighborhood the killings occur, but national & international news always fail to mention where it happened therefore causing a very misconstrued perception of the city. It paints the entire city as a war zone - it’s simply a highly inaccurate portrayal.
I highly doubt people on the North Side in neighborhoods like Lincoln Park and Ravenswood, or the Southwest neighborhoods of Beverley and Garfield Park would agree with the national perception of Chicago being a “Chiraq.” (Maybe Spike Lee’s new movie will put the pressure on the gangs to stop using guns and instead to use tree branches.)
Hyde Park, located on the South Side, being an inner neighborhood is probably the safest neighborhood when compared to the surrounding communities (for various reasons - higher property value, more education by its residents, more professional workers etc.). North Side is relatively safe, with Rogers Park getting some crime, and Lake View - as of late - being a stop by for insidious characters. Uptown is probably the most seediest part of the North Side, with drug addicts wondering around, prostitutes etc. West Side has its crime with Humboldt Park, which is practically the Englewood of the West Side, but that, in past years has gotten better due to gentrification.
In saying all that, the South Side isn’t all bad. Auburn Greshman is probably my favorite South Side neighborhood (great food) with architecture reminiscing vaugely of grander, prouder days. Depending on ones upbringing, the South Side, if we exclude Hyde Park, is either a shock or just “plain old South Side.” I’d suspect many of the kids applying and attending UChicago aren’t use to such a reality. Welcome to the real world, kids. Where Greenwich Village isn’t really “hardcore” and not all neighborhoods are as hip as Williamsburg, Brooklyn.