I’ve lived in Connecticut my entire life. Im a 37 year old Puerto Rican husband and father. my parents were born in Puerto Rico, but myself in CT. My wife is Italian/Irish. I’m an Operations Manager at a manufacturing company that is opening a division in SC. I have been offered the same position there, with a sign on bonus, moving expenses, and a nice salary increase. I’m ready for s new life, but am hesitant. My hesitance is due to what I’ve heard about the South, especially towards non-whites. I Don’t care about how I will be treated were I alone. but it would bother me to have my wife or child treated unfairly due to my race. I’m American through and through. I would die for my country and have an American flag on my desk. but ignorance is prevalent there from what I’ve been told.
So what I’m asking is the opinion from those who live in SC, of all ethnicities. I’m thinking about the Greensville/Boiling Springs area. be honest, and even though your opinions, good or bad, will hold no weight on my decision, I’m still interested in hearing different stories/opinions.
I am not from South Carolina, I am actually from much further south than that. I’m sorry you have heard and may believe some of the worst of the stereotypes about the South, but I will say that this is 2016, not 1956. What is most likely is that no one will ever ever mention your race or ethnicity at all, unless it’s to say Heeeey Boricua! Yo tambien!
Not everyone is open minded and accepting, that’s true - but it’s true of the people everywhere. The South is full of all sorts of people from all over the world, especially in growing cities. Not to mention, this part of the country is just beautiful. Why not come for a visit before you make a decision to move?
I do live in SC. It can be a very nice place to live. The south has a bad reputation for poor race relations but it is not very different in that respect than any other state these days. No matter the latest news from NC.
Are there not bigots in Connecticut? Well they live here too but so do good open minded people.
I am not from South Carolina, I am actually from much further south than that. I’m sorry you have heard and may believe some of the worst of the stereotypes about the South, but I will say that this is 2016, not 1956. What is most likely is that no one will ever ever mention your race or ethnicity at all, unless it’s to say Heeeey Boricua! Yo tambien!
That’s hilarious-wife made the same exact statement about 1956. And love the Rican lingo!!
I live in GA, but spend a good deal of time in SC visiting in-laws. As a guy who could easily pass for Latino (it’s not unusual for someone to approach me and speak Spanish), I have never experienced any racism due to my appearance in either place. In fact, the Latino population where I live is quickly becoming the “majority minority”.
Of course, as with any state (of any size), South Carolina is not homogenous. to what part of the state will you be moving?
I live in Tennessee. It will be massive culture shock. You will hear people talking opening about their “faith” and you will be asked what church you go to. People will assume you are Republican and make borderline offensive comments about all sorts of things. However, there are plenty of good people in the south. You just have to be patient.
Well I am from SC - lived here all my life. I’m in the upstate now, so you’d be moving in relatively close. I’ve been upstate for over 15 years now; college and professional life.
Short answer, yes there are racist assholes here. However, my experience is that there’s a lot more racist ‘nice people’ in the south than up north. These people will never say anything nasty to your face. They’ll be polite and friendly. Eventually if you get to know them, they’ll tell you things like ‘you’re a credit to your race/people’ and ‘Well, you aren’t like those ‘other’ (insert derogatory term here) because of (insert bullshit racist reason here)’ but that will most likely be after years spent here.
I will say, Boiling Springs… isn’t great. That area specifically is rural and rough. Spartanburg isn’t much better - it is not a very nice city, and it seems very proud of being the backwards redneck cousin of the (relatively) more progressive Greenville area.
If you do move, aim for nearer Greenville if you can afford it and can hack the commute. Good areas on the Spartanburg side are Taylors and Travelers Rest. Looking slightly southward, Five Forks has a good reputation, and on the other side of Greenville along 85 you have the Easley/Powdersville conglomerate which is not bad - but Easley is much more stereotypically small-town southern with all the implicit racism packed in.
I don’t know much of South Carolina - though I lived in North Carolina (albeit, Chapel Hill, which isn’t like the rest of the state) for quite a few years before moving away. We actually nearly moved to Florence, SC about 20 years back when my husband was offered a faculty job there. Significant pay cut for him (but much cheaper cost of living), jobs for me would have been more limited unless I wanted to commute to Columbia an hour away, and the weekend we spent touring the area, I found that:
a) Either the hotel, or the air, or something, was playing heck with my asthma, and
b) the “good” grocery store there was a Piggly Wiggly. No. Just… no :D.
OK, the Piggly Wiggly wasn’t sufficient to make us decide not to move, and the asthma could probably have been dealt with. Ultimately we decided that for the disruption, it was not worth the move.
The people were very nice. My husband, being of Jewish background, might have been a bit of an oddity, as the town didn’t have all that many Yankees living there then.
You will find that your New York salary (plus raise!) will go a LOT further there - so the move might be very profitable for you. Do consider options if you find that you don’t like it there, or the job goes away: is your career flexible enough that you could find other employment in SC without having to sell up and move to another state?
Greenville’s pretty nice these days, they’ve really made their downtown great. And I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised at what it’s like to make MORE money than you did in CT and move to a cheaper place.
I have lived here in SC my whole life, granted in Columbia and not the Upstate. There are bigots everywhere, I don’t think they’re special here. Some of the most racist shit I’ve seen in my life was in Pittsburgh.
Lived in Rock Hill, near Charlotte, N.C. where I grew up.
I think the responses so far have been pretty spot-on. In my time there:
I’ve been called a faggot and had a beer can thrown at me because I was walking on the side of the road. Note: I do not exhibit any characteristics that would earn that label.
Seen good ole boys walking into the York, S.C., Wal-Mart wearing a Klan T-shirt (shrouded rider on a horse bearing a torch) with the logo “It’s a White Thing. You Wouldn’t Understand It.”
Sat in a barber shop listening to the old guys chaffing one of their own for standing at the curb during the local Martin Luther King parade.
Stood outside the Episcopal church one Sunday listening to a fellow parishioner talk about how Catholics aren’t “true” Christians.
South Carolina’s also the place where a state lawmaker compared the NAACP to the mentally disabled (over the Confederate flag / statehouse flap). He apologized … to the disabled.
That’s the sum total of my experiences in the 10 years I lived down there.
I have to balance that with hearing, in a Baltimore bar, my truck driving friend carefully explain how the Jews own the media, so you’re going to have assholes everywhere.
And I have to balance that with good experiences. The good ole boys I came to know were friendly, good-natured, and can talk s*** like nobody’s business, and if you needed help, they’d be happy to give it. Southerners are easy to talk to and culturally laid-back. If you can stand the heat and humidity – and that part of SC is notorious for it – you might do all right.
The Greenville Spartenburg area has some compensations in that you’re a few hours away from the mountains. Asheville, N.C., is lovely to visit and much cooler.
As someone who lived in Charlotte (and not even a really good part), it should be noted that Rock Hill is a pretty bad part of town, so it doesn’t surprise me that those things happened in that area. Don’t let a bad part of town spoil you on the rest of the region.