White Maine students are least likely in nation to see kids of another race at school
That was the headline in the Bangor Daily News today.
It’s little surprise that Maine — the country’s whitest state — has the country’s most racially homogeneous schools.
This was the first line of the article.
Questions: What does writing an article like this hope to prove? Why is Maine the country's whitest state? Why do public schools even exist?
okay......I got a little carried away on that last one. It's a well known fact that I am not in favor of public education.
Maine is a beautiful state. Maine is mostly rural with lots and lots of trees. Maine's biggest industry is now tourism. Maine has lots of low paying jobs. Maine is cold and snowy for at least six months of the year. It gets dark at 3:30 pm in the winter. Maine is buggy (as in mosquitoes and black flies) for another three months of the year. Maine gets inundated with tourists for another three months of the year.
.....am I painting a good picture of why Maine might not be on a majority of peoples lists of places to live?
We moved to Maine from New Jersey. New Jersey is a very racially diverse state. Maine is not. Did that fact have anything to do with our decision to move here. I would be lying if I said no. When we were deciding to move away, we were looking for space, breathing room, but staying on the east coast. We were also looking for a place that very few other people were going to. Maine fit the bill. Very few people want to move to a place like Maine. Some think they do, but what they really want is a vacation. Life in Maine is hard. There are very few high paying careers type jobs here. We love it here , we are making it work. That's what you have to do to live here: make it work, live on less, work more, or move away. Plain and simple.
I think I got a little long winded there! whew!
Anyway, when we were looking for a place to live, were we aware of the fact that Maine was the "whitest" state. Yes we were. Just like we were aware of other places in the country that were the least "white' . If Maine, with all its beauty and shortcomings, just happened to be 90% racially "unwhite" would we have still moved here? Probably not.
So, look at it the other way. If an "unwhite" family was looking for a new home in a new place they might also take into consideration the same things we did. I don't see that as being racist, but I'm sure some will.
I believe that Maine is the "whitest" state because it's just darn hard to make it here. There are so many other places in this country that life is easier in. Heck! did I even mention the rocks?!!! Just try and grow something here! lol In the almost 14 years that we have lived here I have not seen any evidence of racism. Maine is the land of "live and let live" Mainers can be very standoffish, but if you need something, anything, no matter who you are or what color your skin, or where you are from, they will be there for you.
Writing articles like this without having solutions (should there even be one?) is just plain
"looking for a fight". Controversy at it's finest. Should the government force some of us Mainers to move to Detroit? At least it's still cold there! Should the government force some native Mississippians to move to Maine? They would surely freeze and go stir crazy!
Last I knew this was still a free country and anyone could try and make a go of it anywhere they wanted. (and could afford to--after all free doesn't apply to everything)
Maine: the way life should be! (once you get above Portland anyway. )
It’s little surprise that Maine — the country’s whitest state — has the country’s most racially homogeneous schools.
This was the first line of the article.
Questions: What does writing an article like this hope to prove? Why is Maine the country's whitest state? Why do public schools even exist?
okay......I got a little carried away on that last one. It's a well known fact that I am not in favor of public education.
Maine is a beautiful state. Maine is mostly rural with lots and lots of trees. Maine's biggest industry is now tourism. Maine has lots of low paying jobs. Maine is cold and snowy for at least six months of the year. It gets dark at 3:30 pm in the winter. Maine is buggy (as in mosquitoes and black flies) for another three months of the year. Maine gets inundated with tourists for another three months of the year.
.....am I painting a good picture of why Maine might not be on a majority of peoples lists of places to live?
We moved to Maine from New Jersey. New Jersey is a very racially diverse state. Maine is not. Did that fact have anything to do with our decision to move here. I would be lying if I said no. When we were deciding to move away, we were looking for space, breathing room, but staying on the east coast. We were also looking for a place that very few other people were going to. Maine fit the bill. Very few people want to move to a place like Maine. Some think they do, but what they really want is a vacation. Life in Maine is hard. There are very few high paying careers type jobs here. We love it here , we are making it work. That's what you have to do to live here: make it work, live on less, work more, or move away. Plain and simple.
I think I got a little long winded there! whew!
Anyway, when we were looking for a place to live, were we aware of the fact that Maine was the "whitest" state. Yes we were. Just like we were aware of other places in the country that were the least "white' . If Maine, with all its beauty and shortcomings, just happened to be 90% racially "unwhite" would we have still moved here? Probably not.
So, look at it the other way. If an "unwhite" family was looking for a new home in a new place they might also take into consideration the same things we did. I don't see that as being racist, but I'm sure some will.
I believe that Maine is the "whitest" state because it's just darn hard to make it here. There are so many other places in this country that life is easier in. Heck! did I even mention the rocks?!!! Just try and grow something here! lol In the almost 14 years that we have lived here I have not seen any evidence of racism. Maine is the land of "live and let live" Mainers can be very standoffish, but if you need something, anything, no matter who you are or what color your skin, or where you are from, they will be there for you.
Writing articles like this without having solutions (should there even be one?) is just plain
"looking for a fight". Controversy at it's finest. Should the government force some of us Mainers to move to Detroit? At least it's still cold there! Should the government force some native Mississippians to move to Maine? They would surely freeze and go stir crazy!
Last I knew this was still a free country and anyone could try and make a go of it anywhere they wanted. (and could afford to--after all free doesn't apply to everything)
Maine: the way life should be! (once you get above Portland anyway. )
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