Pulling this form the other thread to the more appropriate place.
Having lived other places as well, I have reached a similar conclusion. There is also a strong City vs County level of resentment which makes no logical sense. It’s really strange, because generally St. Louis is one of the more polite places. It seems like such a paradox. But, maybe that’s because I experience it as someone classified in the majority. Or maybe it’s superficial? I am guessing that it is the former if you are white and the later for minorities from particular groups.
(Insert giant asterisk) This is a large scale, aggregate-based, generalization and not everyone falls into the general grouping.
Whenever I tell someone that St. Louis has very large racial issues, I almost always get pushback and told other places are just as racist or have the same racial problems (as if that makes it ok or defensible). But, that is not what I have experienced. I have noticed that most of the people that say these things have not lived in other cities. Some that do say it isn’t as bad as other places and have lived in other cities often have lived in the south, which historically follows a trend. I think we can collectively comprehend why that would be the case.
I say these things not to stoke flames or as an attempt to insult. Rather, I hope it gets people to think about it in a different way than maybe they were accustomed. Admittedly, in the past I was naive to these problems and in my youth said things that I wish I never had. It took someone sitting down with me and showing the error of my ways for me to make a change. Frankly, I resisted at first because I didn’t want to believe that. My ego pushed back. I tried to justify things. Tried to point the finger elsewhere. But, ultimately came to accept and change. Hopefully more can take a similar journey.