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Icantredditgood t1_jc5sz5n wrote

Reply to comment by Remote_Bumblebee2240 in Threat on United Airlines plane shuts down Vermont airport by Thetimmybaby

Probably not the right place to ask, but would you recommend Vermont for someone Asian trying to get away from the south?

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Remote_Bumblebee2240 t1_jc656yl wrote

Like anywhere, there's a couple bad eggs, and since I'm white there's bound to be things I don't come into contact with. But I will say that once you get past the gruff New England exterior, most people take pride in not being racists. I heard it said that west coast folks are nice but not kind, and east coast folks are kind but not nice and it's a pretty good description, lol. If you break down it's really likely someone will pull over and help you out, but they might give you shit about your car while they're fixing it.

My hometown is a whopping 2500 people and we have a Chinese restaurant run by a Chinese family. They've been here for almost 30 years and their child was born here. He's now working at a local store and is managing the younger kids. My brother used to work for his family and back in the day my friends and I used to frequent their place. I can't speak for other people but my friends and I always considered them part of the community and we were on a comfortable joking level familiarity. The father would mess with us and we had some pretty hilarious times there. Again, I'm speaking for my friends and myself, but we always were ready to call out the bigots. Definitely there were a few parties where we actively confronted ignorant rednecks, sometimes ending in fights. We weren't afraid to put the fear of hippies into those types of assholes.

Vermonters tend to be pretty progressive. It was the first state to give women the right to vote way back in the day and the first state to vote to allow gay marriage.

I wish I could answer more thoroughly, but i have experienced all this from a white perspective. From my limited observations though, I think most people are more curious than hostile. I won't say racism is non existent here. I've spoken to some people who have definitely had some negative experiences. And a few of my friend from high school who are black had some scary ones growing up.

I know Vermont is making efforts to get new people moving into the state. And while the population is very white, it's getting more diverse which is nice to see.

I guess the short answer is yes, I do think it's better up here compared to the south, racially speaking. Although that's a low bar to pass.

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Icantredditgood t1_jc7auml wrote

Thank you very much for your reply. I’ve been doing a lot of research, and I definitely have to visit during the depths of winter, so see if a southerner can handle actual winter, lol, but it helps talking to people in a position to know :-)

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slippery_eagle t1_jc69u3z wrote

Just avoid certain places. You'll be fine in Burlington (expensive) or montpelier. I think Brattleboro is fairly progressive but I don't live down there.

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Lower-Blackberry-716 t1_jc7bkp9 wrote

I'm from Texas and currently working/living in Brattleboro and it seems to be pretty progressive also.

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slippery_eagle t1_jc7da6j wrote

I almost moved there but my son didn't want to leave his school. Good thing because I met my wonderful boyfriend here 💕 I do like it down there, though.

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Icantredditgood t1_jc7bwzp wrote

Thank you for your reply, I’ve been doing my research and I still need to visit, but it helps talking to people who know the area :-)

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slippery_eagle t1_jc7cyhw wrote

You're very welcome. It's a wonderful place and I wouldn't live anywhere else.

Of course we have our problems like any other place.

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Icantredditgood t1_jc7iw5o wrote

Yeah, I don’t expect Vermont to be a fairytale land that solves all my problems, but from all the research I’ve done, it seems like it’s possibly the best state in the country for me, possibly best state full stop :-)

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