I am going to be moving to Oregons Willamette Valley. What part of it can I move to without it being redneckville? Thanks, Hippie
Old hippie man, I have lived near eugene my whole life. I am a typical hippie, read kerouac and ginsberg, listen to the dead, dylan and the stones, play guitar, am politically aware. Have pictures of Che and Dylan, and Neil Young on my wall You will be disappointed with oregon. I am. There are no protests, the antiwar movement is dead, even in oregon. Their is no activism. About the only hippie gathering is saturday market and then summer's country fair. Thats it. I hardly ever see dreadlocked fellow travelers around. Plus its all white. It gets a reputation of being inclusive and accepting and tolerant. Local schools have "racism free zones". But its 90 percent white. Universities are filled with white students. Several students were harassed and beaten because of their race. Buisness's and local offices of blacks have been defaced and vandalized. A few years ago, they wanted to rename a street "Martin Luther King blvd", despite the fact that it ended up working out and was renamed, an overwhelming amount of oregonians were upset about renaming it. Eugene and Oregon are straight out racist and facist. the eugene pigs are really quite unbelieveable. keep this in mind when you move. As as fellow oregonian my dreams are to go to Berkeley or Madison. Eugene and oregon sucks.
Whoever said there were rednecks up here was nuts!-I moved to Salem Oregon in 73' from my home in San Francisco-I was very much used to the big city -Haight Ashbury scene and loved the move -I now live 50 miles North of Salem in Vancouver Wa.--I would have left and gone back to the Bay Area long ago if I was around racist rednecks-thats crazy-paranoid propaganda-don't buy into it-Now' maybe in the 50s there was a lot of rednecks- but they were everywhere-Shit; me and a buddy hitched to New Orleans in the mid 60s and nearly got killed a few times-We had alot of hair and a San Francisco attitude' but nowdays a person can feel free to live anywhere and look like anything-I was a long haul trucker and can say that people are the same everywhere-some good some bad-just pick your friends wisely-stay close to the nice people and get away from the assholes and you will be fine-Yes; it is pretty much caucasion here but Portland has a major black area--we all get along--if you hate living somewhere-MOVE!--We have the right to live anywhere-exercise your right-good luck-
Whoever said there were rednecks up here was nuts!-I moved to Salem Oregon in 73' from my home in San Francisco-I was very much used to the big city -Haight Ashbury scene and loved the move -I now live 50 miles North of Salem in Vancouver Wa.--I would have left and gone back to the Bay Area long ago if I was around racist rednecks-thats crazy-paranoid propaganda-don't buy into it-Now' maybe in the 50s there was a lot of rednecks- but they were everywhere-Shit; me and a buddy hitched to New Orleans in the mid 60s and nearly got killed a few times-We had alot of hair and a San Francisco attitude' but nowdays a person can feel free to live anywhere and look like anything-I was a long haul trucker and can say that people are the same everywhere-some good some bad-just pick your friends wisely-stay close to the nice people and get away from the assholes and you will be fine-Yes; it is pretty much caucasion here but Portland has a major black area--we all get along--if you hate living somewhere-MOVE!--We have the right to live anywhere-exercise your right-good luck-
Whoever said there were rednecks up here was nuts!-I moved to Salem Oregon in 73' from my home in San Francisco-I was very much used to the big city -Haight Ashbury scene and loved the move -I now live 50 miles North of Salem in Vancouver Wa.--I would have left and gone back to the Bay Area long ago if I was around racist rednecks-thats crazy-paranoid propaganda-don't buy into it-Now' maybe in the 50s there was a lot of rednecks- but they were everywhere-Shit; me and a buddy hitched to New Orleans in the mid 60s and nearly got killed a few times-We had alot of hair and a San Francisco attitude' but nowdays a person can feel free to live anywhere and look like anything-I was a long haul trucker and can say that people are the same everywhere-some good some bad-just pick your friends wisely-stay close to the nice people and get away from the assholes and you will be fine-Yes; it is pretty much caucasion here but Portland has a major black area--we all get along--if you hate living somewhere-MOVE!--We have the right to live anywhere-exercise your right-good luck-
I have lived in Washington; 10 miles from Portland for 10 years and before that in Salem Oregon for 10 years-I moved up from my home in San Francisco in 73'-I had hair to my ass and high all the time-I never saw any rednecks-You must be thinking of somewhere else' cuz if it were not a beautiful place with friendly people' I would have moved back to California years ago-There are plenty of rednecks down there around Bakersfield area;thats Merle Haggard country-There are more Republicans up here then Cal. but so what; we all get along-For anyone living in the Northwest that dosent like it' move-simple-I have been all over the world and love it here-even the rain's nice-Basically people are the same everywhere'-it used to be dangerous to hitchike in the deep South in the 60s; but those days are gone and fortunatley it's safe to live anywhere-Would I live in the bad part of a town? hell no-but; but a place is just as nice as you make it-There is no physical place called Paradise'it's where you make it-good luck-and you can live safe anywhere in Oregon-you will find people move slower' talk slower and are alot more friendly here then in California-
--Sorry; but it just pisses me off to hear people complain about living in such a beautiful place and saying there is racist rednecks-thats bullshit'plain and simple-the Northwest is the most liberal place in America-unbelievable!
robspace, It is all in how we look at it. In 2004, their was a get together in eugene. A symposium on racism in eugene. Alot of the speakers were black and they told of their experiences in eugene. Several said their buisnesses were grafittied with racist slurs. Several prominent blakc leaders left eugene and made a point of saying eugene's racist attitude was the reason for leaving. You can call eugene liberal and hippie all you want. That doesnt make it true. I personally believe the minorities in eugene. If you want to believe eugene is the new haight go ahead. but your fooling yourself. 2 main hippie gatherings and thats it. No protests, no riots, no long haired freaks. Nothing. A more clearer sign that eugene isnt hippie is that The Dead used to play eugene all the time. It was a given the dead would play here before jerry died. Now Rat dog, PhilLesh, Mickey, and all the other dead reincarnations, including string cheese and phish. They NEVER PLAY HERE. I would be willing to bet they play Berkeley and Madison every tour. Eugene is racist. Its plain as day. As I said before, the city wanted to rename a street after Martin Luther King and it was a big uproar. People didnt want it to be renamed. Would that happen in a liberal hippie place? Is that the type of community you want to live in? As I said before, if you want to live in a town that is one of the whitest in the nation, 90 percent white, the universities are all white, the town has no protests. Come to eugene if thats what you want.
You have to be the first person in the world to ever call that beautiful college town redneck or racist-Now' in the past in Portland' in the 80s and part of the 90s there were the Nazi idiots runnin around for awhile' and Northern Idaho was considered the new South with KKK living up Northern part of that state' but they moved on as their leader died--Sure' if you look hard enough you can find redneck racists anywhere-in the middle of San Francisco or New York City-But you can just as easily find that it goes both ways-I have been jumped and beaten in the North end of Porland; which is 90% black-just for walkin thru at night-so-I don't go there-ya see-this ugly beast called racism is runnin in all circles-I would not want to be an Iranian or even an East Indian right now!-People have a fear of what they don't know-and this generation needs to find a way to be more colorblind-there is too much of this singeling out the whites to blame and the blacks to blame-when all along we have noone to blame for our problems but the one in the mirror-like I said; I hang with openminded; liberal people and avoid the idiots-I also judge a person on their character not their color-assholes come in all colors-sorry if your havin trouble down there in Eugene' but I know the majority of those people are not hillbilly racists-not even-If you would feel more comfortable around a larger population of African Americans' Portland is yer place-And-Yes I used to go to alot of Dead Shows down there-lotta fun-way too wasted!-good luck-
By The Way-Portland has the biggest blues festival on the West Coast every summer--right on the green grass along the river-4 stages 4 days and 30 or 40 groups and musicians-from all over-black and white and fantastic sounds-and the best part-it costs 3 cans of food and a buck or two per day to get in and it all goes to the Oregon Food Bank-good cause-great party with big firework show on the last night; which is th 4th of July-They had Canned Heat -and I saw John Mayall a couple years ago-and RL Burnside last year-(he has since passed away)-so some of these bluesmen are not spring chickens and ain't gonna be around much longer-check em out-well worth it-
If I may be so rude to ask rob, are you white by any chance? Because its hard for whites to see racism. They dont experience it. Second, yes blacks and other races can be prejudice or mean to whites, doesnt mean they are racist. See Crash. Indeed all races are prejudiced. In the movie the black woman who is called "affirmative action hire" by a white man, in turn gets hit in her car by a asian woman, and calls her a racial slur. So I totally agree. Whites arent the only people who judge others. But the violence and racism is different. A black man being killed by a white man is different than a white man being killed by a black man. In the eyes of the law, and in society norms. lastly, It amuses me you claim to come from tolerant liberal places, but wont even address the racism issue. You throw the old, "blacks are racist too" bullcrap. Noone wants to talk about race rob and you are the zeitgeist. I am a pacifist and dont condone violence, but it makes me laugh to see you type that blacks beat you up. Certainly you shouldnt have been beaten up, I dont wish violence on anyone, including you rob. But you see to not understand why blacks would be upset. Maybe because whites put them in the ghetto's in the first place. Eugene has always been called berkeley north. My main point to the original poster is that this is a myth. I have lived here my entire life. I am a hippie, I read chomsky and zinn, I am active against the war, I am against materialism, I am influenced by dylan and the beatles. I have long hair. But to say Eugene is tolerant, thats a lie. Its tolerant of whites. Not of blacks. Believe what you want rob, but you are misleading the poster. I have read about the 1960's and berkeley and hippies of long ago. I dont know of ANYONE in eugene who is living that lifestyle. Even Arcata passed an impeachment resolution. Eugene hasnt and wont. Eugene is for rich whites who are wanting out of urban squalar. If you are black come on down, but dont be surprised if you are the only black here. Comedian Dave Chappelle spoke at the University over the summer and commented that the audience was all white and that the Eugene he saw was all white too. That their was only "one black dude in eugene, and he is here at the show" You an believe all the progressive liberal tolerant b.s. if you want. Eugene is racist. The pigs are sick. they gunned down a 16 year old high school student because he "moved funny". He was unarmed.
Well -I'm done with this discussion-and what my race or nationality is' should make no difference-bottom line-If I don't like livin somewhere' I move'To sit there and be miserable makes no sense-thats the beauty of this country-freedom to live where ya want-so-I as an American am very happy and lucky to be here and am glad our forfathers kicked the shit out of the British to make it an independent nation--they didn't sit back and complain about their situation-they got together and demanded their freedom and rights-nobody has forced anybody to do anything-maybe 100 years ago-but I have seen in my lifetime alot of change in attitude and openness in people-try hitchhiking through the south 30 years ago or Texas-was not safe at all-we are much better off now than then -I grew up in the melting pot of America-San Francisco-and-you are as free as you want to be-
Oregon has to be the least ethnically diverse place in the continental US. I believe it. In fact, when the state was created blacks weren't even allowed to live there. People in the Northwest THINK they are liberal and tolerant, but they don't even deal with anyone unlike themselves, there are some good people of course, and some lovely country, but its certainly not hard to believe.
Yes-It is all true-! We are all redneck racists and cowboys and hate everybody' so please don't move here cuz you will just make us madder!--(O'-BTW-if you believe all that' I have some nice swampland for sale and the Brookland Bridge for sale)
Factortland Oregon has the 5th largest population of African Americans per capita in the U.S-the percentage of blacks to whites is 33%-this is higher then San Francisco or L.A-!-New Orleans is the highest per capita percentage-then Atlanta and I can't remember the others-this was in the paper a couple days ago-taken from the U.S. census bureau-so-if so many African Americans enjoy living in Porland'would'nt it stand to reason that the racist attitude you speak of is not true for the majority of the population-if people were made to feel inferior or uncomfortable' they leave-every race finds living with people like themseves to be more comfortable as it is familiar-When I was growing up in San Francisco' I had friends from every part of the city-of all nationalities-but-people tend to stick together which is fine-the Mexicans lived mainly in the Mission District' the blacks lived mainly in the Fillmore district' the Chinese in Chinatown'etc.-now because they all lived in one area does not mean they are prejudice but that they are most comfortable amoung people that look like them-it's human nature to live where you feel most relaxed-Like the hippieslived mainly in the Haight Ashbury and the beatniks in Northbeach-In most of this country in the early 60s' long hair on men was a good way to get beat up in most places in this country-We were considered freaks to most people-so-we all felt better living together-like communes-there is safety in n umbers-These days I would feel free about living anywhere in the country-even if I still had hair down to my ass-times have changed-some for the better-
