Racism in Corvallis, Oregon.

[AmericasBrave58]

Mudwhistle. Why do you think I am come out as being standoffish? I just asked people on this forum as to why people around me, in this town, do not even speak to me the way they do to another normal human being. Does that make me an arrogant person? I may have vented out my frustration but please know that I have tried really really hard. To live alone in a cheap apartment in a small town which is half way around the globe, where it rains all the time, and where people just wont talk to you, is really really frustrating. I have endured this for over three years and all I want to know is whether it is with me or if it is with the people of Corvallis.

If I have offended anyone, please forgive me. I never meant to hurt anybody on a discussion forum where I am trying to get help.

Heavens no!!! you have not offended me, not at all. i hope i was of some help to you.

 

[Zona]

I am a grad student from India studying at OSU, Corvallis. I have never felt more lonely in my life than the time I spent in Corvallis. People here, at best, smile at me and move on. Even if I go to a bar, people never look at me as another human being and speak spontaneously the way they do with other fellow Americans. I tried to find a girl, to date, using Match.com, Eharmony, Yahoo, OKCupid etc. Let alone dating me, they didn't even respond to my emails. I tried for like 2 years and they'd just not speak to me. I am 6'3" tall and I am not fat/unattractive. The American people in my lab, who are predominantly Caucasian, never talk to non-white immigrants and they have their own group into which, they carefully manage to exclude others. They speak with me ONLY if they NEED something from me. Otherwise, they'd N_ever go personal with me.

I have been to SF, Sand Diego, LA, Bakersfield, San Jose, Austin,.......White people spoke to me as though they were blind to my skin color. They spoke to me the way my Indian peers in India would. The story is different in Oregon and especially in Corvallis. I asked white people in the psychological counseling department and I asked white people who work in shops that I usually go to: They just won't admit that people here are racists.

I wish to know from people who know about Corvallis, Oregon, as to why this is happening to me. Please do not advise me the way you'd to a Fresh Off the Boat Indian. I do N_ot smell bad. I have an accent but people here can easily understand me without having to ask me to repeat what I said. I dress well. I do not pick my nose. I can go on with this list but the point is that from my side, there is nothing that could possibly repel an American. I know this for a fact because I hired a dating consultant and payed him to tell me if I was repulsive and on the contrary, he said I have quite an attractive personality.

Please help me with your honest opinion. I have absolutely nobody else to ask for help.

Screw them....get your degree, get an indian woman....(they are gorgous) and be happy. Either that, or get your degree, and move.

 

[mudwhistle]

I am a grad student from India studying at OSU, Corvallis. I have never felt more lonely in my life than the time I spent in Corvallis. People here, at best, smile at me and move on. Even if I go to a bar, people never look at me as another human being and speak spontaneously the way they do with other fellow Americans. I tried to find a girl, to date, using Match.com, Eharmony, Yahoo, OKCupid etc. Let alone dating me, they didn't even respond to my emails. I tried for like 2 years and they'd just not speak to me. I am 6'3" tall and I am not fat/unattractive. The American people in my lab, who are predominantly Caucasian, never talk to non-white immigrants and they have their own group into which, they carefully manage to exclude others. They speak with me ONLY if they NEED something from me. Otherwise, they'd N_ever go personal with me.

I have been to SF, Sand Diego, LA, Bakersfield, San Jose, Austin,.......White people spoke to me as though they were blind to my skin color. They spoke to me the way my Indian peers in India would. The story is different in Oregon and especially in Corvallis. I asked white people in the psychological counseling department and I asked white people who work in shops that I usually go to: They just won't admit that people here are racists.

I wish to know from people who know about Corvallis, Oregon, as to why this is happening to me. Please do not advise me the way you'd to a Fresh Off the Boat Indian. I do N_ot smell bad. I have an accent but people here can easily understand me without having to ask me to repeat what I said. I dress well. I do not pick my nose. I can go on with this list but the point is that from my side, there is nothing that could possibly repel an American. I know this for a fact because I hired a dating consultant and payed him to tell me if I was repulsive and on the contrary, he said I have quite an attractive personality.

Please help me with your honest opinion. I have absolutely nobody else to ask for help.

It may be against your nature but being outgoing would change their natural reaction to you.

Most people that live in the Northwest don't see too many people from other countries....so they are a bit scared to talk to you.

You have obviously not been to Portland or Seattle recently.
What you say is true for most of the northwest but not those two cities, along with Vancouver BC. If you go to a mall and you are white, you will feel like a minority.
I have heard that about Corvallis from a friend who went there, so I am not surprised by his opinion.

I've been to all of those cites....but it has been a long time..

I've lived in Southern California and been in a college that everyone spoke Spanish in. So I learned Spanish.

My wife is black and I went to her brother's funeral and I was the only white there. I've lived in Germany and learned to speak Deutch. I usually fit in everywhere I go. I think the trick is to learn the locals ways and try your best to fit in.

 

[uscitizen]

I am a grad student from India studying at OSU, Corvallis. I have never felt more lonely in my life than the time I spent in Corvallis. People here, at best, smile at me and move on. Even if I go to a bar, people never look at me as another human being and speak spontaneously the way they do with other fellow Americans. I tried to find a girl, to date, using Match.com, Eharmony, Yahoo, OKCupid etc. Let alone dating me, they didn't even respond to my emails. I tried for like 2 years and they'd just not speak to me. I am 6'3" tall and I am not fat/unattractive. The American people in my lab, who are predominantly Caucasian, never talk to non-white immigrants and they have their own group into which, they carefully manage to exclude others. They speak with me ONLY if they NEED something from me. Otherwise, they'd N_ever go personal with me.

I have been to SF, Sand Diego, LA, Bakersfield, San Jose, Austin,.......White people spoke to me as though they were blind to my skin color. They spoke to me the way my Indian peers in India would. The story is different in Oregon and especially in Corvallis. I asked white people in the psychological counseling department and I asked white people who work in shops that I usually go to: They just won't admit that people here are racists.

I wish to know from people who know about Corvallis, Oregon, as to why this is happening to me. Please do not advise me the way you'd to a Fresh Off the Boat Indian. I do N_ot smell bad. I have an accent but people here can easily understand me without having to ask me to repeat what I said. I dress well. I do not pick my nose. I can go on with this list but the point is that from my side, there is nothing that could possibly repel an American. I know this for a fact because I hired a dating consultant and payed him to tell me if I was repulsive and on the contrary, he said I have quite an attractive personality.

Please help me with your honest opinion. I have absolutely nobody else to ask for help.

Corvalis and Eugene were not typical of most of Orygun when I lived there. Too many Caliprunians had moved in I suppose.

People were standoffish with me till they found out I was NOT from Texas, but From Kentucky. Then everything was great.

Many in America have developed an attitude against Indians becuase of outsourcing to India in the Call center, programming, and general IT industry.
I worked with Indians for years in FL and have several Indian friends. I found fewer jerks among the Indians than among Americans. But there were a couple

I lost 2 jobs to outsourcing to India myself. I realize that people everywhere just want to make a decent living. I do not hold any ill will to those now doing those jobs. I do hold some ill will for the US company that did the outsourcing though.

I would maybe think your attitude would be a factor in mixing in with the natives as it were.
Hang in tyhere there are good people everywhere. Even in Texas

 

[Zona]

It may be against your nature but being outgoing would change their natural reaction to you.

Most people that live in the Northwest don't see too many people from other countries....so they are a bit scared to talk to you.

You have obviously not been to Portland or Seattle recently.
What you say is true for most of the northwest but not those two cities, along with Vancouver BC. If you go to a mall and you are white, you will feel like a minority.
I have heard that about Corvallis from a friend who went there, so I am not surprised by his opinion.

I've been to all of those cites....but it has been a long time..

I've lived in Southern California and been in a college that everyone spoke Spanish in. So I learned Spanish.

My wife is black and I went to her brother's funeral and I was the only white there. I've lived in Germany and learned to speak Deutch. I usually fit in everywhere I go. I think the trick is to learn the locals ways and try your best to fit in.

you were never the minority in any of those places except once at the funeral. Its funny how you mentioned that while mentioning other places that spoke different languages.

 

[Toronado3800]

I have a slightly different take. Different folks in different types of neighborhoods interact differently with other ppl.

My house is in a lesser developed part of town where we all sit on our cheap acre or so of land in our not so expensive homes. For the most part we interact with the neighbors on either side of us and don't have big community get togethers. In my friend's neighborhood a few miles away the houses are right on top of eachother and they have big block parties making us look like isolationist mountain men.

Just maybe that's the way it is in this town that isn't big enough for me to have ever heard of.
***************
Oh, and about the folks yelling "go back to your country". That's stupid religious racism. Folks trying to get back at Muslims for 9-11. We sell tons of product to Hindi computer programmers. I have to constantly remind folks India and Afghanistan are different places. Americans can be as amazingly dumb as suicide bombers.

 

[Zona]

Eh, there's always Grants Pass...

 

[Sunni Man]

Sounds like all you want is a white girlfriend.

Why don't you look for an Indian girl ?

 

[Zona]

Sounds like all you want is a white girlfriend.

Why don't you look for an Indian girl ?

In Oregon? Good luck with that.

 

[Sunni Man]

All he needs to do is start going to all the local 7-Elevens.

Surely one of the guys working there has an unmarried sister with a "dot" on her forehead.

 

[WhatsTheAnswer?]

Thanks guys. Very encouraging words from ya'll.

Corvallis has very few Indian women who are open to dating. Most of the Americans belonging to Indian race go in for arranged marriage or arranged dating. That leaves me with nothin.

I have heard about a lot of theories as to why people don't talk to brown colored immigrants and one of them is regarding the fear that the brown colored ones have a bomb attached to them. Another reason is that people in and around Corvallis, unless they are a part of a Church, are not exposed to other cultures. I recently met a Caucasian woman in San Francisco and she was very sure that people in and around Corvallis are extremely racist and that there are a lot of white supremists in this area. Wow. Hard to believe all that but I did a little bit of research and found that Oregon is one of three states where the white supremists want a seperate country, the other two being Montana and Iowa.

Sooo...I am beginning to feel that USA is not all that liberal as I thought it is. I was carried away by the opinions of my friends who live mostly in big cities like New York, LA, San Diego..... My Indian friend in San Diego is actually living with his Caucasian girlfriend so I guess I am struck in the wrong part of USA!

Thanks all for your support. Please do continue to give me feedback or to criticize me if you think it is necessary.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Eh, there's always Grants Pass...

Guy should move to Madras... which is near Fossil, Shaniko and Bend.

I think it is mostly him. You can't get any more open minded than Corvallis or Eugene. But if your personality sucks....

 

[Sunni Man]

Corvallis has very few Indian women who are open to dating. Most of the Americans belonging to Indian race go in for arranged marriage or arranged dating. That leaves me with nothin.

How does that leave you with "nothing".

Again. you sound like all you want is a white woman.

Why are you so prejudiced against Indian girls????

 

[WhatsTheAnswer?]

Baruch. I am sorry that you feel there's something wrong with me. I wish you knew me personally.

I know that Eugene is better than Corvallis. I have been to Eugene and people are definitely more open minded than Corvallis. I really wish I had somebody from Corvallis talk to me and tell me what is wrong with my personality, if at all there is something wrong with me. All my friends elsewhere have never had any bigtime issues with my personality.

You must know that it feels very bad to hear someone say that I have a bad personality. I am asking for help. I am gettiing negative replies instead. I don't know as to why people think Corvallis is very open and accepting but all I have to say from my personal experience is that people in this town, who are either younger than me or who belong to my age group, have never been personal with me. They almost always seem to avoid me from letting into their group. This treatment is not unique for me. This has been the experience of every Indian I know of who has tried to make friends with Americans. I am sorry that my experience suggests something which is in direct conflict with what others think about people of Corvallis. If I offended anyone, I am sorry. Please know that it was not intentional.

 

[Toronado3800]

Is Corvallis something like the West Coast version of Vidor, TX?

Random Vidor racism article

No doubt folks get a different opinion of Texas if they live in Eagle Pass, Ft Worth, or Vidor.

 

[WhatsTheAnswer?]

Sorry. I don't know much about Vidor, Texas. They say that it is a sundown town. Wiki says that most of the towns in Oregon are/were sundown towns as well!

 

[WhatsTheAnswer?]

Eh, there's always Grants Pass...

Guy should move to Madras... which is near Fossil, Shaniko and Bend.

I think it is mostly him. You can't get any more open minded than Corvallis or Eugene. But if your personality sucks....

********************************************************
I don't know why you judged that my personality sucks. It is aweful that somebody can actually say that to another person's face. Felt very sad that you said that.

1. I spoke with a professor in the ethnic studies department of OSU. She was very honest to admit that people in this area are very racist. They smile at you and talk to you and they seem nice but the fact that they n_ever go personal with people who have color is the evidence that they are racist. She lived here for five years and unable to bear the indifference of the people in this area, she moved to Portland from where she commutes to Corvallis three days a week.

2. I was finally able to make a collegue of mine tell me the truth. He was the second person (who happens to be a Caucasian) to admit that people are nice and all that but they never go personal with you if you have color. They are nice to make it appear that they are not racist but again, the fact that they never go personal with people who have color is the evidence for their racist attitude.

This person to whom I talked to has been in our lab for over seven years and has slowly started to mingle with the internationals.

3. I spoke to an African American lady who grew up in Eugene and is studying here at OSU. She completely concurs with me when I told her about my experience.

Here, the Caucasians are just nice on the outside. That's a way for them to hide their racist feelings. So Baruch, you can be as mean to me as you want to but I won't stop to put it out there that people here are racist.

 

[AkronGuy]

I don't think it's a racism thing, I think it's a confidence, social skills and cultural thing.

 

[WhatsTheAnswer?]

I don't think it's a racism thing, I think it's a confidence, social skills and cultural thing.

It is not. I have spoken to a lot of them and has nothing to do with confidence. The conversation goes well but it ends with a "nice talking to you" with a smile. Whenever I tried to ask them to hang out with me, they'd come up with a reason to avoid me.

This is called "passive racism". Look at you. I am asking for help and you are playing the blame game! I am telling you that professors here in the ethnic studies department (including the Caucasian ones who happen to be non-Oregonians) admit to the fact that this place is filled with freakin racists. It is very passive though.

I just expect people to talk to me as though they are not aware of my color or cultural background etc. If a white man talks to another, then obviously there is no scope for one person to show any prejudice of any kind. Why can't a white man here talk to me the
way he would with his fellow white men? They don't. They avoid me with a smile and that is termed as "passive racism". This place is filled with such people.

By reading this thread, you can also figure out that quite a few are racists. All of you who have cared to be nice and who have helped me are the ones who are not racists. Most of you who are telling me "It's not them , it is you" are racists because this is exactly what people here do as well. They avoid me and when I say "why are you avoiding me", you say "we are not but dude, you have issues". Simple escapist attitude.

For all of you who have not been of help and who who have been mean to me on this thread, its a shame on you. This is supposed to be a discussion forum where people are supposed to help each other with issues regarding racism and stuff. Look at what you are doing. The prof in the ethinc studies department was so right. She said "if you ask for help, they'll tell you that have issues just because they are trying to hide the fact that they are racists". I have been asking for help and people come back saying I have issues. How frustrating is that? I have made such a good name with my peers at work place and with my friends back home and when I try to be friends with people here, nob_ody wants to get personal.

For all of you who have been nice and friendly and who have said things like "I have a lot of Indian friends and it is different here", thank you very much. I wish to relocate to one such place as soon as possible and get the hell out of this freak town. For all of you who have said that I have issues, I believe you have to do a bit of self introspection. It is you who has issues and not me.

 

[Sunni Man]

Why do you need a white man to validate your existence?

Are you gay and upset that no white men have triied to pick you up at the gay bar?