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@mekkaokereke
100% I grew up in a very white town in the Hudson Valley. I remember hearing stories about non-white families hey hazed out of town just a few years before my generation. We had less than ten non-white families in my high school. There were a lot of racist jokes being thrown around all the time.
I hate even thinking back on some of it because I was definitely part of the problem when I was a kid. I am glad that my parents made sure I got involved in a lot of stuff outside my hometown because that helped me realize I had a lot of shit to unlearn and unpack. I was also fortunate to have friends who wouldn't hesitate to call out any bullshit. I've definitely come a long way from that, but my town has not.
I went down recently for an event in town and the racism is almost palpable. There are some things I see that make me happy things are improving. Like when I drove by one day when school was letting out and just the sheer number of poc kids that came running out made me so happy. But then the older people in town do things like hold blue lives matter rallies and shit.
Racism in the Hudson Valley is and has been a major problem. There are some signs of improvement, but there's also been a lot of "doubling down" that is really hard to tell if, overall, things are trending better or worse.