Comment Re:One Tweet for Utah, One Tweet for North Dakota (Score 1) 409
It's unjust to propagate just their names throughout the news making people think that North Dakota is not only cold and sparsely populated but it's also racist.
Yes, it's important to avoid thinking that this proves North Dakota is racist. That's an unfair assessment of the people of North Dakota.
The majority of people in North Dakota dislike black people. But they also dislike people from India, Pakistan, China, South America, Mexico, Japan, Morocco, Australia... pretty much anywhere that isn't North Dakota. Minnesotans have some degree of reciprocity. Heck, they don't even like people who grew up in North Dakota, lived in a city for a while and moved back.
Put more plainly: North Dakotans are xenophobic. Small town friendliness is only extended to people within the small town, and anyone who doesn't look like the majority of the rest of the people in the area isn't going to be all that accepted. The fact that the president has an appearance that immediately identifies him as "Not North Dakotan" (compounded by the amount of "book learnins" he's got) is enough that I was never under the impression that he'd ever be liked by the state (in general).
Now, there are plenty of counter-examples, of course, but after twenty-two years of experience, I can safely say that North Dakota is the least tolerant place I've lived. Does it equal the warmth, and openness with which everyone of all ethnicities is welcomed to rural Mississippi? Dunno. Never lived there. Now, does the data in TFA actually model that? Nope, it does not. Sadly. In my mind, North Dakota does deserve to be right up there with Mississippi for doesnt-look-like-us hatred.