> Moving to a cheaper city is a valid decision but it's a more complicated value choice as a person of color.

Its not just racial minorities that face this issue either. If you're gay, you might have a very limited selection of potential partners to meet in a minor city, and very few culturally gay places to go to. If you're trans, you'll probably be alone in a small town and almost certain victim of a hate crime.

A good perspective i like to use for regular straight white americans that don't experience much diversity is sports teams. If you like the cowboys, how much would you enjoy going to only sports bars in boston that play the Patriots games? Sure you can watch the cowboys at home, but none of your friends will want to watch with you, and if there is a cowboy v patriots game on TV, you might feel super comfortable wearing your team's jersey out in public.

This is a perspective immigrants to America seem to have that I’ve never really understood. What’s the point of moving to a new country if the number one thing one to seek out is culture and cuisine which makes them feel like they’re back home?

I certainly can’t imagine someone from Texas moving to Japan and wondering where the all American BBQ places are :)

A. Not an immigrant, born here and parents were born here. We live in New York because of the discomfort (ahem, racism) experienced outside of New York. I know this wasn’t your implication but want to emphasize that not all Asians are immigrants. For a lot of us, coastal cities are our home.

B. An american would definitely choose to live in Tokyo versus a small town in the middle of nowhere. That’s why ex pat communities are a thing! No harm in wanting a little bit of home abroad.

C. I get plenty of America in New York. It’s not like the city is some asian bubble. Indeed part of the reason I want to live in New York is to have access to asian food and asian people without living in a solely asian neighborhood. I like having multiple cultures in one neighborhood.

Sometimes (actually a lot of times), immigrants move for a better quality of life (more pay, better schools, more job opportunities) and not for culture and cuisine. If I am moving for culture, why move to USA? Europe would be much better. A lot of people move for a better home (same but better) and not necessarily for new experiences.

More diverse = less racist. Generally speaking, of course.

If you’re a person of color, it matters. If you’re the only non-white family in the neighborhood, it matters. If your kids are going to stand out in school because of the color of their skin, it matters.

If you’re white, then yes, moving to Japan is probably easier (though you might be surprised).

An observation, and honest question: aside from a few well known stereotypically racist areas, to my knowledge, most of the country is fine. You might run into ignorance, or be subjected to the the curiosity of others because of novelty when moving to a mostly white community, but the distribution happened because of communities and families emigrating en masse, so you get Irish towns and Polish towns and Italian places, etc. They become more diverse over time but they're not white for any reason except genetic happenstance. By and large, they don't care about race.

My question is this: doesn't it matter more to engage those communities with the same level of willingness to live among them as to deliberately pick already diverse areas, or an area that matches your own genetic happenstance?

If you don't have specific friends and family you're relocating for, then I'd say it's probably better to minimize the impact of any sort of decisions based on race or ethnic diversity. I think it's best to find good people and participate in your adopted community. And with that in mind, if you can work remotely, there's a vast array of affordable housing and land and communities of good people out there.

Hmm not sure this is accurate.

> so you get Irish towns and Polish towns and Italian places

My italian ancestors settled where they did because (a) the polish wouldn't sell them the land they originally wanted near but not in the italian neighborhood, so they had to find an italian to sell them some and (b) they wanted to live somewhere that had italian grocery stores, and italian churches (this is very important 100 years ago) and other italian cultural points.

> They become more diverse over time but they're not white for any reason except genetic happenstance.

Redlining. Segregation. The history of america is "genetic" segregation.

> If you don't have specific friends and family you're relocating for, then I'd say it's probably better to minimize the impact of any sort of decisions based on race or ethnic diversity

I think the opposite is true. If you don't care where you're going, why not go somewhere that can feel like you're a bit at home when you're homesick?

I see what you're saying. It is very admirable when people engage in these communities, cross boundaries and educate others. It's also a lot of work. Even if we take your premise that most of the country is fine, there's a lot of work to be done in encountering innocent ignorance. Some of the more hurtful, frustrating experiences have come from innocent ignorance. Just because people "don't care about race", doesn't mean they're always great at interacting with other races. Some people are willing to either put in the work or ignore these unpleasantries and survive. Others are not. They may not relish being obligated to act as a representative for a race or a culture in their community. They may not like having to ignore or brush off remarks that are not so great, even if they're meant in good faith

Roxane Gay has a good bit in one of her essays about how she struggled to help the black and LGBT organizations in colleges. She felt obligated as one of the few black queer professors, but that obligation in of itself really wore her down. Being a minority can be an extra job and some people do not want that responsibility.

>the distribution happened because of communities and families emigrating en masse, so you get Irish towns and Polish towns and Italian places

why dont we see as many british or french neighborhoods?

>but they're not white for any reason except genetic happenstance

:hmm: i dont agree that one could accurately describe the evolution of racial diversity in american communities as "not white for any reason except genetic happenstance"

I don't know SF is very diverse and the year I spent there I felt it was the most unfriendly place I have ever lived. Its the only place where I never met or even talked to a single neighbor. And its also the only place I would never move back to for any position.

I can't speak to your situation but did you view that as racism or just unfriendliness? Just because we're less racist doesn't mean we're nice haha

>I certainly can’t imagine someone from Texas moving to Japan and wondering where the all American BBQ places are :)

You can't? You don't think eventually they won't crave the food they're used to eating?

New ideas are one thing, but your food, the food your mother cooked you growing up, will always be special to a person. And your people will understand you better than anyone else-- I'm the child of Indian immigrants and I still find people from my culture get the issues that I have to do through better than others. No one else knows or cares about the stereotypes one has to deal with, the particular ways culture can clash, the common challenges, etc etc

If everything in your life is changing and your old favorite people and places are far away sometimes it’s nice to have little reminders of home.

There are American food places in Japan, even BBQ.

> What’s the point of moving to a new country if the number one thing one to seek out is culture and cuisine which makes them feel like they’re back home?

Wealth or safety commonly.

Houston is super diverse and foodie choices comparable to LA. Asians have been the fastest growing demographic there for decades.

NIMBY free, as long as you don't mind the billboard in your back yard.