[maryl]

Been here 4 years Villages has changed getting ready to move It has gotten to big to many people

[jacksonbrown]

Originally Posted by Girlcopper

Right now people are yelling Black Lives Matter, White Lives Matter, Defund the Police, No Justice-No Peace and on and on. Its racism being exhibited by blacks, whites, browns etc. Whites in certain areas are fearing blacks and vice versa and the media chooses to blast every negative word over every social outlet. Look into the facts or background of any incident reported before even repeating it. The repeating of false facts is where the issue is

Exactly

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by oranginauk

I had heard of The Villages, America’s Friendliest Hometown. With wonderful homes and great facilities and activities. Surely a place to make new friends, to smile, laugh and enjoy. A retirement I always dreamed of. So I checked it out and moved here four years ago.

As a single woman of color, I felt safe. I have made friends, joined in activities, volunteered and indeed I felt safe in America’s Friendliest Hometown. Then it happened, one group against the other. Videos going viral, a man yelling “white power”, faces and voices full of hate. I began to question .... Has this incident invited white supremacists to The Villages? People seek out to live where there are like minded people.

The country is frantic now and I am afraid. All it takes is a single fuse to light a fire. I urge you to think before you speak.

Please do not destroy “ America’s Friendliest Hometown”. Please help me feel safe again.

According to a recent assessment, The Villages is the safest place in Florida. We have fewer felonies and misdemeanor crimes here.

There are no race restrictions here. The snippet showing a man shouting "white power" failed to show the goading behavior of a person who was very offensive. It is very possible that he shouted back the first thing that came to his mind. I didn't know until I read this thread that people think it is wrong to use the term "white power". I am not sure who determined that.

I don't know why my last post was removed from this thread but I hope this time I haven't broken any rules.

[bobdelange]

So sorry that you are affected by that person. Please try to accept the fact that we are over 100 thousand people her in TV.The antics of one lunatic cannot be used to judge the rest of us.I have lived here over 25 years and I am originally from NYC.Believe me when I say you are more secure here than any other place I can think of. No matter where you are in this sorry old world, there will be the rare individual who is mentally unbalanced like our "white power" person.Best reaction is to completly ignore him, or her.

[Windguy]

Originally Posted by LG999

Windguy, people need guns bcs the government can not be relied on to do its primary job which is to protect its citizens.

So, they are afraid the cops won’t protect them from the many minorities found in Leesburg and Wildwood? I see.

[graciegirl]

[QUOTE=Ndomines;1799591]If any single person you know has ever said to you that they have a white friend, a black friend, an Asian friend, a Native American friend, a Jewish friend, a Muslim friend then the hairs on the back of your neck should be standing up. These statements at the onset draw a distinction. Your friend, just your friend, your neighbor, just your neighbor, your mayor, just your mayor. If a person expresses a racial description followed by the word friend then what they are unwittingly saying is that the are prejudiced.
Parrots come in a variety of colors
but in they end we just call them birds.

What if, the person saying that is not in any way filled with hate or a prejudgment? What if that person due to where they lived had little interaction with people of other cultures and races? I didn't meet anyone who was Asian until I was in my twenties. There were nine black graduates in our class of 360 in High School. They were folks like the rest of us but I am not sure where they lived.

What is it that is bad about saying anything from someone who do not mean to harm and want everyone to have equal chances at success in life?

What have people done to attempt to say the right thing and do the right thing and who determines what IS the right thing?

[stan the man]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Not touching.

surprised

[rjgnj321]

My heart goes out to you. The Villages is a Microcosm of America...Racism exists on its own here as does Anti-Semitism, Homophobia etc. Will it invite others to come here with their similar views....it could......but I hope cooler heads prevail and the negative images shown worldwide of a negative day in our Lives here will provide a way for everyone to calm down and co-exist and be more excepting of each other’s views and beliefs.

Originally Posted by oranginauk

I had heard of The Villages, America’s Friendliest Hometown. With wonderful homes and great facilities and activities. Surely a place to make new friends, to smile, laugh and enjoy. A retirement I always dreamed of. So I checked it out and moved here four years ago.

As a single woman of color, I felt safe. I have made friends, joined in activities, volunteered and indeed I felt safe in America’s Friendliest Hometown. Then it happened, one group against the other. Videos going viral, a man yelling “white power”, faces and voices full of hate. I began to question .... Has this incident invited white supremacists to The Villages? People seek out to live where there are like minded people.

The country is frantic now and I am afraid. All it takes is a single fuse to light a fire. I urge you to think before you speak.

Please do not destroy “ America’s Friendliest Hometown”. Please help me feel safe again.

[Topspinmo]

No single woman is totally safe anywhere. Especially here at squares. It’s just the way it is. You must be aware of you’re surroundings and DON’T trust strangers. Especially don’t get inebriate and loose all common sense.

[MandoMan]

The Villages is one of the safest towns of its size in the world. If you follow the daily crime reports, you may note that there is virtually no crime in The Villages. The closest we come to crime is mostly shoplifting, and most of that is done by people who don’t live here but use the stores on the outskirts. I don’t know why people bother to put in alarm systems or carry concealed weapons. Completely unnecessary here.

Yes, The Villages is 70% red and 30% blue. Yes, plenty of people are very upset about the looting and arson and destruction of public and private property they see on television. Plenty of them associate the BLM excesses with most African-Americans, which is unfair. However, in my experience, even the most rabid red fans would NEVER harm a polite older woman or man of any color and would go out of their way to help and protect her or him if she or he were in need. If she or he is a neighbor, even more so. I’ve noticed over and over that in America, bias against a group does not usually extend to people we know and like and don’t fear.

Originally Posted by oranginauk

I had heard of The Villages, America’s Friendliest Hometown. With wonderful homes and great facilities and activities. Surely a place to make new friends, to smile, laugh and enjoy. A retirement I always dreamed of. So I checked it out and moved here four years ago.

As a single woman of color, I felt safe. I have made friends, joined in activities, volunteered and indeed I felt safe in America’s Friendliest Hometown. Then it happened, one group against the other. Videos going viral, a man yelling “white power”, faces and voices full of hate. I began to question .... Has this incident invited white supremacists to The Villages? People seek out to live where there are like minded people.

The country is frantic now and I am afraid. All it takes is a single fuse to light a fire. I urge you to think before you speak.

Please do not destroy “ America’s Friendliest Hometown”. Please help me feel safe again.

[meboyle]

Originally Posted by oranginauk

I had heard of The Villages, America’s Friendliest Hometown. With wonderful homes and great facilities and activities. Surely a place to make new friends, to smile, laugh and enjoy. A retirement I always dreamed of. So I checked it out and moved here four years ago.

As a single woman of color, I felt safe. I have made friends, joined in activities, volunteered and indeed I felt safe in America’s Friendliest Hometown. Then it happened, one group against the other. Videos going viral, a man yelling “white power”, faces and voices full of hate. I began to question .... Has this incident invited white supremacists to The Villages? People seek out to live where there are like minded people.

The country is frantic now and I am afraid. All it takes is a single fuse to light a fire. I urge you to think before you speak.

Please do not destroy “ America’s Friendliest Hometown”. Please help me feel safe again.

I hope and pray you are always safe. One person at a political parade went rogue and it made national news. We don’t know who he was, but the people on the parade did not know him, nor is he a member of the group.
This is what I know, we are blessed to live here. There are no guarantees in life, but I live one day at a time. I know God walks with me. May He always walk with you.

[Guitarman1951]

Originally Posted by oranginauk

I had heard of The Villages, America’s Friendliest Hometown. With wonderful homes and great facilities and activities. Surely a place to make new friends, to smile, laugh and enjoy. A retirement I always dreamed of. So I checked it out and moved here four years ago.

As a single woman of color, I felt safe. I have made friends, joined in activities, volunteered and indeed I felt safe in America’s Friendliest Hometown. Then it happened, one group against the other. Videos going viral, a man yelling “white power”, faces and voices full of hate. I began to question .... Has this incident invited white supremacists to The Villages? People seek out to live where there are like minded people.

The country is frantic now and I am afraid. All it takes is a single fuse to light a fire. I urge you to think before you speak.

Please do not destroy “ America’s Friendliest Hometown”. Please help me feel safe again.

You are safer here than anywhere. You are right in that it is a highly charged political climate these days. But it is a small fraction of extremists on both sides that make antagonistic signs, have rallys and yell out names and insults at each other. However. I don't believe anyone here will be rioting or physically threatening other residents other than in isolated situations.

The racist that I've come across here seem to be the nonviolent kind.

I read an article about 5 years ago that talked about how the kkk membership had fallen over the decades. I vaguely remember the statistics given. At it's peak the article said 90% of white American was racist and spoke openly about it and over the decades this had dropped to 5%.

I have no facts to provide or care to do any research for you as I'm sure you're familiar with Google. It's just my opinion that the violent racist are not prevalent in the villages. The type I see are secretive and use statistics and logical reasoning to justify their racism. My grandmother, father and a childhood friend were openly racist around me but became overtly nice to black people. I've seen this overly nice approach to blacks from seemingly racist whites many times and has been the topic of conversations with my black friends throughout my life.

The overly polite but secretly racist are probably the most prevalent racist here in the villages. I would only be guessing if I shared my thought that 5% of the population here are racist.

This is just my view and I don't care to debate it. Take it with a grain of salt and move on.

[sandybeachgal]

It isn't always racism. All humans are naturally inclined to be afraid of anyone who is different from them. It's a primal self-defense mode. And we all have our prejudices, which often come to us as we experience unfortunate negative people and/or situations in life. As a woman, I have been discriminated against all my life by people who have inherent biases towards women. I try to behave in a way that shows my respect for others, and hope for that in return, but I don't always receive it. Humans aren't perfect. Life isn't always fair. We all do the best we can.

Instead of believing what the politicians and media are telling us about how badly America is racially divided, check out these distinguished black Americans' take on all this hoopla:

Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, and Glen Loury. There are many great videos on youtube.

I understand being somewhat afraid as a woman living alone. If you're overcome with fear, get a gun and get some training. Level the playing field in your own home. That should help alleviate some of your fear. (PM me and I will give you contact information for a wonderful instructor right here in the Villages.) Get to know your neighbors and find out who you could call if you had an emergency in the middle of the night. And put your faith back in humanity. Most folks are good people.

[VApeople]

Originally Posted by maryl

Been here 4 years Villages has changed getting ready to move It has gotten to big to many people

Your comment reminds me of the great philosopher Yogi Berra, who I believe said, "That place is so crowded that no one goes there anymore."