Racism in Liberal Areas

Hey guys-
After reading many of your posts on the complacency that happens in this area, I thought it would be interesting to look at a different part of the country.

I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My hometown has been named one of the 'best cities for liberals', and has also been named the 'number 1 most educated city' by Forbes. I am incredibly privileged to have grown up in a busy college town with an abundance of educational resources within my grasp. Although I live in Los Altos now, I have kept with my roots long enough to notice a dangerous rumor being spread rampantly throughout the city of Ann Arbor. Many seem to refer to Ann Arbor as a liberal, racism-free bubble. Because of its location in a predominantly white, republican state in the Midwest, Ann Arbor has built up the reputation of being post-racial and forward thinking, unlike the surrounding area. To me, it seems to hide its racism through a liberal mask.

Ann Arbor isn't a bubble or a haven for minorities around the state of Michigan. Ann Arbor houses just as much racism as any other place, shown through series of micro aggressions, stereotypes and prejudice. Ann Arbor covers its racism with a plethora of "liberal" things- we have a lot of coffee shops and book stores so we cant be racist, right? Most people are democrats so racism isn't a problem here, right?
Unfortunately, racism is a problem everywhere. Everyone is influenced by race in some form, which means that anyone can be racist, and a lot of people are. Racism is complex combination of conditioning . There is no simple solution because it isn't a simple problem.

The Bay Area is similar- we place ourselves above outspoken racists because we believe we have been raised to be better than them. In reality, everyone displays racism because everyone experiences racist conditioning, we just show it differently than people in other places.