United States / Wisconsin / Madison Metro Area / Dane County / Madison / Zip Codes

Review of Madison, Wisconsin

Closet Racists
Star Rating - 6/18/2007
Being from Chicago, I was surprised how racist this area was. I attended an Asian-American Christian conference once in Lake Geneva, and a group of us were nearly attacked by some Euro-Americans who didn't think we belonged there. A member of the conference later moved to Madison, and was riding his bike to the college one day and was struck by a car, killing him. This was in the 80's at the height of the anti-Japan backlash in the automotive industry. Not only did the driver of the car resist paying for the incident, he filed a claim against the boy who died, claiming he damaged his car! Hard to believe? Not in Wisconsin! I worked in Madison as a consultant a few years ago, and didn't see much change in the attitudes.
steve | Chicago, IL
Reply to this Comment

2 Replies

First off, Lake Geneva is not Madison. In fact, Lake Geneva is more then an hour and a half drive southeast of Madison. Second, that is unfortunate that this kid was hit in the 80's but are you kidding me? Are you suggesting that people were so upset about the auto industry in the 80's that they started targeting asians with their cars? Thirdly, we are now 18 years removed from the 80's. I've lived in Arizona, Hawaii, Georgia and I've visited many other place. You are not going to find a more liberal minded city in the midwest. I can't say the same for the surrounding communities in Wisconsin. Madison is so different from the rest of Wisconsin that people outside of Madison call it "65 square miles surrounded by reality."
Bp | Madison, WI | Report Abuse
Agree 15   Disagree 14
I'd have to agree with Steve's comment above. People in Madison THINK they are the least racist people in the world, but are actually the most racist I've met... and I've lived all over the country. People are in general not comfortable talking to people different from them, and have a ton of subconscious stereotypes based on ignorance. Many of the comments I have received have made my jaw drop... comments I never got in California or New York.
Carol | Madison, WI | Report Abuse
Agree 14   Disagree 11
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