Diversity is lacking
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4/15/2019
I lived in Springfield 2005-2007 and then again 2017-present (2019). I absolutely hate it now. My children are mixed black and white and the West Side of Springfield commutes kids to Willard High School a few miles out of town. All of my children have said the country kids at school say the N-word all day, every day with a hard R at the end, and that if they got into with every kid that said the word, they'd be fighting all the time and kicked out of school... So I'm on this site comparing other cities for more diversity with a comparable cost of living so I can move out of here. My youngest kid is 7 and she is white and I do not want her growing up around this type of environment and learning the type of ignorance I am witnessing here in SWMO... Previously I was closer to I-70 where there are more educated people who seem to value diversity and culture like I feel everyone would if it wasn't avoided and rejected by their local communities, schools, and churches. I really feel it is worse now living here in 2017-2019 than it was in 2005-2007. I didn't know why until I started looking at other areas as well and I realized everywhere else is worse now too with the racism I'm witnessing here... I finally concluded it must have to do with Trump's blatant vocal disregard for any and all minorities, whether disabled, women, black, Hispanic, or Asian... But I believe it has been since his hateful division presidential campaign, that I see is when the shift happened... simple rednecks, hateful racists, and extreme white supremacist have become very outspoken as if they are feeling socially accepted again because we have a leader who shares their viewpoints... these people are now out in full effect without fear of backlash since "the people" voted Trump in office despite his family's KKK affiliations being intact during his campaign and him continually throwing up 3 K's with his hand in every speech. That is sad to me, but anyway back to Springfield.
Everything that everyone else said about "nothing here but restaurants, churches, and bars" is true as far as the eye can see... The city itself is ugly, but slowly improving its infrastructure and appearances on the wealthier south side, so their property values will continue to rise... meanwhile, on the north side you have every homeless person in the city north of Commercial Street and living around the northside Walmart, and inside the Walmart, the ppl are uglier than the average American (of course not all, but enough to notice it). Possibly the genetic trees don't branch as much as they should in Ozarks? Now one thing that is nice on the Northside is the Churches. The Christians are very proactive in building new churches and recruiting new Saints, but not in deeds, (not all but many) because a homeless man froze to death this past winter...that says something about this highly Christian community on top of the amount of homelessness only on the Northside... If there are any other religious ppl besides Christians, I have not seen them... In California, if there was an area of many churches, they were different religions... and you may even see Muslims in a circle praying daily in your local park, Here they are just different denominations, and if some Muslims tried to gather in a local park to pray I'm sure they would be harassed, maybe even assaulted. Oddly with all the Christians and churches, there is also one of the highest amounts of homosexuals I've seen in such a small city in the Bible belt... which isn't an issue to me, but I'm just saying it as something that also noticeably stands out compared to other cities in the bible belt of its same size... and in case you want to know... oddly they seem to be tolerated, maybe even accepted but definitely still judged by those that "shalt not judge"...
The positives are Mike's Unique on West Bypass & Sunshine. It is a must-go too... and of course, if you like hills, trees, creeks, and lakes, there is plenty of outdoor life. It is a hunter's and fisher's dream, but I am neither. I've met some of the best ppl I know in Springfield and Willard, so I am not saying there are not good people here or some good things for the right people, but overall I give the city a D for barely passing... and only because they are making improvements in certain areas like finally revitalizing Commercial Street... but the neighborhoods surrounding it are still poverty-stricken... it would improve faster if code enforcement condemned and tore down all the mold filled houses but instead they let slum lords such as Chris Gately who owns something like 550 houses rent out to the poor with bad credit and past evictions, who can't afford or get accepted into something better... these houses are not livable... please avoid them and the subsidiaries that work for him like 417 rental and Holly Rentals. Oh and many people still only make the state minimum wage, so that is a problem that keeps perpetual poverty in Springfield and most of the Ozarks... I also believe no blacks would even have a job here if affirmative action had not happened in the Civil Rights Movement. This town has a history of hanging blacks in the townhouse square which I only learned about because when we moved here the first time it was the 100th anniversary of the last hanging where is said people came to watch in their Sunday best, so maybe that legacy is part of the problem... I know I tell my sons to please be careful when they leave the house but acknowledge that it is not on the level of the deep south, but it definitely wasn't a neutral part of the state in the Civil war and the roots still seem to run deep...
Amber | Springfield, MO