Saturday, December 03, 2005

They're not Bigg on diversity in Utah...

...like that's any surprise.

Bigg Homes, a residential developer in Eagle Mountain, Utah, drew attention when its Web site promoted as a virtue of its new housing community the fact that the place has a "black race population significantly below" the state average. (As you can see from the screen capture below, the boldface text is in the original.)



"Significantly below" the average for Utah? One of the most uniformly Caucasian expanses in the United States? (Only 1.3 percent of the population of Utah is African American, according to 2004 census data.)

If you feel the need to live in a place that's even whiter than most of Utah, you're not just racist — you're mentally ill.

But then, I repeat myself.

For the record, the owner of Bigg Homes — who, much to my disappointment, is not named Mr. Bigg, but David Adams — claims that he ordered the offensive statement removed from the Web site when it was brought to his attention two months ago. The contracted Web designer, however, did not make the requested alteration until after news reports about the site began to circulate.

Here's an interesting note from the Salt Lake Tribune story:
Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP branch in Salt Lake City, described the information as "subtle discrimination," meant to encourage white people and discourage black people from buying in the area.
Two puzzling questions spring immediately to mind:

1. There's an NAACP chapter in Salt Lake City? What's their tagline — "An Army of One"?

2. There are black people who need to be discouraged from living in Utah?

7 insisted on sticking two cents in:

Blogger Sam offered these pearls of wisdom...

Wait...

THERE'S A BLACK PERSON IN UTAH?!

Daaaaang.

I'll bet they work for the Osmonds.

8:21 PM  
Blogger Squid offered these pearls of wisdom...

The funniest is the other line about length of stay since moving in...BELOW AVERAGE. WTH???? So this is even LESS desirable than the rest of Utah?

10:53 AM  
Blogger Rollo offered these pearls of wisdom...

I'm going to say the most overused word in the dictionary these days: Offended. I am offended that someone would say I am mentally ill to want to live where there are mostly white people. What is so wrong with wanting to live in a place where most of the people are like me? In my experience of life, diversity has only driven me away from my own home. I for one am moving to Eagle Mountain because I see it as a place where I can stay and raise my kids in peace and harmony. And the length of stay since moving in is below average because it's so new and most people who move in are young and buying what you would call "starter homes". The people that I have talked to who live up there are very enthusiastic about how they love living there. Come on people let's have a little sense and be a little more sensitve, you are all looking a bit ridiculous.

6:42 AM  
Blogger SwanShadow offered these pearls of wisdom...

Rollo: Any day when I can offend a self-righteous bigot without even trying is a happy day.

11:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous offered these pearls of wisdom...

haha you can tell a small minded liberal wrote this blog! I read the article and it stated age, race, rentals, and population in relevance to the state of Utah. It also states "population density SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW state average for cities” I am so offended!!! I am part of A population and that makes me look bad!!! I need to protest and raise hell… I also saw “Median age SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW state average” I am also young so that offends me!!! I have nothing better to do than find statistics that don’t match my personal views and… that offends me!!! Haha that’s why liberals don’t live in Utah, there is to much common sense.

7:20 PM  
Blogger SwanShadow offered these pearls of wisdom...

Anonymous: Someone at the trailer park just blew his unemployment check at the liquor store, I see.

7:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous offered these pearls of wisdom...

Haha I am 21 years old making over 50K a year. You do that by hard work and honesty not pointing the finger at everybody... that's how I can tell your a democrat. Also the ignorance gives it away, they don’t send Lindsey Lohan to rehab in Utah county because you can easily purchase alcohol.

6:43 PM  

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