As a Chinese American, I kinda have this self-imposed rule to never enter the boundaries of a red state, and even within Blue/Purple states, to avoid ending up in some rural town. Bascially, half of my country is inaccessible to me due to my perceived fear of potentially being a victim of racism.
Am I being paranoid?
Red state/blue state has more to do with gerrymandering than people you will actually encounter. Throughout the country it’s much more city/rural. I’ve lived in Dallas for 25 years. i know a handful of Republicans (some were term 1 maga but have since recovered) and one maga (i think - she said dei a few months ago but not strongly enough that i remember the context). If you look at voting numbers in states you’ll see the difference is usually only a few percentage points statewide. Cities tend to be blue, rural areas tend to be red. No one is going to attack you in a gas station along the interstate. Avoid rural bars and you’ll be fine. You’re buying into some of the propaganda and overreacting with paranoia.
This is a good point. However, a few percentage points is the difference between a immigrant / refugee just chilling in their house watching TV on their day off work, and being dragged into a plane and ending up in El Salvador.
Those few percentage points affect the politics. It affects how cops get hired. It affect how seriously misconduct is handled. I mean, maybe they won’t go to prison either way. But a blue city will at less fire them, a red town would just keep them on payroll and tell them to take a vacation. So eventually, the worst cops of the blue city eventually ends up in a red area, because of the even more relaxed regulations. And also the State Attorney General, District Attorneys, these are influenced by those few percentage points in voting.
So while, I get what you’rs saying. The people probably aren’t gonna bring pitchforks, but the politicians they elect surely is gonna apply the law unjustly.
At least, that’s my reasoning.
My Korean partner got pulled over on the highway in Texas for being the wrong color, twice in an hour on bullshit reasons. She was not allowed to remain in her vehicle while the cops looked her up. Unless you can magically teleport from city to city, stay the hell out of Texas if you’re not white.