3280 upvotes, 23 direct replies (showing 23)
View submission: Three Palestinian students shot and wounded in Burlington, Vermont, police say
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Comment by silkysmoothjay at 26/11/2023 at 18:26 UTC
1000 upvotes, 9 direct replies
I don't feel like any place is necessarily an odd place for something like this to happen, because it just takes one person
Comment by thehillshaveI at 26/11/2023 at 18:31 UTC
778 upvotes, 9 direct replies
a muslim man was shot nine days ago in providence [1], in what certainly seems like another hate crime. there's no shortage of racists in blue states, even if we don't elect them (generally)
Comment by ItinerantSoldier at 26/11/2023 at 22:12 UTC
12 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is possibly the *least* surprising thing to happen in this area. I live in the adjacent part of New York and you still, in the year of our lord 2023, occasionally hear people calling arabs "sand n*****s". There's a lot of hate in the rural areas around Burlington and especially in rural New York which is often barely discernable from the deep south these days.
Comment by Curious-Gain-7148 at 26/11/2023 at 21:00 UTC
23 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Yes, VT is often presented as one of the last hippie bastion, but it’s just not. A lot of people don’t know that. I see it often recommended to people who are looking for a place of love and equality and…welp…
Comment by lambchoppe at 26/11/2023 at 18:55 UTC
29 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I’m from the area and lived nearby during the protests. There was a lot of coverage of them, but I don’t recall ever hearing about any violence, either via car or BB gun, inflicted on the protesters. The city largely supported the protestors and their right to protest. Do you have any articles on that? I’d be interested in learning more.
Comment by Kierik at 26/11/2023 at 18:29 UTC
131 upvotes, 5 direct replies
New England in general has real issues with racism and it surfaces occasionally. What keeps it from being more common is very likely opportunity to express that racism.
Comment by AmanDog2020 at 26/11/2023 at 19:43 UTC*
19 upvotes, 3 direct replies
I went to college in Burlington in the early 2000s. It was around the time gay marriage was on the ballot. The anti catch phrase was Take Back Vermont. Those signs were everywhere once you got out of city limits.
Edited to correct the anti catch phrase
Comment by myassholealt at 26/11/2023 at 18:48 UTC
47 upvotes, 5 direct replies
Maybe it's racist to say, and I'm generalizing too much, but anytime you have a place in this country that is over 90% of one race, racism and bigotry are there. They just don't need to outwardly express their hate that often cause most everyone around them looks like them so are accepted.
Comment by Chicagogally at 26/11/2023 at 18:52 UTC
20 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I lived here from 2008-2012. Back then, the huge uproar was that a lot of Somalian immigrants were coming to Burlington. Shootings were happening, a lot of people stopped going to the popular "North Beach" in Burlington because a lot of the Somalian immigrants started going there, etc. Still lot of racism. Then pretty much every other town in the state is very republican, to the point I saw swastika regalia for sale at flea markets around Rutland.
It doesn't seem like this stuff could happen in the land of Bernie Sanders, Ben and Jerry's and covered bridges (and admittedly it may not nearly as frequently as other places) but there are still issues over there.
Comment by peepjynx at 26/11/2023 at 19:22 UTC
9 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I lived there for 5 years (2012-1018).
I remember watching the movie "Get Out" while I was there and going, "Yup. This absolutely depicts the culture of Vermont."
They are progressive and liberal... and < 2% of the population is non-white (I think those numbers changed a bit recently, but that's what it was when I lived there.)
They are NIMBY in both housing and racial diversity.
The first openly, OPENLY racist white man I ever met was in VT... and I spent 10 years in Florida in the 80s, for christsakes.
I wasn't there during BLM, but reading that now... It's sad to say that I'm not really surprised.
Comment by PrincessNakeyDance at 26/11/2023 at 19:35 UTC
10 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Yeah, I mean every Friday for a while there were people with lifted trucks ripping up Williston road in South Burlington with “FUCK BIDEN” written on their windscreen (like it was a race car advertisement) and maga flags flying off the back. Also “Let’s go Brandon” signs would show up there too.
So fucking immature.
Comment by Gostaverling at 26/11/2023 at 21:10 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I lived for a year near St. Johnsbury VT for about a year in the early 00s. It was an interesting time, the people there generally disliked outsiders. Called them flatlanders with a ton of venom in their voice. I was working and became covered in soot. Called the office and told them that I needed to come in and take a shower. Afterwards my boss called me in and said that I was so dirty that for a minute he thought he hired one of them “Black Boys”.
Comment by [deleted] at 26/11/2023 at 22:01 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Just was up there and have family that attend UVM.
ITs NOT the same Burlington VT from the late 90's-00's. More theft, robberies, and crime than ever. Trying to convince family to move once rest are done at school.
Comment by sweatpantswarrior at 26/11/2023 at 22:16 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Can confirm. I went to UVM and spent a few years fucking around in Burlington after graduating. Went to plenty of parties on Loomis.
This is a cut-and-dry hate crime. Sad to see that this happened in Burlington. It was a bastion of sanity that balanced the "fuck you money" and "fuck you, we're rednecks" parts of the state.
Comment by oceansunset83 at 26/11/2023 at 21:08 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I lived in Littleton, New Hampshire for eight years. I have never been to Burlington, but I have been to a few other places in Vermont, and like its border state, I know what you're talking about. Behind the idealistic images of autumn, covered bridges, old steepled churches, and quaint main streets with cozy shops lurks some ugliness. Not all of the people in Vermont or New Hampshire are crazy gun-toting white nationalists, but there are a lot of them, and they are the ones who talk the loudest and won't listen to reason before they shoot you in the face. My heart goes out to those guys, who were just having a night out before some numbnut shot them.
Comment by Bigfatnutterbutter at 26/11/2023 at 19:33 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I had a Quebec flag sticking out of our car and after a short hike near Burlington it wasn't there anymore, definitely some unhinged people out there
Comment by Totallyperm at 26/11/2023 at 20:51 UTC*
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I sum up that state as democrats in Subarus and a medley of militas.
Comment by Lawgirl77 at 26/11/2023 at 21:57 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
As a Black woman, Vermont is a state I would be wary of visiting. Most of New England is to be honest. I never thought of that area as a safe place for people of color.
Comment by [deleted] at 26/11/2023 at 18:30 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is true
Comment by MalcolmLinair at 26/11/2023 at 22:24 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Sounds like my home state, California. Everyone thinks we're as Blue as it gets, but between Orange County and the agricultural Central Valley there's quite the large Conservative/MAGA prescience as well. It's just drowned out by the densely populated, liberal cities.
Comment by Emory_C at 26/11/2023 at 20:31 UTC
0 upvotes, 1 direct replies
...and surrounded by rural areas where the political climate is about what you’d expect. There’s a lot of ugly beneath that white liberal paradise image...
I feel like this is really negative. I recently moved to Vermont from a big city out west. I love it here. The people are amazingly kind.
There's 'a lot of ugly' beneath all of humanity...and a lot of beauty, too.
Comment by Agreeable-Roll-5027 at 26/11/2023 at 19:22 UTC
-9 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Streets are for vehicles, Pedestrians are not supposed to be on streets impeding traffic.
Comment by suitology at 26/11/2023 at 22:19 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
vermont is the only state where I've seen lesbians open carrying with shirts saying to practice the 2nd amendment incase you ever need to kill the cop that shows up to revoke your marriage license. It's an interesting state.