In my case, I have to be comfortable in my discomforts. Also, I had to learn how to deal with being offended constantly. When I moved to Utah as an adult, it was a struggle to maneuver through the business world, find true friends and some cultural diversity. People will come to my business and look me dead in the face and ask if they can speak to the owner. I got pulled over once, and I actually had a cop ask me if this was my car, and what did I do to be able to afford it. The conversations have been edited for clarity and length.ĭash Cox, 48, Cottonwood Heights, Utah: ‘I had to learn how to deal with being offended’ They shared painful stories and talked of living in a “fishbowl” where their lives and actions are magnified by the color of their skin. Here, as told to the Deseret News, are some experiences of Black Americans living in Utah and other overwhelmingly white states. Census Bureau, and it’s about 20% in the South. In comparison, the Black population nationwide is 13.4%, according to the U.S. And in two states - Idaho and Montana - fewer than 1% of the population is Black. Utah is among seven states where the Black population is less than 2% the others include Vermont, Maine, Wyoming and New Hampshire. “You tip your hat to each other, you say, ‘I feel you.’” After a while, she asked, “Do you know all the Black people in Utah? He laughed and replied, “Sweetheart, I hardly know any, but we all feel the same.”Ĭox, the owner of Title Boxing Club in Cottonwood Heights, said that the “unanimous nodding of the head” is one way of coping with being a Black person in an overwhelmingly white state. SALT LAKE CITY - Walking through a local mall with his daughter, Dash Cox kept nodding at people his daughter didn’t recognize.
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