Small-Town Values? Miami Family Shunned After Moving to North Dakota

Ok I live now in Minot nd... I'm Cuban from Miami.... I can't wait to go back these people here think this land is made out of gold they think if you are Hispanic you are Mexcian there's nothing else but Mexican ! everywhere you go here all the crap they have to say about Hispanic, how poor they talk of all races that are not white... Miami might not be perfect but atleast no one there give two shits if you're white,Cuban,Mexcian,nica whatever you might be but the problem here is that there's ONLY white and they look down on any and every other race, ... Oh and one more thing stop talking shit about Miami everyone here is so bord off there mind that they get a D.U.I every weekend lol cause that's all there is to do here !!!!!! I can't wait for the oil boom to end so I can get the fuck out of here and go party with the drug dealers and the strippers !!!!!! 305 baby

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with this article. I have lived in Florida and N.Dakota and I currently live in Georgia waiting to move back to N.D..... Floridians are among the rudest people on the face of the planet not to mention the owner of  the worst school district and very  high crime rate.Most (not all) have this attitude like they are better then you. N.D people were very kind to us. The school district is awesome and there is a very low crime rate. I'm sorry you had a bad experience but Maybe you took a Florida attitude up there???

This article is absolute bullshit. I moved last year from Detroit, MI to Columbus, ND (town of 150) and was accepted with open arms. 

   North Dakota is another Nebraska, except for maybe a small radius w/ in Omaha near the old  market, the people are essentially unwilling to associate w/ outsiders.  I am Italian too and I kissed some A for years, ready to sell out, it sucks the economy is the way it is because their is less of a high unemployment rate here and you can more or less subsist short of exist.

City girl, moved my kids to small farming town in Eastern WA, for the same fantasy we all here of. Low crime, friendly neighbors, kind waves and smiles, just all around glorified small town living most read about as the greatest way to live. Well, not always. The town we are in is extremely unfriendly, unwelcoming and refers to us as transplants. I have lived a couple other small towns, and have never found the others to be as cold, deserted, and just strange as much as this one. Schools hire and keep abusive staff members, everyone too afraid to say anything or denial so thick that their life long family members are that awful to students...most of the adults swing in town, not a hidden adventure for the town, but it's a known reputation here. The wives are robotic and the men are controlling. If you look different? They will stare and glare...and that "different" could simply be your hair color, the style of your dress or shoes or shirt...it is the strangest and most unfriendly town EVER. Sacrificing the safety of your children at school, the bizzare rumors, the denial of it's own people claiming what a glorius town they have, is absolutely perplexing and shocking to say the very least. I did my research before moving here...but sometimes, like the family in ND...no matter how hard to try...they will not accept new people if you aren't from there or have family that was raised there. You are outcasted and not wanted. Some towns are friendly, I'm certain...but this one? Not one outsider has ever said a positive thing about this town. Talk to people and do as much research as you can before moving to a small town!

Wow ... Hate to be critical but these folks might have made the mistakes that cost them access to a great life for their family. I was born, raised and launched a successful career in downtown Toronto my whole life. 40 years later we traded Sunday Brunch with our friends for kayaking & hiking with the kids at our new home in tiny rural Atlantic Canada. Did we start out as valuable community members by driving a Lexus and wearing our previous big-city lifestyle like a badge on our arm? No! Do you wear fancy career duds, jewellery and big gold chains to a local cafe, hardware store or post office on a Saturday afternoon? Not likely! Of course people judged them at the beginning! Small town folks will accept newcomers of ANY color or race ...But they won't accept braggarts, show offs and people who flaunt the big city values they are trying so desperately to avoid. Sorry - It is up to the newcomers to make THEMSELVES a welcome addition to a small town, not the other way around. This is a one-sided story that reeks of big-city bias. Unless these folks plan on changing their attitude they should stick to looping a fancy camera around their neck and remaining "weekend" tourists in small town America. Whoever wrote this story has a great deal of bias and precious little common sense. Stay in Miami (or where ever you are) with your head stuck in the sand.

I am thinking of moving to ND..taking a position in Minot. I am from Illinois originally but have lived in the south (GA and FL) for the past 10+ years. I'm tired of all the crime here, looking at everyone's underwear, hearing everyone's music (boom rap crap) in the apartment next to me. The school systems are awful...I want to get back to the values I was raised on and it sure isn't happening down here. Whether its ND or another Midwest town, I'm saying goodbye to the South. It is rich is culture and has its great places to visit and live, but its not for me. Stress free living as much as I can get is what I am looking for...down here, I have to work 3 jobs. I'll be dead before I'm 50..that's not living. Besides, I hate cockroaches...

North Dakota people can be very leery of anyone from out of state. I moved to CA at age 40 and at 62 I find that I'm getting screwed in my father's estate. A 20 something nephew/farmer is getting 40% of the farm...we live out of state, are female and don't farm. I spent a fortune on plane tickets, phone calls and the "snow birds" took refuge in our home during their all- inclusive vacations. Am I bitter? YES. ND farmers are like pitbulls when it comes to farmland. I'm stunned. My daughters won't being marrying farmers, so I'm still glad that we left. Some families there are lovely, my isn't.

I grew up in North Dakota and people are nice, honest, friendly, helpful, and accepting IF you are like them, meaning you have the same values and look similar to them. ND has a very VERY homogenous population and people have good strong values, but are very judgmental to those who have different values or ways of living. Just ask migrant workers who help farmer in ND. Just ask the Native Americans who are also North Dakotans.

i dont care what is said i live in a small town in oklahoma called purcell and i'm commited to moving to N.D. next week already have a N.D. cell# planed the trip got the family ready to move to ??.. i don't know yet just going to see where i land i guess but i'm willing to fight to support my family and every place i called offered me a job when i moved there so i'm taking my tax return and moving up there you see i use to live in "big city" ever since i was a kid but after i got out of the army i have lived in the small town and would not give it up for the world. i can leave the keys in the car sitting in the ignition over night and know that my car will be there in the morning. how many people in "big city" would honestly leave there car running going into a walmart for 20min? honestly? and the answer would be 0! and thats why they don't "fit" in they do not TRUST which is the big key in small towns. but if anyone has any ideas as to where in N.D. i should move please feel free to tell me where i can find a home for me my wife and 3 kids stanstrif at gmail is my e-mail and i'm heading up on the 7th of march

Moved to Wishek, ND (about 40 miles from Hazelton) 6 years ago from PA. Here's my experience:Since I just wanted solitude, I got a small farmstead outside town. I don't "fit in", but I never moved in order to find conformity. Yes, a person needs to find their own place in one of these small ND towns. When questions bordered on nosey, I responded that I was on a witness relocation program, and could reveal no other details of my life. This was an easy way to invite the older people to mind their own business. I don't shun anyone, but I don't see eye-to-eye with everyone either. I am in fact 1/2 German, but German German, not German from Russia, as there is so much pride here to identify. My German traditions are vastly different from theirs, so again, I'm the oddity. Add a strong French appearance to confuse them even more! HOWEVER, all this said, I have the BEST neighbors, (all over a mile away) that call when the weather is dangerous to see if we are OK. Santa stops at my home on Christmas Eve with candy before he goes to the local party for the kids. We choose not to go to the party, but the gentleman as Santa feels strongly about visiting us since all our family is in PA. When my Dad passed away last summer, I had co-workers and clients that barely know me cry and pray with me. I bought a great little farmstead on contract for deed, no bank involved, completely legal and often done out here when the banking system isn't in your favor. My house is never locked, and my keys are in my pick-up all the time. Your happiness starts INSIDE and no earthly location will provide what you don't carry already. Thanks.

Let's see...240 people in the town, and only a percentage of these drink coffee. Why did they open another coffee shop? In Miami it wouldn't matter, but in a tiny town like this, one can see where it would hurt the other business.

I am Italian in a small town in ND and from Miami Fla . I love the saftey and not watching my back . I even leave my purse credit card on front seat and no one will take it there are honest kind and people with values here they are real christians. I am missing the warm weather my family and lots more activities but this is a better quality of life with down to earth people and being able to leave my windows open and my doors I feel safe and my children get a great education with teachers who will accept low pay because they want to teach and live in a small rural community . No one hurts my Italian nationality and traditions. I love Norwegians they are so nice and clean people . as I said I am proud to be Italian and cook cuban haitian Itaian foods and I am loud some times with my culture but pretty much have fit in because I love the town and many peopel stay to them selves in Miami any how . I think they are more helpful and kind here than any where I have ever been in North America. I have been TO Chicago Indianna Illinoise Ca GA AND tENN AND THE SCHOOLS are the best!!! the people are and I grew up in Fla 39 years to move here and really enjoyed it I enjoy everything except the cold and shoveling some day I will buy a snow plow Its really nice when you can sleep late on a snowey morning and wake to find a neighbor do ing your drive way wow have I learned to bake and give pies away . I have learned so much more than I ever did in Fla and I am grateful for the peopel in ND AND THEIR KINDNESS I love you North Dakota. I hope I live long enough to experience a long life in ND. PEOPLE HERE ARE HAPPY PEOPLE AND LIVE LONG AND THEIR SKIN IS BEAUTIFUL . These peopel love family freinds neighbors and all people . I will defend North Dakotans . I am very happy here. simple life laid back lives and joyful peaceful lives . hard working lovable people are here and I am happy I am here with them .

You are right on point saying, "Michael and Jeanette had trouble fitting in, like the new kids at school trying to find a place to eat in a particularly cliquey cafeteria."Lol. A rival coffee shop that could potentially put a small town resident out of business? That would result in a boycott IMO. The people of small towns are used to their extremely simple lives. Competition and bling-bling aren't received well.

My parents come from a small town. They're sooper old fashioned.

I'm sure these people had that "Miami accent" which, if thick enough, can frustrate me if I'm trying to understand someone. Not to sound prejudiced but if that's the case, and I know that accent, but their mode of expression and ways and means of conveying certain things might have struck a dissonant chord with the townspeople, it's easier to take notice of a bull in a china store that way....instead of laying low :-) and they say it's 50/50..well half a loaf is better than none...wimps..they should tough it out!!

The key factor is, the dude takes one situation and blows it out of proportion. Instead of going to the friggin police dept/ city hall (housed in some sort of construction portable double wide) I would have sat down at the local luncheonette, had a couple of coffees, and reveal in fits and starts the events that transpired...mr tristani decided that out of the frying pan and into the fire was the best methodology....he doesn't realize he would have experienced the same thing if his dog shit on the wrong person's lawn in Marathon Key, if he parked in someone else's space by accident in an apartment complex in davie....I travel frequently with my job and I have met good people and assholes, in all sorts of towns...but nothing aggravates me more than Miami's pop-cultural vacuum....

Having been raised in North Dakota, Anonomyous is correct! Some of the nicest, most basic valued and tolerant (mostly Scandinavian)people you'd ever meet. I think the Miami family (I live in FL, too) probably expected different!! These ND people are the salt of the earth, just the nicest people (overall) you'd ever meet. My daughters (Ivy league with a Mom from N.D.!) loved it so much; one wants to go to med school at the University there.I had to speak up for these great, kind people; you don't find them in such quantities in too many states.

No offense to the inhabitants of this town, but I just finished e-visiting this town on google street and its is about the size of the entire Sawgrass shopping mall, in fact I think the mall has more acre than the entire town including the airport. Why would anyone born and raised in Miami decide to this place, they could of just moved to the Redlands and been 15 minutes away from familiarity.It's like a redneck from there moving to hialeah, major culture shock/trauma.

Ho is a self-hating 'brown'! Poor guy, a little too touching over not properly saying 'darker skinned'...

I'm originally from North Dakota and I never knew anyone that thought Italians were "brown" LOL

Anytime you move somewhere different, whether it's North Dakota or Florida or Maine or New Mexico, your experience will depend on the degree of your assimilation.

Anon,Thanks for your help. Could please you explain to me who is more "brown": a Cuban or a full blooded Sicilian? Would the browner one get more affirmative action? How do I explain this on my college application? Do you know if Brown College a traditionally brown college for brown people? I was thinking of going there. Also, is using the word "brown" racist? Cause it sounds pretty offensive to me. If you called me "brown" I'd probably slug you.

Being mistaken for a drug dealer is a compliment? Really - that is something someone aspires to. Maybe this is the type of thinking that got this family shunned - I would not want to be in the same place as a drug dealer or someone who pretends to be.

Kyle Munzenrieder, you sound more prejudicial than the people of Hazelton.

"We don't shun anyone down here" <--HAHAHA! Yeah right.

"You might get mistaken for a drug dealer, but around here that's considered a compliment" <-- In Miami drug dealers are held in high regards and get compliments? Okay.

"Your gold chains, Rolex, and Lexus are considered major pluses when meeting new friends" <-- Yeah, because that's what we all should be looking for in a friend, nice bling and pricey wheels. Those are the fundamentals for a strong friendship, indeed!

Miami sounds like a great place to raise children!

Also, no offense intended to Hazelton, ND. It may well be a very fine town. I've never been there so I can't say. I'm guessing from the description of the family that moved there, that they were so entrenched in Miami values and culture that they just couldn't or wouldn't fit in.

Talk about judgmental. This 'open-minded' south Florida resident is prejudging every small town in the entire midwest based on his experience in 1 dying North Dakota village of <250 people. Maybe his first clue that this wasn't going to be a great town should have been that they are having to basically pay people to come live there. He talks like there's nowhere in Miami that people would be shunned or made fun of. Can you imagine if a family wearing bib overalls and speaking with a Minnesota/ND accent moved to a ritzy Miami neighborhood?

Again, just because one small town didn't fit the description, doesn't mean the whole general concept of small town values is a crock. That would be like visiting Detroit and coming to the conclusion that all cities in general don't offer jobs and opportunity like everyone says they do just because that one didn't.

Sure, there bad small towns out there, but the good things about small towns that can't typically be found in cities still do exist, just as there are opportunities and diversity in most cities that just can't be found in most small towns. This article is just so biased it's not even funny.

This is a joke. I am from North Dakota and I must say -- you don't have a clue what you are talking about. I know a handful of people in Hazelton and asked them about this AP article. The family is seclusive and rude. Any time they were invited to events, they declined. When someone greeted them with a smile, they shunned them. Word spreads in small towns and you can't get away with that kind of behavior for long. They brought their big-city attitude to a small community. I'm not surprised at what happened. They brought any backlash upon themselves by not recognizing that the rural North Dakota lifestyle is different than anything you see in Miami. Their children fit in very well, but the parents were not nice people. The AP article is completely one-sided. It's a joke.

Here's what it's like living in North Dakota: People are overwhelmingly nice (despite what this stupid article says), the cost of living is low, wages are high, unemployment is very low, houses are inexpensive, crime is virtually nonexistent, life is simple, values are strong, morality actually exists, pollution is nowhere to be found, commutes are short, life expectancy is high, and people smile at one another.

I will not stoop to the level of this blog and say anything bad about living in Florida, because I don't have an opinion since I've never been there. How many of you have visited ND? I know Miami has its perks, such as (much) nicer weather, entertainment, attractions, opportunities, etc. But it also has several drawbacks, which some people do not want to be exposed to. North Dakota also has its drawbacks. It depends on the person.

But, to take this one-sided article (which is an absolute atrocity of journalism) and generalize by degrading "small town values" is ignorance at its finest. Whoever wrote this blog should be ashamed.

I grew up in the Tampa Bay area myself, but I now live outside of Charleston, SC in a place called Folly Beach. Great beach town with very laid back atmosphere. In some ways it reminds me of Key West.

I happened to come across this article while checking my e-mail. Why on earth would they have left South Florida for N Dakota? I know the money and free land was part of it, but still. Ever look at some of these places on google earth? You couldn't pay me to live in a place like that.

There's a dark side to small town America that they won't tell you about. Small towns can either be heaven or hell. There is no in-between. In cities you have diversity, which makes it easier since no matter what your background you will always find people who share common interests. Not so in small towns. There is a very narrowly defined view of what people should be like.

I hope these people are able to sell their home. Lord only knows how much they're going to lose selling it and then re-entering the South Florida real estate market. Best of luck to you Tristanis.

Ho, brown means not white, but not black. But yes, I see the photo on the link now, they are white.

Anything a redneck from N Dakota would not see as white is the point.

And true Crystal, this is one side of the story.

I find it interesting that all the blame is placed on the locals and the family takes no blame what so ever in the situation not working out.

"A very important part of the story was left out, is the family brown?"

Anon, what exactly does "brown" mean? They are Italian. Does that count as "brown"? Or does an Italian have to be from Argentina to be "brown." I've always wondered, so please fill me in.

"gold chains, Rolex and Lexus."

yeah, doesn't really fit in with the overalls crowd...

A very important part of the story was left out, is the family brown?