Submitted by RolledPork t3_11m34ud in newjersey
I'm a young white man marrying a young black woman, and we're looking into options for buying a house/townhouse in NJ. We've got a lot of factors to consider, including balancing a mortgage with student loans, establishing ourselves in our early careers, and fighting existential dread at the idea that we'll be in debt up to our eyeballs until we die - that is to say, we're living the American dream.
On top of all of this, we have a critical aspect we want to look out for: comfort and safety, especially in the context of living in a progressive area where the chances of us catching stinkeye for simply having our skin colors as couple are kept to a minimum. We both grew up in racist hotspot areas - me in southeastern Monmouth County, and her in southwestern Warren County. We feel actively uncomfortable simply existing in both of our hometowns. We've been kicked out of shops before as soon as we've walked in. We want to leave that behind.
What areas should we avoid when we're looking for a house if we want to find somewhere that at least has a lower chance of us having this kind of experience?