Is it fair to refer to Atlanta as the Black Moscow? (Dallas: college, to live)

[glovenyc]

Wow what a weird reference

[JayHey]

Haha, OP had to have heard someone say "Atlanta is Black Mecca" and is just misremembering it as "Black Moscow" because nobody says "___ Moscow" for anything.

[BoiWonder13]

Originally Posted by seussie

Why can't we just say that Atlanta is one of the many cultural centers for a dispersed Black diaspora that makes it so? Geez. And all these "centers" are changing as migration, forced or voluntary, keeps on chugging. "Harlem is not what it was back then," etc.

Agreeded, along with NYC and DC.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by seussie

Why can't we just say that Atlanta is one of the many cultural centers for a dispersed Black diaspora that makes it so? Geez. And all these "centers" are changing as migration, forced or voluntary, keeps on chugging. "Harlem is not what it was back then," etc.

Ain't nobody got time to be saying all that. "Black mecca" is a very convenient shorthand but for some reason, it gets people all in a tizzy. Nobody blows a gasket when you talk about, say, San Francisco and gays or Nashville and country music or Boston and the Irish in similar terms.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Well now it makes sense as that statement was made on a website called the "Russian Reaction Blog." But in that case, the better comparison probably would have been St. Petersburg.

Anyway, the comparison to Moscow was only made because apparently the blog is about...Russia. If the blog were about France, the comparison would have been to Paris. If it were about Chile, the city of comparison would have been Santiago...and so on and so forth. Otherwise, nobody is running around here calling Atlanta the "Moscow" of Black America.

I'm honestly surprised you weren't able to pick up on that context-specific usage.

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

I mentioned St. Petersburg in my post also.

Well you did! With as bizarre a post as this, I didn't go thru all the comments as I usually do.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Ain't nobody got time to be saying all that. "Black mecca" is a very convenient shorthand but for some reason, it gets people all in a tizzy. Nobody blows a gasket when you talk about, say, San Francisco and gays or Nashville and country music or Boston and the Irish in similar terms.

Exactly.

It shows the extent of anti-Black sentiment in our American society.

[Destination Succeed]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

I'm going to say no.

First, it's weird that Moscow is picked out of the hundreds of similar options. I don't understand how Moscow is more unique to Russians is than any other major capital city is to its predominant population as a choice to compare to black to Atlanta.

The other thing is many of us aren't black. It both makes sense and is weird that Atlanta must always be the proxy in television/movies just for an all black show for national diversity sake. Reality is there are many black people, more than national average by a large margin, however we are very diverse beyond that. So I struggle saying something like Blacks are to Atlanta just like Russians are to Moscow.

What I think is unique about Atlanta, and this should extend to DC too, is black people have had more success moving into the mainstream middle class and moving up the corporate ladder than other places. I would say we still have parts of town that are mostly black, lower class, and people are struggling to get more traction to move up, but region-wide we are large magnet for a growing black middle class. The Civil Rights movement was definitely very large and well-organized here.

After the 2010 US Census I remember looking at some income data metro-wide comparisons. One comparison was Chicago and Atlanta. What was notable was with Chicago being bigger, but less black, had about the same total size black population as the Atlanta-area does. When the two were broken down into Median Household Income brackets side-by-side, it was noticeable that black people in the Atlanta metro region were wealthier. I attribute this to that growing middle class.

Currently blacks make up just over 33% of metro Atlanta. Just under 49% are white. 10% are Hispanic and just under 6% are Asian. While all groups are growing in total numbers, whites (non-hispanic) are shrinking in percentage as the black, hispanic, and Asians are growing faster.

The more common name has been Black Mecca. I struggle with this. I get it in that is a better place to be black and it is an area of the country they have a larger foothold in the overall population, but black-alone also doesn't define us. So... I'm not sure the best way to sum that up. Atlanta is highly important to black culture generally speaking, but the Atlanta region is also isn't completely defined by that culture.

I'm trying to understand, why is it that many people see Atlanta as some kind of black utopia, a garden of Eden for blacks...a proverbial black land of milk and honey that's just bustling with oppurtunities?

No, no, no! Atlanta to me, as a 30 y/o black person who has traveled thru there many times, nothing more than a Dallas, Houston or (dare say Chicago). All cities inland from the coast, hosts several companies because it's CHEAPER to do so, mostly mild weather, and happens to have high concentrations of blacks who happen to have financial stability. People think these attributes make it some kind of Mecca or like someone said, "center". It's not. No more than Salt Lake City or New Hampshire is a White Mecca. They just happen to have majority White populous.

Like has been said, most black folks are in Atlanta because that's what the south was. Ditto with Virginia. They shipped our ancestors in to coastal states between Florida to Maryland for over 400 years, so it makes sense that in only 150 years time, the majority would build generations in such states (and the spirits from enslaved ancestors probably continue to send hurricanes to the south as well...e.g. hurricane Florence which I am hoping spares North and South Carolina).

Anyhow...the point is, I think "Black Mecca" is an outdated term that needs to be thrown out. I live in Florida and there's a lot of black people here from both the US and the islands, and even Africa and South America, yet why hasn't it been called a black Mecca? The U.S. as a whole is a black Mecca in itself: if you compare to many European countries and Asia. It's 2018. Black people in America aren't a rare breed in the big picture. There's only a few states I've been at, to where you can go a whole day or 2 and never see a black person in a states' largest city (think Rapid City, Boise, etc). Atlanta is one of many where you will see regularly.

Personally...I would rather live in Salt Lake City than Atlanta any day. In my experience, black folks haven't always been the most fairest or genuine people out there. The next place I move to, it's not going to be a black Mecca. Again, coming from a black person...

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by Destination Succeed

I'm trying to understand, why is it that many people see Atlanta as some kind of black utopia, a garden of Eden for blacks...a proverbial black land of milk and honey that's just bustling with oppurtunities?

No, no, no! Atlanta to me, as a 30 y/o black person who has traveled thru there many times, nothing more than a Dallas, Houston or (dare say Chicago). All cities inland from the coast, hosts several companies because it's CHEAPER to do so, mostly mild weather, and happens to have high concentrations of blacks who happen to have financial stability. People think these attributes make it some kind of Mecca or like someone said, "center". It's not. No more than Salt Lake City or New Hampshire is a White Mecca. They just happen to have majority White populous.

Like has been said, most black folks are in Atlanta because that's what the south was. Ditto with Virginia. They shipped our ancestors in to coastal states between Florida to Maryland for over 400 years, so it makes sense that in only 150 years time, the majority would build generations in such states (and the spirits from enslaved ancestors probably continue to send hurricanes to the south as well...e.g. hurricane Florence which I am hoping spares North and South Carolina).

Anyhow...the point is, I think "Black Mecca" is an outdated term that needs to be thrown out. I live in Florida and there's a lot of black people here from both the US and the islands, and even Africa and South America, yet why hasn't it been called a black Mecca? The U.S. as a whole is a black Mecca in itself: if you compare to many European countries and Asia. It's 2018. Black people in America aren't a rare breed in the big picture. There's only a few states I've been at, to where you can go a whole day or 2 and never see a black person in a states' largest city (think Rapid City, Boise, etc). Atlanta is one of many where you will see regularly.

Personally...I would rather live in Salt Lake City than Atlanta any day. In my experience, black folks haven't always been the most fairest or genuine people out there. The next place I move to, it's not going to be a black Mecca. Again, coming from a black person...

It's fine you don't want to live here, but I'm confused about why are you posting here? You live in Florida, only travel through Atlanta, and have very clearly stated you would not ever live in Atlanta.

Also even though you are black, I am offended, as a black person, by the fact that you make blanket statements about black people not being "the most fairest or genuine people". I also do not appreciate your race-based preference to live in Salt Lake City. If a white person wrote this post, I'd call them racist. But since you're black, I'm going to keep my thoughts on your motivations for posting such offensive drivel here to myself.

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

It's fine you don't want to live here, but I'm confused about why are you posting here? You live in Florida, only travel through Atlanta, and have very clearly stated you would not ever live in Atlanta.

Also even though you are black, I am offended, as a black person, by the fact that you make blanket statements about black people not being "the most fairest or genuine people". I also do not appreciate your race-based preference to live in Salt Lake City. If a white person wrote this post, I'd call them racist. But since you're black, I'm going to keep my thoughts on your motivations for posting such offensive drivel here to myself.

Yeah his comment is very suspect. Fairness and generosity isn’t isn’t tied to race because race doesn’t exist in biological terms. I hate when people say that an entire race of people are a certain way, it’s intellectually dishonest.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Well now it makes sense as that statement was made on a website called the "Russian Reaction Blog." But in that case, the better comparison probably would have been St. Petersburg.

I was waiting for somebody to call this out.

St. Petersburg was built by Peter the Great to be the cultural center of Russia (and within the scope of his ambition, all of Europe). To this day, it remains so.