Can anything stop Henry from turning into another Clayton county? (Atlanta: condos, new house)

[MisterNY]

Afonega1, great posts!! You put this racist, idiot in check...I applaud you.

(coming from a 3/4 white~1/4 black male )

Rep points are in order.

Rockmama, is City Fanatic, the kind of neighbor you don't want around you? Just curious...

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by MisterNY

Afonega1, great posts!! You put this racist, idiot in check...I applaud you.

(coming from a 3/4 white~1/4 black male )

Rep points are in order.

Rockmama, is City Fanatic, the kind of neighbor you don't want around you? Just curious...

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by City Fanatic

Lithonia is in southeast Dekalb. The community as a whole is a mix, with some areas lower-income and some areas upper-middle income. Most of it, however, is your basic middle class. On top of that, why doesn't this higher income transfer to better schools and a lower crime rate?

I think Afonega1 is referring to Sandstone Estates and communities like it, not the entire Lithonia area (which is predominantly middle class). However, Sandstone Estates is pretty high end... like mansions. Not McMansions, but like official, opulent, manicured, celebrity-status mansion communities with almost all black people. You should ride through sometime.

The crime is not high in these communities. In fact, it's quite low. Remember, it's class, not race. People take care of their stuff and their neighborhoods.

Some parents send their children to private and other schools. But the community feeds into King High School which is an IB school and after much transition is currently under the leadership of the former principal of Druid Hills High School. It also feeds into Arabia Mountain High School, which is probably one of the most sought after schools in all of Dekalb County. Other nearby schools are Miller Grove High School, which made AYP, and Southwest Dekalb High School, which is a magnet school. Last year, is the first year that they didn't make AYP in 15 years! Sounds more like a small misstep, than a chronic problem...

But then again, Dunwoody and Cross Keys didn't make AYP either...

Just adding my 2 cents on that one point.

I'm out.

Break 'em down, Afonega1!

[Rockmama]

Originally Posted by MisterNY

Rockmama, is City Fanatic, the kind of neighbor you don't want around you? Just curious...

Correct! I'm sure the feeling is mutual.

[suprascooby22]

"What else is there to do? Whites can't keep any of our own neighborhoods, it seems. As soon as we have one, government forces send low-income, low-cultured, section 8 non-whites into our communities, which lowers home values and starts the deterioration of the communities and schools.

We've moved away too often, and I suppose we're tired of our once prosperous areas being lost. Too many communities lost, occurring too often."

I started this thread and while it has gone done many paths the above statement sums up my problem with "diversity" and more so the reason that SO many of us are pissed off!

Regardless of your race put yourself in the shoes of someone else for a change. Believe it or not I try to do this so I can gain perspective on various situations. Simply put, how would you like to see your neighborhood, schools, churches, shopping centers/malls, etc.. ALL change for the worse? Would you be ticked off if you had to move ever 5 to 10 years to get away from the race/culture/class of people that were doing this? Would you be upset if after you fled you came back to see the former area you once called home turned into a complete ghetto? Would it bother you to see your former home turned into a boarding house with 10-15 adults at a time living in a 4 bedroom house(that happened to mine)? If you can answer this HONESTLY then YOU will gain insight as to why many whites feel this way and why most will NOT stay and fight as some suggest.

[suprascooby22]

Originally Posted by Rockmama

Correct! I'm sure the feeling is mutual.

Seems like a good guy with a differing opinion to me. I agree with things that City Fanatic and Afonega1 say and would have a beer with both!

[Rockmama]

Originally Posted by suprascooby22

Seems like a good guy with a differing opinion to me. I agree with things that City Fanatic and Afonega1 say and would have a beer with both!

Differing opinion is fine. Give me a good debate any day! Just be fair, that's all I ask, and we can hang.

[suprascooby22]

Originally Posted by Rockmama

Differing opinion is fine. Give me a good debate any day! Just be fair, that's all I ask, and we can hang.

I totally agree, however as humans we have differing views on what fair is. Ask ten people and you will most likely get ten different answers but I agree with your main points.

However for MisterNY to call City Fanatic a "racist, idiot" says more about him than it ever will City Fanatic. I often wonder if people like him realize that once they call someone a racist for having a differing opinion they loose credibility with most clear thinking individuals.

While I dont agree with a lot of what Afongega1 says I can see that he puts a lot of time and energy into his arguements and I respect him for doing so. I would never think to label him a racist, etc. just because I have a differing opinion. People like Afonega1 and City Fanatic make the debate interesting while MisterNY just throws out a derogatory term without any supporting arguement. As I previously stated this is more telling than any arguement that City Fanatic could ever make.

[Rockmama]

Originally Posted by suprascooby22

I totally agree, however as humans we have differing views on what fair is. Ask ten people and you will most likely get ten different answers but I agree with your main points.

I agree. I should not assume I don't want to have City Fanatic as a neighbor. In fact, that's like saying I wouldn't want my Grandpa (with similar views) as a neighbor. My issues were with the blanket statements about what is and isn't the cause of all the problems in your community. I also worked in HR for years, so wanted to clear up some of the misconceptions about AA, EO and diversity.

I will always argue for respect where respect is due, and no group of people deserves to be lumped together as "the problem." (With an exception--you could certainly say "thugs" and violent criminals are a problem.) People deserve to be judged as individuals, not by socioeconomic class, race, religion or anything else. This goes in all directions. I hate to be judged, too, and I've been judged for my whiteness, my femaleness, my hair color (sometimes two-toned :-) and my black boots. (Comments from one of my daughter's classmate's parents.) And probably many more things I don't know about.

City Fanatic, I do apologize to you, because that wasn't very nice of me to say.

[Big L]

Originally Posted by suprascooby22

"What else is there to do? Whites can't keep any of our own neighborhoods, it seems. As soon as we have one, government forces send low-income, low-cultured, section 8 non-whites into our communities, which lowers home values and starts the deterioration of the communities and schools.

We've moved away too often, and I suppose we're tired of our once prosperous areas being lost. Too many communities lost, occurring too often."

I started this thread and while it has gone done many paths the above statement sums up my problem with "diversity" and more so the reason that SO many of us are pissed off!

Regardless of your race put yourself in the shoes of someone else for a change. Believe it or not I try to do this so I can gain perspective on various situations. Simply put, how would you like to see your neighborhood, schools, churches, shopping centers/malls, etc.. ALL change for the worse? Would you be ticked off if you had to move ever 5 to 10 years to get away from the race/culture/class of people that were doing this? Would you be upset if after you fled you came back to see the former area you once called home turned into a complete ghetto? Would it bother you to see your former home turned into a boarding house with 10-15 adults at a time living in a 4 bedroom house(that happened to mine)? If you can answer this HONESTLY then YOU will gain insight as to why many whites feel this way and why most will NOT stay and fight as some suggest.

Believe it or not, there are Black families and other families who are dealing with or who have dealt with the same issues. Moving every 5-10 years sounds a little extreme for my tastes, but I have seen some Black families watch their neighborhoods decline, move away, and then look in utter disbelief at their old areas.

I still find it disheartening that there are still some people who have a "There goes the neighborhood" mentality once a Black family or two moves into their subdivision. My girlfriend and I are house shopping at the moment and part of our dilemma is that there are areas where we know we will be looked down upon or shunned even though we both have advanced degrees and are gainfully-employed. If a couple of our status moves into the neighborhood and you put your house on the market shortly thereafter without bothering to find out who we are or what we do, does that say more about us or more about you? All of us are not trying to ruin subdivisions, move in relatives, or cause a decline in your schools or shopping centers. Hell, if the schools and shopping centers start declining then we may even start packing ourselves.

I noticed that you feel that Henry is becoming "the next Clayton County". Although I can agree that there are probably some people who moved to Henry and brought issues with them, I can also guarantee that there are some Black or other minority families in Henry that may be just as anxious to get out as you are. Every Black household on the block is not part of the problem, but unfortunately some people do not believe that.

I often have to tell some people that regardless of how progressive things may seem, Metro Atlanta is still in Georgia and race relations still leave a lot to be desired.