Southside areas: Racially mixed or in transition? (apartment complex, dorms)

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by Reelist in Atlanta

I don't think whites would move out of an area just because it became 20%-30% black. I think they may move out if the culture changes in ways that make them uncomfortable. For example, I had a black guy rent a condo right next to mine a couple of years ago. Our complex is mostly white. I came home from work one day and saw him sitting on the steps leading to his second floor condo. He had a boom box sitting in the window pointed outward playing rap music. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this but its certainly not what I'm used to and I didn't really care for it. Neither did my neighbors. Someone spoke to him and he stopped.

With the demise of 'affordable' housing in Atlanta and section 8, we see many less well to do blacks moving into the suburbs. With them may well come a culture of drugs, violence, vandalism and litter. This would, and has, caused many whites to flee an area and along with them many businesses.

I would not move out if my complex became 50% black doctors, lawyers and other professionals. Of course there are a lot of folks between poor and professional. I guess its sort of a bell curve. I'd have to see the culture change before I'd consider moving.

You hit it on the nail. You also have plenty of blacks who would do the same. As soon as the ghetto elements move in, they'd move out as well. This is beyond race. (It's usually an issue of class and education level versus race).

[DuchessOfKvetch]

This is more or less the same thing as having some trashy rednecks move in next door and start blasting cheesy country music off of their patio, while shirtlessly working on their pickup trucks in the front yard all the time (which is in turn littered with empty cans of the local cheap beer). Nothing wrong with the good ol' boys in theory, just the ones who don't respect their neighborhood.

As a side note though, people of color do not need to be doctors & lawyers to be good citizens, or "trustworthy". This isn't even a poor vs wealthy, college-educated vs highschool "class" issue - it's just that no one wants to live next to jerks. That definition of "jerk", however, is very subjective.

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by DuchessOfKvetch

This is more or less the same thing as having some trashy rednecks move in next door and start blasting cheesy country music off of their patio, while shirtlessly working on their pickup trucks in the front yard all the time (which is in turn littered with empty cans of the local cheap beer). Nothing wrong with the good ol' boys in theory, just the ones who don't respect their neighborhood.

As a side note though, people of color do not need to be doctors & lawyers to be good citizens, or "trustworthy". This isn't even a poor vs wealthy, college-educated vs highschool "class" issue - it's just that no one wants to live next to jerks. That definition of "jerk", however, is very subjective.

ROFLMAO..... You're right, and so funny. Straight rednecks blasting country music. Too funny!! (this is going in the books ) It goes both ways, but sadly people think of ghetto as either black or latino, leaving the rednecks behind (while they're ghetto too)...

[thatNEWTHOUGHTguy]

You are right when you say "HE HIT IT ON THE NAIL." I was thinking as I was reading that, I (who is Black and loves Black folk) came home and saw some "neighbor" sitting on his stairs with a damn boom box in the window blaring rap "music?" I would be out the next day no question. I don't think its a matter of race, its a matter of class, and education. Hell if I came home and some red, I mean white guy had a Chevy engine parked on the front lawn working on it with a few beer cans alongside it...well you get the picture. It really is about class an education although I do think many whites try to MAKE it about race.

Originally Posted by MisterNY

You hit it on the nail. You also have plenty of blacks who would do the same. As soon as the ghetto elements move in, they'd move out as well. This is beyond race. (It's usually an issue of class and education level versus race).

[RosedaleToFairburn]

I don't think that you can "learn" class and common sense. I have family members and friends that do not have college degrees in Georgia, New York, or California. Nevertheless, they know how to conduct themselves, care for their property, and have respect for themselves and their neighbors. I don't care what nationality a person is, if people move into my neighborhood with a ghetto mentality, I would move as well.

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by thatNEWTHOUGHTguy

You are right when you say "HE HIT IT ON THE NAIL." I was thinking as I was reading that, I (who is Black and loves Black folk) came home and saw some "neighbor" sitting on his stairs with a damn boom box in the window blaring rap "music?" I would be out the next day no question. I don't think its a matter of race, its a matter of class, and education. Hell if I came home and some red, I mean white guy had a Chevy engine parked on the front lawn working on it with a few beer cans alongside it...well you get the picture. It really is about class an education although I do think many whites try to MAKE it about race.

Very true. Many will make it a race issue versus what it really is (what you and I mentioned).

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by RosedaleToFairburn

I don't think that you can "learn" class and common sense. I have family members and friends that do not have college degrees in Georgia, New York, or California. Nevertheless, they know how to conduct themselves, care for their property, and have respect for themselves and their neighbors. I don't care what nationality a person is, if people move into my neighborhood with a ghetto mentality, I would move as well.

The presence of class, manners, courtesy, common sense (or whatever it might be called) is more of a product of one's upbringing and social/family environment than anything else - regardless of a person's color, income level, or educational attainment.

[City Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Brighteyes33

Northern whites tend to not be as bothered with living with lots of minorities as southern whites are.

Incorrect. It's the same. Check out Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, or a number of other northern areas. It's the same. It's as simple as the north having fewer blacks, hence the perception is that the same does not happen (because it happens less with fewer blacks).

[RoslynHolcomb]

Let me be the voice of dissent. I think we've had at least one poster on this board who talked about specific neighborhood that went from being 80% white to 80% black in less than three years. I don't believe for one moment that this had anything to do with culture. Study after study has shown the tipping point and every time it's somewhere around 20%. Now, are you going to tell me that every black person that moves into a previously white neighborhood doesn't 'know how to act.' If that were the case, the fact that there are fewer blacks in the north wouldn't make one iota of difference. You undermine your own thesis when you say that.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

Let me be the voice of dissent. I think we've had at least one poster on this board who talked about specific neighborhood that went from being 80% white to 80% black in less than three years. I don't believe for one moment that this had anything to do with culture. Study after study has shown the tipping point and every time it's somewhere around 20%. Now, are you going to tell me that every black person that moves into a previously white neighborhood doesn't 'know how to act.' If that were the case, the fact that there are fewer blacks in the north wouldn't make one iota of difference. You undermine your own thesis when you say that.

Thank you, Roslyn. You just saved me a lot of time and energy.

It's really funny how some people think they can make-believe like something is not true...just because they want to believe it is not true.