Lack of Black Americans in Southern California (Los Angeles, Columbia: daycares, brokers)

[Kobe25]

Los Angeles does have the richest Black communities in America.

California is so populated & diverse that every ethnicity is literally everywhere.And to the OP,California also has the 5th highest African American population in the country so i guess the Black areas are spread throughout the state.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

No, yes. I know this is really hard for you to believe, but overcoming personal and socioeconomic obstacles are issues that exist with all persons, including my own immigrant family. All persons face adversity.

Why do you think it's really hard for me to believe that all persons face adversity? That has a lot to do with issues going on within your mind, because I have never said any group is free from personal or socioeconomic issues.

[jamills21]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

No, yes. I know this is really hard for you to believe, but overcoming personal and socioeconomic obstacles are issues that exist with all persons, including my own immigrant family. All persons face adversity.

African American Struggles are a little different from the struggles of immigrant groups. Whether or not you agree or disagree, is not up to you to determine how some of the previous posters are expressing their struggles.

[OceanViewer]

What have I started? I was just a little surprised of the small amount black people I saw in the areas I visited in the Los Angeles area. It was just an observation.

[NYtoDC]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

In college, I got along very well with the Africans and West Indians. One of my roommates was born in Ghana, raised in the USA. We got along well with him. Many of the African students had stories about their parents being very hard on them in terms of their studies. There were alot of Whites, Hispanics, and Asians I got along with as well. In particular, there were female athletes I got along with very well, and hung out with them. For some of crap I went through, I made friends of different ethnicities, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, etc.

I never really found "my group" to hang with. I was a bit of a drifting type. I never had one set group of people I hung out with. The nature of my own life kind of made it so. I did different things. I would meet different kinds of people. I never had one set thing I did. Also, there are people that I haven't seen, that if I were to see them now, I would still want to hang out with them. My freshman year I made alot of friends with alot of females. Now, they are either 30 or older(I just turned 30 last week) and are either married, or married with kids. Alot of the females athletes I liked hanging out with when I was younger, most of them are married with children. International students I made friends with, many of them are back in their home countries or have moved to other parts of the USA doing different things with their lives. People have been coming and going.

I will say this. Nearly every person I've met who was from the Midwest, especially the MN/WI/IA area, I've gotten along with very well. Michigan too.

Where my social awkwardness came in is when I dealt with people I barely knew, whom I might have classes with, but I can't relate to because of one reason or another. I might have trouble finding something to find common ground on. It could be that they are in the group dynamic, with me trying to find a way in. I always did well one on one.

I thought about going into architecture as a kid. I never did. Maybe for me it was for the best. What I wonder is if there is a demand for architects in Atlanta, as I see more condos and skyscrapers being built. Construction is booming, just not in the housing industry.

I know a little bit about Adobe. I used that to making a map. I tried learning AutoCAD on my own. I found out the full license was going to be very expensive, and I don't have the terminals needed for that. I am working now, so the best thing for me at this point is to look at night classes to learn coding. I know how to use HTML. From what I'm told, Pi and SQL are necessary.

I think the developers may hire one architect for multiple projects. If you'll notice, there are only a few architects that become world renowned (e.g. Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier or Zaha Hadid). A lot of architects just copy the style of the famous architects. It is still mostly an elitist profession that requires wealth to make it big in that industry. I'm sure nepotism runs rampant in that industry. It sucks if you want to be in a creative career but, to tell the truh, art just doesn't pays enough to stay afloat in these days.

The night classes sound like a good idea. You can also take online classes as well if your schedule is tight. I'm not sure what Pi is used for but HTML, CSS and PHP are for web applications. SQL is for databases and C# is the mother of all languages so it is the best to learn to have an understanding of all other languages. It really depends on what arena you want to focus on. I'm getting ready to start a Computer Science associates this summer at a community college (since it is the lest inexpensive) then I'll transfer those credits to my State University and get my bachelors. I'm thinking about potentially pursuing patent law afterwards since that is still a hot field but we will see. I may just be happy with working as some type of engineer. Anything to get into my desired neighborhood!

[NYtoDC]

Originally Posted by jamills21

African American Struggles are a little different from the struggles of immigrant groups. Whether or not you agree or disagree, is not up to you to determine how some of the previous posters are expressing their struggles.

There is a huge historical component behind why we struggle. Look up Black Wall Street if you are not familiar. Despite our many obstacles, it is still possible to make it if you put in the work. However, you may be one of just a few successful AAs when you do.

[NYtoDC]

Originally Posted by OceanViewer

What have I started? I was just a little surprised of the small amount black people I saw in the areas I visited in the Los Angeles area. It was just an observation.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, OP. However, the issue that you casually brought up is very complex and there are several facets to be discussed, such as:
1). Why Black people have left the area en masse
2). Why those that remain live; and
3). How they afford to stay (e.g. What industry they work in or what sacrifices they are making to remain)

[PDF]

Originally Posted by OceanViewer

What have I started? I was just a little surprised of the small amount black people I saw in the areas I visited in the Los Angeles area. It was just an observation.

I think it was a little more than that.

[NYtoDC]

Originally Posted by peter_midnight

Again, Arnold grew up in Austria. The only thing he had to go off of were magazines, maybe a movie and a local gym where the guys were looked at as social outcasts. To be honest, I don't even think he made any money bodybuilding, but it propelled him to other things. He grew up during a time when muscle men were seen as unathletic and in many cases gay, which was completely taboo. Practically everybody outside of the gym culture discouraged him from his dream, especially his father. He literally told him to do something useful with his life. Don't get me wrong, this guy is a once in a lifetime example, but hey, we've sent people to the moon, so the impossible can be done. Hence, I don't buy the reason that we can't succeed because of our upbringing. Again, the prejudice argument is TOTALLY legitimate, especially with the older generations, so I never doubt that. To what degree, I don't know. Everybody has different experiences. Personally, I never had any racist comments thrown my way until I went to UC Berkeley both from students and locals across the Bay Area. Then it happened again down in Menifee, CA. It is very possible I experienced behind the back prejudice elsewhere, but I'll never know it.

I have a friend from Korea (immigrant with a green card) that works in Los Angeles in construction. She has to go on site. I'm not sure what she does, but I know she works for a steel supplier and visits sites (either for project management or sales I suppose). She told me they give her the weird look at first, but after a while, they're cool with it. There are quite a few women in the MFG plants that I visit across the South and the Midwest. It's not as uncommon as you would think.

I also don't buy your argument about male dominated fields in 2016. I work in sales and my manager is in charge of raising profits every year. You either cut costs or increase revenues. If a woman can help out with either of these better than a man can, you better believe we're hiring her. Even if her pay were lower, he'd do it because he cuts costs (one method of increasing profits). That's not prejudice, that's free market economics at work. That's why illegal immigrants get jobs. Women just don't come our way for the outside sales role, so we never hire them. There's one woman at my office now that the VP has pushed to do outside sales work, but she doesn't want to work for salary (she's hourly now) and have to spend days on the road, take out customers, go home late from work, etc. I know a girl in California that's coming back from 3 years in Japan. I told her about the position and thought she would be a good fit. She said she didn't want to do it.

No offense, but you really need to drop this mentality that you have as it will always make you look outside instead of within as to why you did not succeed at a given endeavor. I have an older hispanic friend that thinks the same way and it has truly held him back in life. If it helps for inspiration, my aunt on the black side of my family never married, invested in cell phone companies during the 90s and had a net worth of 6 million dollars while living in the state of Utah before passing at the age of 71 back in 2011. It wasn't easy, but it shows that it can be done. Her parents (my grandparents) were not college educated, blue collar workers, and in my grandmother's case Alabama born during he 1910's.

I agree that attitude is everything. There are many women who are still intimidated by male-dominated fields which is why you don't see a lot of us in certain industries. Also, women are often expected or have to find a good home-work life balance. The female CEO of Yahoo addressed this a few years ago. It is often not possible to "have it all." Despite that, I definitely do agree that this era is one of the most progressive eras in which women can break barriers and pursue industries that are unconventional for women.

Your aunt's story is quite fascinating. What happened after she passed on?

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by NYtoDC

There is a huge historical component behind why we struggle. Look up Black Wall Street if you are not familiar. Despite our many obstacles, it is still possible to make it if you put in the work. However, you may be one of just a few successful AAs when you do.

It's more or less like that for anything that pays substantially more than the minimum wage. You'll get there if you put in the work, but you will have left many AAs behind.