Is there still a lot of blacks in LA? (Los Angeles: for sale, crime)

[dreamerman]

Originally Posted by happ

You have no idea what you are talking about. Please provide proof that Blacks are leaving California for states in the South. Who would go back to bigotry & ignorance?

I personally don't see what's so special about the South anyway.

[UB50]

I've don't think blacks are leaving as much as spreading around. I see a lot more blacks in the SGV and the SFV than I used to see.

I think LA is just becoming more diverse all over. Frankly, I think the diversity is a lot more interesting than living in a homogenous area.

I think the 2010 census is going to come as a shock to a lot of the supposed "experts."

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by happ

You have no idea what you are talking about. Please provide proof that Blacks are leaving California for states in the South. Who would go back to bigotry & ignorance?

LOL at thinking that the entire South, even big cities like Atlanta are 1960's Mississippi.

[UB50]

You know what is funny to me?

I moved to LA from the South. The town I lived in in the South didn't have very many blacks so most blacks had white friends -- because if they didn't have white friends, they wouldn't have had many friends at all. I always thought blacks were just like whites. There were smart blacks, dumb blacks, friendly blacks, angry blacks, attractive blacks, unattractive blacks, athletic blacks, non-athletic blacks -- they came in the whole spectrum of "different types of people." Everyone where I lived had black friends. We were friends with black people. They were friends with white people. It was really simple.

My first "best friend" in LA was a black woman. She was a beautiful black woman and she had green eyes. She was smart and she had a spirited nature about her and she was fun, fun, FUN to hang out with. I loved spending time with her. She thought I was such a hick from the sticks (and I was) and she was much more street savvy than I was. She was my boss and she supervised me and a bunch of blacks and, well I was going to say Hispanics, but now that I think about it, there were mostly blacks and two white people. My only complaint was that the blacks with the jeri-curls left my phone smelling funky from the product they put in their hair. (That's not hardly enough to really complain about, really.) Anyway, we were good friends to the point we were trading clothes and all those girl type things.

I lost track of her years ago but I find it really hard to understand why some blacks feel they are so oppressed anymore. Seriously. I feel, particularly in LA County, that a lot of people see blacks as friends and hispanics as the enemy. Blacks speak English. There are many hispanics who don't. Even people that I would call outright racists have said that they prefer to have Blacks over Hispanics. So, what does this all mean?

I think there are too many groups who want to be the victim. We cannot have a zillion victims if we don't have oppressors. And no one wants to be the oppressor.

To the blacks here who lament the lack of black neighborhoods and who feel that they are still being oppressed by *whatever* -- grow up. Blacks have moved all over because they can move all over. Why should blacks be consigned to living in one neighborhood? I'd gladly welcome a black family near me. I like black people. Black people are FUN! Black people know how to party! They know how to throw a party and they know how to dance! And lots of black people know how to sing on key! (Not all of them know how to do all of these things -- but there are a lot who do!) Black families make great neighbors! Blacks make great co-workers too! (Just get rid of the jeri-curls or don't touch my phone.)

Seriously, black people are fabulous. Why does anyone think they should all be trapped into living in a black community? Let them go free! Set them free!!!!

[Mike121]

I grew up in Orange County, and when I was younger, there was definitely serious anti-black hostility. There is still some, but, it isn't like it was. I saw it from my point of view as a white guy. But in the 90s and in this decade a lot of black families who clearly don't care about being in a non-black neighborhood have moved all over OC. They haven't followed the old pattern of creating an ethnic enclave, but, have just moved wherever they wanted to for whatever reasons are important to them. And good for them.

But, a lot of black families want to live in a majority black neighborhood because they want to preserve their identity, culture, history, customs, or don't want to deal with racism. And good for them, too.

(As an aside, we need come up with better words for racism. Racism is too broad. It covers everything from lynching to cashiers that don't say "have a nice day" to people of color. )

If I could forecast the future, I think is where we are all going with this. For some whites, blacks, Mexican-Americans, Korean-Americas etc the important thing will be to preserve culture, history, and traditions. They want to preserve their ethnic identity and thus live in an ethnic neighborhood. This has to be okay. We all need to recognize that this is acceptable behavior (even for white people).

For others, ethnicity just isn't the most important label that they use for self-identification.

I can't pretend to know what's going on with the black diaspora. But I know what going on with the white communities. Those that need whiteness or need neighborhoods that are comforting to the ethnically white (neighborhoods high on tidiness, order, quietness, and education and low on banda music) have moved to the beach or Santa Clarita or have bailed. Those whites that don't need whiteness remain in LA.

But a tough thing is that a lot of new immigrants come from countries where anti-black or anti-whatever-they-themselves-are racism is perfectly acceptable. It makes things messy for those that have chosen to stay.

[dreamerman]

Originally Posted by Mike121

I grew up in Orange County, and when I was younger, there was definitely serious anti-black hostility. There is still some, but, it isn't like it was. I saw it from my point of view as a white guy. But in the 90s and in this decade a lot of black families who clearly don't care about being in a non-black neighborhood have moved all over OC. They haven't followed the old pattern of creating an ethnic enclave, but, have just moved wherever they wanted to for whatever reasons are important to them. And good for them.

But, a lot of black families want to live in a majority black neighborhood because they want to preserve their identity, culture, history, customs, or don't want to deal with racism. And good for them, too.

(As an aside, we need come up with better words for racism. Racism is too broad. It covers everything from lynching to cashiers that don't say "have a nice day" to people of color. )

If I could forecast the future, I think is where we are all going with this. For some whites, blacks, Mexican-Americans, Korean-Americas etc the important thing will be to preserve culture, history, and traditions. They want to preserve their ethnic identity and thus live in an ethnic neighborhood. This has to be okay. We all need to recognize that this is acceptable behavior (even for white people).

For others, ethnicity just isn't the most important label that they use for self-identification.

I can't pretend to know what's going on with the black diaspora. But I know what going on with the white communities. Those that need whiteness or need neighborhoods that are comforting to the ethnically white (neighborhoods high on tidiness, order, quietness, and education and low on banda music) have moved to the beach or Santa Clarita or have bailed. Those whites that don't need whiteness remain in LA.

But a tough thing is that a lot of new immigrants come from countries where anti-black or anti-whatever-they-themselves-are racism is perfectly acceptable. It makes things messy for those that have chosen to stay.

Glad I don't live in OC.

[antialphabet]

It doesn't bother anyone the way a Black population is spoken about as if it's some kind of urban amenity by non-Blacks, when they're complaining?
I swear, the issue comes up like every other week.
Its always like,
"I just moved to LA..and where's the Black people?"
"Why are the Mexicans kicking Blacks out of South Central(not that I'd ever go down there)??"
"I'm kinda disappointed about the lack of an African-American presence here.."

It's great to have diversity, and I'm happy that LA has A LOT of it. But I don't expect certain groups to be here, or stick around just so I have the city the way I want it to be. People are free to move where they what, and all the power to them if they have the ability to move to greener pastures.

I think it's a little disappointing that a population is on the decline, because that is a loss of some diversity, but there is still plenty.
And you can't plan what groups are here, and to what proportion. If it makes you mad, maybe you should move to a city that has all the proportions of races you want().


I don't know, I just think it's kinda weird.

[happ]

I believe there is subtle racism in Los Angeles that came out in the presidential election. Seems all my Latinos friends wanted Hilary Clinton & followed Villaraigosa's lead. And an Asian\ Macao friend actually expressed racism toward Blacks. I was surprised and a little hurt that these Democrats could be prejudiced

I have pointed out the vast diversity of inter-racial marriages on my street & that is becoming the norm in California. I have so many Latino\Anglo aunts\ uncles\ cousins that it gets difficult to identify race\ ethnicity [and who cares!

[antialphabet]

Originally Posted by happ

I believe there is subtle racism in Los Angeles that came out in the presidential election. Seems all my Latinos friends wanted Hilary Clinton & followed Villaraigosa's lead. And an Asian\ Macao friend actually expressed racism toward Blacks. I was surprised and a little hurt that these Democrats could be prejudiced

I have pointed out the vast diversity of inter-racial marriages on my street & that is becoming the norm in California. I have so many Latino\Anglo aunts\ uncles\ cousins that it gets difficult to identify race\ ethnicity [and who cares!

You would of seen the exact same thing if a Latino candidate would've been running against Hilary.
It seems like most minorities will trust a white person over another minority, lol.

But after Hilary Clinton was out, I saw a lot of Latino support for Obama. Sure a lot of it was kind of a somewhat reluctant support, but a lot of it wasn't. I saw lots of Chicanos/Mexicans on that Obamatrain, like everyone else.
Even my 70 year old Mexican, non-English speaking grandmother voted for Obama.

[Mr. Mysterious]

Wow, I just realized, none of my black friends are African Americans, two is from Jamaica, 3 from is Kenya, and 1 from UK, I hope they like this please, so I got something to brag at CityData, "thats right, I have black friends!".