Black professional family neighborhood (Arlington, Reston: how much, houses, transfer)

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by Workaholic?

What if I wrote a post and said I wanted to live in a white neighborhood?

You would get responses from people who live in a mostly Polish, Greek, Italian, Hassidic, etc. neighborhood -- the type of neighborhoods you find more in NYC and Philly, among other cities.

[July2012]

These responses are awesome. I never said i wanted to live in an all black neighborhood but I would like to have some black neighbors! As a physician you learn to get along with and truly respect people from a variety of backgrounds and my husband and I have close friends from multiple ethnic backgrounds. I just remember what it was like growing up being the only black in school and with so many great options these days I dont want that to be the case for my unborn child, if i can help it. That being said and with the wealth of positive responses I'm so glad to be starting a family in this part of the country. Thanks again to all.

[CAVA1990]

We also have quite a population of more recent African and Caribbean immigrants who have added even more to the diverse nature of the metro area.

[patriot201]

July2012,

First of all, congratulations on your upcoming addition. :love:

Do you primarily work in one part of the county? That could impact where is most comfortable ("best") for you to live, especially with a growing family's needs.

For example, if you work at Fair Oaks Hospital or in that general area, I would look at areas such as Chantilly, Fairfax, and possibly Reston. If you work in the Reston area, I would definitely look in Reston. There are a lot diverse areas of Reston. If you are more centrally located, you practically have no limits.

[July2012]

Hi Patriot
Thank you!!

Fortunately I've been very blessed to be apart of a very prestigious field within medicine so I could practice in a variety of settings. And this is not a boisterous statement as i have sacrificed much over the years and have many loans to repay!
I may decide to settle in 1 location in a practice one day but for now things are flexible. With that being said maybe it would be wiser to stay more central to things. Thanks for your comment.

[Lucky★]

3486 Logstone Dr Triangle VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #PW7734379 - Realtor.com®

That house sold for $940,490 in 2006 (if I’m reading the PW County website right)-

LandRover 2.0

Yikes!

[michgc]

Originally Posted by Workaholic?

What if I wrote a post and said I wanted to live in a white neighborhood? The XXX would hit the fan! Why is it OK to ask about a great black neighborhood?

If you grew up as a white, Christian in the United States it might be hard to understand why it is important for someone who is

-black to not want to be the only black person in the neighborhood
-Asian to not want to be the only Asian person in the neigborhood
-Jewish to not want to be the only Jew in the neighborhood
-Muslim to not want to be the only Muslim in the neighborhood
-Hispanic to not want to be the only Hispanic in the neighborhood, etc.

Because as a white, Christian, you can safely assume that any neighborhood you'd want to move into would be filled with other white Christians. For the OP and for other racial, religious, and ethnic minorities, this is not the case.

And asking to be in a neighborhood where some other people look similar to you is not the same as asking to live in a neighborhood where no one else looks different from you.

[Deeman804]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Oh, of course--because the historical experiences of white people and black people in the USA are exactly the same!



Besides, she didn't say an all-black neighborhood; she just doesn't want her family to be the only non-whites on the block. Pretty understandable. If someone said they wanted to find a neighborhood where they wouldn't be the only whites, that wouldn't offend most people. (It would be a little strange, given that such areas are easy to find.)

...

Minorities don't want to be alienated. With white american culture everywhere that makes a drastic difference. If you were in Puerto Rico, I think that would be a more reasonable question.

[ACWhite]

I also vote for Arlington, esp. since you live there now and have a good sense of what you will encounter. People there are mostly progressive, in most neighborhoods, and there are a lot of professionals like you. Some neighborhoods have more young children than others (ours has a lot more than it did 10 years ago). Being progressive is no guarantee that a person will be totally free of racism, sexism, ageism, etc., but most progressives will at least discuss if they are behaving in ways that aren't consistent with their principles.

For what one anecdote is worth, some years ago, a black professional in my neighborhood (in Arl.) who owns a rare contemporary house was discussing it with me, because I had said we found a cool contemporary in McLean and were thinking about moving. She expressed her view that she would never consider leaving the neighborhood for McLean because of diversity concerns and suggested we consider that (I am not black). Given that our neighborhood has few blacks, I interpreted that more as a comment that she was comfortable in our neighborhood, than an indictment of McLean. YMMV.

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by ACWhite

I also vote for Arlington, esp. since you live there now and have a good sense of what you will encounter. People there are mostly progressive, in most neighborhoods, and there are a lot of professionals like you. Some neighborhoods have more young children than others (ours has a lot more than it did 10 years ago). Being progressive is no guarantee that a person will be totally free of racism, sexism, ageism, etc., but most progressives will at least discuss if they are behaving in ways that aren't consistent with their principles.

For what one anecdote is worth, some years ago, a black professional in my neighborhood (in Arl.) who owns a rare contemporary house was discussing it with me, because I had said we found a cool contemporary in McLean and were thinking about moving. She expressed her view that she would never consider leaving the neighborhood for McLean because of diversity concerns and suggested we consider that (I am not black). Given that our neighborhood has few blacks, I interpreted that more as a comment that she was comfortable in our neighborhood, than an indictment of McLean. YMMV.

McLean's more diverse these days than many of the areas in North Arlington, which are now the whitest areas in the DC region. It is probably less likely, however, that people there will call themselves "progressive." Personally, I'd say it's similar to parts of Arlington, where I also lived years ago, but perhaps slightly less self-congratulatory. But that's OK, because it's not necessarily easy to find things that make McLean residents seem modest in comparison.