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That is an interesting read. For someone to feel they need to leave Pittsburgh, family and friends because they feel the opportunity is better elsewhere due to their race. I don't know why, but it just seems like if I was a black person, I would much rather live in DC than here.
That is an interesting read. For someone to feel they need to leave Pittsburgh, family and friends because they feel the opportunity is better elsewhere due to their race. I don't know why, but it just seems like if I was a black person, I would much rather live in DC than here.
I also wonder if that's why the gap in black/white school performance is actually wider here than the national average. If the smart, middle-class black people with ambitions move elsewhere, it stands to reason since they won't have kids here the remainder left behind will perform worse.
Being born and raised in Pgh. My husband, my father in law and I packed up and left Pgh Aug of last year to St. Marys Ohio. We are sick and tired of shootings, death and violence. Where we lived in a very nice high blue collar neighborhood now getting over run by Ghettos, welfare, gang bangers and druggies. I am tired of not feeling safe, having to watch my back where I have to go and theft has gone up so bad as well during broad daylight. Yes it will go back like what it was in mid 90's with gangs building right back up along with mafias.
Top it off violence is spreading like wildfire out in to the suburbs of the city as well. Look at Penn Hills, Plum etc they are now getting riddled with it.
Plum full of violence? Ha! I have relatives there and crime is still very rare there and even the western sections of Penn Hills are still decent places to live. I live in one of those neighborhoods you'd consider "bad" and I have never had any crime happen to me. You mean to tell us you moved 200 miles away becuase the Pittsburgh area is that bad? There's obviously more reasons than that if you have to move that far away to a town you have to look up to even know where it is.
I also wonder if that's why the gap in black/white school performance is actually wider here than the national average. If the smart, middle-class black people with ambitions move elsewhere, it stands to reason since they won't have kids here the remainder left behind will perform worse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by h_curtis
That is an interesting read. For someone to feel they need to leave Pittsburgh, family and friends because they feel the opportunity is better elsewhere due to their race. I don't know why, but it just seems like if I was a black person, I would much rather live in DC than here.
This is one thing I wanted to discuss. Things like Black crime are being discussed and people notice only one thing. I'm looking at this from a much deeper perspective. I see that there are alot of Black-on-Black murders in Pittsburgh, and this pattern continues itself in other cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, and other cities where the industrial base has declined.
There are also alot of other things being missed. Whenever you have the middle class leave, whenever the educated, the highly talented and ambitious leave the area, it leaves behind the poor, the relatively under-educated, and criminals also end up staying.
I've heard of Pittsburgh's economy recovering and doing better. I've heard of Pittsburgh being rated as one of the most livable cities in the USA. But then I have to ask "for who"? I ask because I see Blacks doing worse in Pittsburgh than in many other major cities. The educated, the talented and the middle class Blacks are leaving. Almost no one seems to talk about that. Eschaton, as you stated, if middle class Black people with ambitions are leaving and taking their kids with them, those who are left behind are often those who perform worse. Few people ever ask "why is this taking place"?
It is important to talk about it because the violence that we see is often a symptom of other problems that are taking place.
This is one thing I wanted to discuss. Things like Black crime are being discussed and people notice only one thing. I'm looking at this from a much deeper perspective. I see that there are alot of Black-on-Black murders in Pittsburgh, and this pattern continues itself in other cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, and other cities where the industrial base has declined.
There are also alot of other things being missed. Whenever you have the middle class leave, whenever the educated, the highly talented and ambitious leave the area, it leaves behind the poor, the relatively under-educated, and criminals also end up staying.
I've heard of Pittsburgh's economy recovering and doing better. I've heard of Pittsburgh being rated as one of the most livable cities in the USA. But then I have to ask "for who"? I ask because I see Blacks doing worse in Pittsburgh than in many other major cities. The educated, the talented and the middle class Blacks are leaving. Almost no one seems to talk about that. Eschaton, as you stated, if middle class Black people with ambitions are leaving and taking their kids with them, those who are left behind are often those who perform worse. Few people ever ask "why is this taking place"?
It is important to talk about it because the violence that we see is often a symptom of other problems that are taking place.
I have actually heard the argument that, despite it being a good thing overall, residential desegregation directly led to the decline of many historically black neighborhoods, including the Hill District in Pittsburgh. When things like restrictive covenants and redlining stopped middle class (and the occasional wealthy) blacks from moving out of the ghetto, they focused on trying to improve the neighborhoods themselves, and often were prominent local leaders. Once they had an out many left, which both decapitated the local leadership as well as removing the main stabilizing force.
Still, the issue has been exacerbated in Pittsburgh, because we have no defined middle-class black areas like many cities which can serve as an island of stability and a focal point for the black community. Visiting Cleveland recently I noticed how, for example, I saw some young black professionals in restaurants and bars virtually everywhere, when they are nearly totally absent in Pittsburgh. Cleveland has areas like Shaker Heights - stable suburbs with long-integrated middle-class black populations - which we lack.
I don't know why, eschaton, but I do know that opportunities DO exist for blacks to thrive here. At my secondary employer, which has now transitioned to being a more lucrative primary employer, we have one African-American driver who works there several days per week in addition to working another full-time job. He has an amazing work ethic, and he's really making something of himself. I have yet to work for a Pittsburgh employer where I perceived any sort of racial bias against blacks. Contrariwise I got the definite impression the owner of a small business franchise I worked for in the East End felt implored to hire young African-Americans over whites as a way to help "give back to the community" that she was really embracing. I envied her for her zeal and enthusiasm in that regard.
Is it fun working two jobs? No. Nevertheless many in Pittsburgh DO because our cost-of-living is rising more rapidly than the increase in real wages. There's nothing to indicate a black working two jobs here has any less of a chance of bettering their economic condition in the long-term than whites who work two jobs. I just don't notice as many blacks working two jobs as whites working two jobs for whatever reason.
I don't know why, eschaton, but I do know that opportunities DO exist for blacks to thrive here.
Is it fun working two jobs? No. Nevertheless many in Pittsburgh DO because our cost-of-living is rising more rapidly than the increase in real wages. There's nothing to indicate a black working two jobs here has any less of a chance of bettering their economic condition in the long-term than whites who work two jobs. I just don't notice as many blacks working two jobs as whites working two jobs for whatever reason.
That's not thriving, that's keeping your head above water. Thriving would be going to Georgia Tech, getting an engineering degree, and moving to Atlanta where you'd be surrounded by other black professionals, doctors and lawyers and such. Working two delivery driver jobs is what you call "getting by". The question of why you don't notice as many blacks as whites working two jobs - why would you notice one or the other if you're not taking the census or tending bar?
...I've heard of Pittsburgh's economy recovering and doing better. I've heard of Pittsburgh being rated as one of the most livable cities in the USA. But then I have to ask "for who"? I ask because I see Blacks doing worse in Pittsburgh than in many other major cities...
It is important to talk about it because the violence that we see is often a symptom of other problems that are taking place.
Hey green_mariner, I agree completely, especially with your last statement. We simply, and shamefully, do not have a strong, immediately apparent, black middle class. I really hope that Pittsburgh begins to break the cycle to which eschaton and others have spoken and develop one in the near future. It's crucial to the development of our city, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
I do feel that black folks can prosper in our city these days, and, as a young person, I have some peers who reinforce this belief. However, if I was a black person taking a look at our demographic trends while weighing a decision to move here or elsewhere, I might very well move elsewhere. That needs to change.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising
I don't know why, eschaton, but I do know that opportunities DO exist for blacks to thrive here. At my secondary employer, which has now transitioned to being a more lucrative primary employer, we have one African-American driver who works there several days per week in addition to working another full-time job. He has an amazing work ethic, and he's really making something of himself. I have yet to work for a Pittsburgh employer where I perceived any sort of racial bias against blacks...
To a large extent I agree with you too, SCR. My place of business actually is diverse, and I had so many Asian, Latino and black peers at Pitt who were incredibly talented and skilled, etc. I know some of them have stuck around and are already doing well for themselves in the city, so I'd love to think we are on the precipice of change regarding this issue. What we desperately need is for something to tip the balance and get the cycle going in the opposite direction. I don't know what that will be.
I don't know why, eschaton, but I do know that opportunities DO exist for blacks to thrive here. At my secondary employer, which has now transitioned to being a more lucrative primary employer, we have one African-American driver who works there several days per week in addition to working another full-time job. He has an amazing work ethic, and he's really making something of himself. I have yet to work for a Pittsburgh employer where I perceived any sort of racial bias against blacks. Contrariwise I got the definite impression the owner of a small business franchise I worked for in the East End felt implored to hire young African-Americans over whites as a way to help "give back to the community" that she was really embracing. I envied her for her zeal and enthusiasm in that regard.
Is it fun working two jobs? No. Nevertheless many in Pittsburgh DO because our cost-of-living is rising more rapidly than the increase in real wages. There's nothing to indicate a black working two jobs here has any less of a chance of bettering their economic condition in the long-term than whites who work two jobs. I just don't notice as many blacks working two jobs as whites working two jobs for whatever reason.
This is the thing though. Pittsburgh's Black population is among the poorest in the USA, has the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the USA(after Milwaukee). I'm not saying there aren't Blacks working. I'm just saying it's harder.
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