The 'Buppies in DC' Thread... (Washington: condos, crime, how much)

[Tiger Beer]

Sorry, I am a bit new to the word 'buppies', but saw it in another DC thread. Did a search for other posts about it, and saw one from a DC person posting in the NYC forum.

So, buppies seem to be a part of the DC culture. Where are the buppy neighborhoods...etc.

Is it also a form of gentrifying DC...as some poor areas become 'buppified' as well?

Anyways, thought I'd open up a separate thread for general discussion on 'Buppies in DC'...Hope to learn some interesting things here!! Thanks in advance for your future postings.

[Avtomat Kalashnikova]

LMAO

I guessing this means "black urban professional" right?

Most of the "buppfied" neighborhoods are in Prince George's county (Largo, Upper Marlboro, Mitchellville, Ft. Washington, and else where outside the beltway), although some do exist in Wards 5, 7, and 8 in the city as well.

There have been run down parts of Wards 7 and 8 thats used to be housing projects but where torn down and rebuilt into townhouses and single family homes. An example of this would be Hensen Ridge in the Congress Heights area. Unlike yuppiefied areas, when a neighborhoods is "buppiefied" it doesn't has the same effect...... This an element of crime that still exists because no matter how much money these young black professionals make or how much the neighborhood has been transformed this is still a lot of crime. I'll use Largo as an example, because its literally the wealthiest ghetto in America and I say that because you have a lot of wannabe thugs in those parts ad just yesterday a teenager was shot to death. Violence has been on the rise in that area for quite awhile now, despite it being one of the most high income earned area that is over 90% black.

[TechlawyerinPG]

Buppie is a Black Yuppie basically. I consider myself one...though maybe not so young anymore lol. I think Yuppie is a young urban professional and they exist across the US...not just DC. I just saw a NYC thread about this on this forum.
I think when people refer to them with respect to Washington, DC they are talking about the non-black folks buying luxury condos in the U Street area or maybe Ballston in Virginia or Bethesda in Maryland. College or graduate educated and making a good income. The 20-30 something martini sipping crowd or the fancy beer sipping crowd. Buppies live in the same areas as Yuppies all over the metro area including Reston, Silver Spring, Alexandria, Arlington but also are more likely than Yuppies to live in Prince Georges County and DC in neighborhoods mixed in amongst other black people that are not their socioeconomic or educational peers. Buppies have their own nightclubs (where some non-buppies might attend also including anyone who likes R&B and hip-hop music) and social scene (we generally do not do GoGos and caberets with the natives) but also mix and mingle with Yuppies downtown. We went to historically black colleges like Howard, Hampton, Morehouse and Spelman and also to regular colleges like Duke, Harvard, U of Maryland and George Washington. In my own social circle, the majority are not from this area originally but moved here for school or internships and then stayed or came because of a job.

[TechlawyerinPG]

Within the Buppie group you also have different subcultures...the Caribbean folks (Jamaican, Virgin Islands, Trinidad, etc) and the Africans (Ethiopian, Somalian and Nigerian, etc.) which also have their own culture and social scene and some of which don't affiliate with American born blacks. You have those from multiple generations of highly educated parents and grandparents and landowners therefore often wealth and you have those that are the first generation to go to college. I personally find that the more elite Buppies who went to private schools and had nannys etc. and grew up well to do seem to segregate themselves off from the "first generation to make it" Buppies. I first noticed this in law school and I still see it now in the post school years as we socialize. You had the folks at my law school that went to top private schools and were the children of wealthy black parents and they tended to stick with their own or hang more with the non-black kids from similar backgrounds. Elite Buppies would never live in Prince Georges (gasp!) whereas for many of us others these neighborhoods are similar if not far better than the places we grew up.

[stpickrell]

Mongo is confused. Mongo thinks all blacks are alike. Mongo smash something.



(edit: oh wow, they de-capify all-caps typing here. nice.)

[betamanlet]

Are buppies as a annoying as PBR drinking, Volvo driving hipsters?

[Avtomat Kalashnikova]

This may sound...idk, but i'd rather live next to a known racist that flies the confederate flag than someone of my own race who thinks they are superior and always have their noses in the air, not saying all buppies are like that, not saying that at all, not one bit.

[Childfree35]

Originally Posted by Avtomat Kalashnikova

This may sound...idk, but i'd rather live next to a known racist that flies the confederate flag than someone of my own race who thinks they are superior and always have their noses in the air, not saying all buppies are like that, not saying that at all, not one bit.

I second this comment!! It's funny how people label themselves.

[Bigbluelandrover]

Originally Posted by TechlawyerinPG

Buppie is a Black Yuppie basically. I consider myself one...though maybe not so young anymore lol. I think Yuppie is a young urban professional and they exist across the US...not just DC. I just saw a NYC thread about this on this forum.
I think when people refer to them with respect to Washington, DC they are talking about the non-black folks buying luxury condos in the U Street area or maybe Ballston in Virginia or Bethesda in Maryland. College or graduate educated and making a good income. The 20-30 something martini sipping crowd or the fancy beer sipping crowd. Buppies live in the same areas as Yuppies all over the metro area including Reston, Silver Spring, Alexandria, Arlington but also are more likely than Yuppies to live in Prince Georges County and DC in neighborhoods mixed in amongst other black people that are not their socioeconomic or educational peers. Buppies have their own nightclubs (where some non-buppies might attend also including anyone who likes R&B and hip-hop music) and social scene (we generally do not do GoGos and caberets with the natives) but also mix and mingle with Yuppies downtown. We went to historically black colleges like Howard, Hampton, Morehouse and Spelman and also to regular colleges like Duke, Harvard, U of Maryland and George Washington. In my own social circle, the majority are not from this area originally but moved here for school or internships and then stayed or came because of a job.

Do you feel that Buppies and the "Black Elite" are one in the same? I've been around Buppies-shoot I consider myself one, but have limited exposure to the Elite-though I have read about them. I would imagine the Elite live in NW DC and parts of MOCO and VA.--Just a guess. Why would they shun PG?

[TechlawyerinPG]

Originally Posted by Bigbluelandrover

Do you feel that Buppies and the "Black Elite" are one in the same? I've been around Buppies-shoot I consider myself one, but have limited exposure to the Elite-though I have read about them. I would imagine the Elite live in NW DC and parts of MOCO and VA.--Just a guess. Why would they shun PG?

I think Elites are a subculture of Buppies. Just giving my own personal opinion and experiences here. Maybe it is because of the fact that I am a lawyer that I run into them or work with some of them that are also lawyers. Some of whose parents and grandparents were doctors or lawyers. Some are cool but others can be so snobbish even if we make the same money and have the same degree we do not share the same background. The Black Elites that I know personally live in Potomac, Great Falls, Capitol Hill, Chevy Chase, Upper NW DC and Bethesda.
This book is an interesting read Amazon.com: Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class (9780060984380): Lawrence Otis Graham: Books
They have a chapter on the history of DC's Black Elite....and how they consider folks like Colin Powell "new money".

There some interesting history here also...http://aliciapatterson.org/APF001974/Coombs/Coombs02/Coombs02.html (broken link)
http://aliciapatterson.org/APF001974/Coombs/Coombs.html (broken link)


Profile of Marjorie Holloman Parker http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...011701479.html