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No, actually black people in DC live in many high rises around DC. This is a northeastern city which is going to be way more urban than midwestern cities by design. My point was never about black people not living in urban housing because in DC, NYC, Philly etc., black people live in the city with very few suburban single family homes in the city limits like Detroit has. I was saying the majority of black people enjoy different things than white people. We collect black art for instance and attend black festivals. We go to corner stores an barber shops in our neighborhoods. We rarely see white exploring our neighborhoods though. We go many places other races would not feel comfortable being in. I don't know why, but many white people seem to feel very uncomfortable around all black people yet we are forced to be around all white people throughout our lives in work, school, etc. and we do just fine. If black people can get along with white people when they are the only black person present, why can't white people? Nobody is talking about the exception to the rule because not all people are like this. Most are though and that is who Im talking about.
You do make a good point with respect to the fact that while Blacks do a lot of things that you would normally not think that we would, Whites often do not return the favor. A lot of that depends on the city though; Detroit is a very polarized city racially and you would have to be like one of those crazy enough or disenfranchised enough to hang out where Black people hang out. Just one more reason why I hope to God I never have to return to the Midwest. A good example are the two years I attended the Harlem book fair. That is like a Black event that isn't necessarily promoted or sold as though it were a Black event. Both years I saw one White for like, idk, 150 Blacks. This, despite the fact that Whites are now a good chunk of Harlem, if not more than half.
I will be honest though. There are plenty of White boutiques and establishments, that aren't national chains, around here in Virginia and I don't like patronizing those establishments (and I didn't when I lived in Ohio either). They don't really want you in those establishments, or they'll follow you around like you are going to steal something.
I don't know about DC, but in the Black neighborhoods in the Midwest a White person wouldn't go into a Black establishment or go to places where a Black person would normally go because it is just that segregated up there. Perhaps I am expecting more of the same in Virginia, and it isn't really like that and I am all in my head, but I swear to God, those establishments where Black people do not normally go, the customer service is lousy and sketchy, at best. You have the White Office Max and the Black Office Max, the White Target and the Black Target, the White Sears and the Black Sears. All depending on which neighborhood you are in, all depending on which mall you are at, etc. You learn to stick with the establishments where they want your money and keep it moving.
But the thread was about culture, and I think DC has a lot of culture and I do think that Whites have contributed to DC culture in their own way. I know that I contributed to it getting derailed with my own two cents. DC may have a different take on Black culture that you won't find in other cities, but that is something that only Black people know that the average person will never learn to appreciate. Only thing I know about White culture in DC is hardcore punk music.
The whole focus on white people versus black people is really tiresome. You all act as if there are no Arabic, Asian, south Asian, non-American black, or Hispanic people.
That said, a lot of the reason blacks grow comfortable in other races in our country is because they only constitute 12% of our nation's population. White people used to be around 80% and are now around 65%. Might as well ask why Japanese or Chinese aren't that comfortable being around other races after spending their lives surrounded mostly by other Japanese or Chinese, or why various Hispanic cultures tend to congregate together when they immigrate here from countries filled almost entirely with people of their ethnicity.
Another reason might be because there simply aren't that many destinations that would attract non-blacks to black-dominated areas. There's some good restaurants and galleries in Anacostia, but nothing like a movie theater or big nightlife district to become a destination. H Street comes to mind, but that's more an influx of young white people into a traditionally black area. I don't think they're going for Horace and Dickie's.
Also - where'd you get this idea that only black people enjoy the corner barbershop? That's a hallmark of smalltown life and even a lot of suburban cities. Not everybody goes to Super Cutz.
(anyone know where that warehouse is that the Mambo Sauce video was filmed? Maybe Wonder Bread or is it in NE?)
I may have been in Super Cutz once or twice, just out of curiousity. But you do make some good points. Never looked at it that way before.
The District of Columbia has been a black-white city for some time and still is for the most part. If Hispanics had the same presence and history in DC as they did in, say, the Bronx, then Hispanics would be more of a focus in this discussion.
Sorry, I don't understand the point you're attempting to make here.
I think he is talking about integration. Hispanics were never in that situation in the United States, nor were Asians. When the government forced Whites and Blacks to use the same public schools, or sit with each other in the same restaurant or even work together at the same job, that was more than enough of a good thing for them. So they often segregated themselves into seperate neighborhoods where they do not have to be around people of a different race. The last place integration occured is at church; non demominational churches, even though by their very existence they speak to spiritual integration still by and large carry out self-segregation.
When Hispanics and Asians come to the United States, they can live in their own neighborhoods and have their own school districts, everything, because no one cares to live around them. That is politically correct, but it is what it is. America is somewhat hypocritical in that all of the focus is on Blacks and Whites integrating, and on the assimilation of Blacks in mainstream White culture but no one cares what Hispanics and Asians do. As long as Hispanics are not taking jobs away from the poor and Asians are not outperforming us and making us look stupid we could care less. So that reinforces the cultures that they brought over here. You may remember that as recently as the eighties, people were very hostile and prejudiced towards hip-hop music because it was a Black inner city phenomenon, and they couldn't stand it. The irony of this, is that Blacks figured that rock and roll music "is a White thing" even though they started it, but they aren't racist about it. Black groups continued to make rock and roll music, even though their contribution was less than 1% to the total over all scene. But how many years did it take for Whites to start taking rap seriously? Vanilla Ice was like what, 1988, that was like well over a decade considering that rap started in the mid seventies and went mainstream in around 1979. After that how long before you had Eminem, 2000?
People were very racist about rap music, and the same crowd was racist towards disco, because that was another Black, disenfranchised, homosexual lifestyle, type of thing.
I'm curious, what do you have to say? It seems like you are busting at the seams holding it.
I am but I try not to comment on my own in mixed company. Its just a rule I have. Again, I agree with queenswake's perception of the city as a whole, what I think of my own people here, cant say. But I really do appreciate MDStar giving me examples.
The District of Columbia has been a black-white city for some time and still is for the most part. If Hispanics had the same presence and history in DC as they did in, say, the Bronx, then Hispanics would be more of a focus in this discussion.
The individual was extrapolating beyond DC to white and black experiences / culture in general. And, I honestly don't see why DC should be cast as only black and white. Hispanics have a strong foothold here with a lot of cultural and institutional history (just think of the Mt. Pleasant riots). Asians have their own history here as well.
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Sorry, I don't understand the point you're attempting to make here.
That people who have lived their whole life in a country that is overwhelmingly dominated by one race (in terms of sheer volume) probably are a lot less comfortable being in a minority setting, no matter which race becomes the minority in a particular instance.
...and I'm pretty sure everybody is aware that rock and roll descended from black culture. It's one of the biggest criticisms against Elvis.
What is your point? I know the history of Rock and Roll, not really sure what you are getting at?
It actually was, Big Mama Thornton sang hound dog first. I know most people know that but just saying. And *looking sheepishly around the room* I absolutely LOVE rock and roll.
I don't know about DC, but in the Black neighborhoods in the Midwest a White person wouldn't go into a Black establishment or go to places where a Black person would normally go because it is just that segregated up there.
As a white person from Michigan originally. SO TRUE.
If you are white and go to a black area...you'll be targeted as a hardcore drug user by both the police and the dealers themselves. The police will quickly pull you over, ask you if you know where you're at...and if you passed their test as 'not drug user', they'll quickly escort you out of there.
I also lived in NYC, and went to Harlem and Brooklyn and everywhere else...lived just north of Harlem in Washington Heights, so went through there all the time on the train, and a few times got off, etc. I found black and white relations pretty relaxed compared to MI. Not perfect, tons of misconceptions, etc. But at least nowhere as bad as the Midwest.
Actually you mentioned Virginia and if it would be similar to the MIdwest. I have no idea myself, but I certainly noticed that when I've driven around in the South, I DO see the strange thing of a black guy and a white guy walking down the street talking with each other, or in the same car together. (Interracial dating happens all the time in the Midwest and even moreso everywhere else, but when you get two guys of different races regularly hanging out together as good friends, that seems more unusual to me).
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