Donald Glover for mayor Fear of a Black Mecca: Dispatches (far) from the 2017 campaign trail (Atlanta: credit, neighborhood)

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by jero23

The main reasons why there is a huge draw of the black middle class to Atlanta is the knowledge that a black mayor is more likely to offer a relatively level competitive playing field for black small business owners and contractors to bid for city contracts. This is in comparison to the few the State of Georgia and most surrounding jurisdictions offers to black small businesses and contractors.

Yeah, it will likely slow down if not eliminate Atlanta's ability draw more black middle class than its competitors like DC, Houston, Dallas, etc.

I'd take DC off that list. It's gentrifying even faster than Atlanta as the quoted excerpt alluded to. Interestingly enough, both cities have very close parallels as it regards their first Black mayors and how they were very influential in shaping and establishing their Black middle classes in the 70's and 80's.

[StoicTao]

I look forward to Atlanta as the next Korean Mecca.

[Turnerbro]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

I'd take DC off that list. It's gentrifying even faster than Atlanta as the quoted excerpt alluded to. Interestingly enough, both cities have very close parallels as it regards their first Black mayors and how they were very influential in shaping and establishing their Black middle classes in the 70's and 80's.

D.C may have recently lost its black majority but black culture isn't dying in D.C area, a lot of it has just moved to PG county. Some areas of D.C will probably never truly gentrify either. Same with Atlanta. Heck a couple neighborhoods in D.C are gentrifying per se but it's wealthy blacks displacing poor blacks.

[Larry X]

Good article I feel the same way as the writer, black Democrat misleadership sells out the poor and working class people as usual.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

I'd take DC off that list. It's gentrifying even faster than Atlanta as the quoted excerpt alluded to. Interestingly enough, both cities have very close parallels as it regards their first Black mayors and how they were very influential in shaping and establishing their Black middle classes in the 70's and 80's.

The black middle class is still flocking to DC. SE DC gentrification is black middle displacing the black working class households. It's just not as fast as Atlanta's currently is, but if Atlanta winds up with a mayor like Norwood DC will likely outpace us for sure in Atlanta especially since this place is seen as a place to create black wealth.

Originally Posted by Turnerbro

D.C may have recently lost its black majority but black culture isn't dying in D.C area, a lot of it has just moved to PG county. Some areas of D.C will probably never truly gentrify either. Same with Atlanta. Heck a couple neighborhoods in D.C are gentrifying per se but it's wealthy blacks displacing poor blacks.

I concur wholeheartedly

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Turnerbro

D.C may have recently lost its black majority but black culture isn't dying in D.C area, a lot of it has just moved to PG county. Some areas of D.C will probably never truly gentrify either. Same with Atlanta. Heck a couple neighborhoods in D.C are gentrifying per se but it's wealthy blacks displacing poor blacks.

Neither is Black culture dying in Atlanta. That's not what jero23 was alluding to.

Originally Posted by jero23

The black middle class is still flocking to DC.

The Black middle class isn't "flocking" to DC proper; otherwise the city wouldn't have lost its Black majority six years ago.

SE DC gentrification is black middle displacing the black working class households.

Those days are swiftly coming to an end:

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/...cing-residents

https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/bl...edium=headline

It's just not as fast as Atlanta's currently is, but if Atlanta winds up with a mayor like Norwood DC will likely outpace us for sure in Atlanta especially since this place is seen as a place to create black wealth.

Overall DC is gentrifying faster than Atlanta; that's a statistical fact.

https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/...g-the-fastest/
The 10 U.S. cities that are gentrifying the fastest | Grist

Plus it's very likely that DC will very soon see its first White (or at least non-Black) mayor within the next couple of years as well. Also one advantage that Atlanta has over DC is a lower cost of living.

But overall, the point is I don't see a city like DC, which is probably Atlanta's closest parallel in terms of the Black population and gentrification trends, suddenly pulling away from Atlanta in terms of attracting Black folks when the Black percentage is decreasing in both cities and DC is now less than 50% Black. I do agree with your mentions of Houston and Dallas though, and that's actually based on current trends which I expect to hold. But interestingly enough, neither Houston or Dallas has had the successive string of Black mayors that Atlanta and DC have, yet that hasn't prevented Black folks from truly flocking to those places in recent years. Similarly, I don't expect one White mayor to have this hugely disruptive effect in Atlanta.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Neither is Black culture dying in Atlanta. That's not what jero23 was alluding to.



The Black middle class isn't "flocking" to DC proper; otherwise the city wouldn't have lost its Black majority six years ago.



Those days are swiftly coming to an end:

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/...cing-residents

https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/bl...edium=headline



Overall DC is gentrifying faster than Atlanta; that's a statistical fact.

https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/...g-the-fastest/
The 10 U.S. cities that are gentrifying the fastest | Grist

Plus it's very likely that DC will very soon see its first White (or at least non-Black) mayor within the next couple of years as well. Also one advantage that Atlanta has over DC is a lower cost of living.

But overall, the point is I don't see a city like DC, which is probably Atlanta's closest parallel in terms of the Black population and gentrification trends, suddenly pulling away from Atlanta in terms of attracting Black folks when the Black percentage is decreasing in both cities and DC is now less than 50% Black. I do agree with your mentions of Houston and Dallas though, and that's actually based on current trends which I expect to hold. But interestingly enough, neither Houston or Dallas has had the successive string of Black mayors that Atlanta and DC have, yet that hasn't prevented Black folks from truly flocking to those places in recent years. Similarly, I don't expect one White mayor to have this hugely disruptive effect in Atlanta.

There articles specify displacement, but Southeast DC is being gentrified by black middle class property owners. Technically, DC should have gotten a non-black mayor already since it is below 50% black, but somehow Muriel Bowser won. Unlike the surrounding areas around Atlanta, DC does have a healthier socioeconomic, politically progressive surrounding metropolitan area, so educated blacks are more likely to thrive economically in Metro DC than in Metro Atlanta.

Dallas and Houston's main attraction to the black middle class are stable careers with access to higher salaries and to the black wealthy is no state income tax in Texas. Those two aforementioned cities have over Atlanta are those places offer jobs in career fields with much more upward mobility versus jobs in the same career fields here in Atlanta. I know of several black professionals that have moved on those other cities (DC, Dallas, and Houston) and gotten higher paying jobs in their respective career fields. Also both cities (Dallas and Houston) have thriving and rapidly growing black cultural amenities and festivities. (City of) Atlanta's main attraction has been black political leadership, whom were willing to make the playing field equitable and competitive for black entrepreneurs and contracts as unlike the rest of Georgia. The region's growth and higher than average black population was an unexpected consequence.

[Atlwarrior]

As a black male, what will Atlanta really be losing and what constitute a true black mecca? Yes there are successful African Americans in Atlanta, but many suffer from living on credit and not building sustainable wealth, unhealthy respect for all authority including parents, not owing land and things that appreciate in value, and not leaving a legacy and will for future generational. That is not a mecca but a systematic mess of pretending to be something that is an illusion. One thing I do like about gentrification that is occurring in West End, it is not homogeneous and one culture, but all cultures including myself. A mecca constitute ownership, creating an estate/will, and industry that promotes healthy community; henceforth, it does not include pretending to better (joneses'), disinvestment in your community, and lack of generational wealth and having no will or assets for the next generation. This election give Atlanta an opportunity to take a true look at itself and come out of fantasy land of what is not real.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by jero23

There articles specify displacement, but Southeast DC is being gentrified by black middle class property owners. Technically, DC should have gotten a non-black mayor already since it is below 50% black, but somehow Muriel Bowser won.

Displacement is coming. Black folks in SE know this; just watch what happens when these new developments are up and running. That's what will turn the tide and everyone here is well aware of it. Technically it's already started with the huge Navy Yard development; now similar developments are jumping the Anacostia River.

Articles like this wouldn't have to be written if it were just Black people with more money moving to SE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...=.0c3820d72914

A city doesn't have to be majority Black to have a Black mayor; you can look at Houston as a recent example. And DC still has a Black plurality (although not by much).

Unlike the surrounding areas around Atlanta, DC does have a healthier socioeconomic, politically progressive surrounding metropolitan area, so educated blacks are more likely to thrive economically in Metro DC than in Metro Atlanta.

This has long been the case yet metro Atlanta has been outstripping metro DC in Black growth for at least the past couple of decades. One White mayor isn't enough to disrupt this trend. Y'all act like Mary Norwood is a female version of Trump or something.

Dallas and Houston's main attraction to the black middle class are stable careers with access to higher salaries and to the black wealthy is no state income tax in Texas. Those two aforementioned cities have over Atlanta are those places offer jobs in career fields with much more upward mobility versus jobs in the same career fields here in Atlanta. I know of several black professionals that have moved on those other cities (DC, Dallas, and Houston) and gotten higher paying jobs in their respective career fields. Also both cities (Dallas and Houston) have thriving and rapidly growing black cultural amenities and festivities. (City of) Atlanta's main attraction has been black political leadership, whom were willing to make the playing field equitable and competitive for black entrepreneurs and contracts as unlike the rest of Georgia. The region's growth and higher than average black population was an unexpected consequence.

Cyclical economic growth that has recently favored Dallas and Houston is what has given them a nice bump with respect to Black growth, particularly in the immediate post-recession years. It remains to be seen if that will continue to hold for Houston given its current economic malaise. Atlanta's economy has finally recovered so I'd expect to see a correlating population increase, which tends to be a lagging indicator.

Black political leadership is what set the stage for Atlanta's Black middle class growth; now the drivers in place for that growth go well beyond that and it should be kept in mind that the Atlanta suburbs have been experiencing the vast majority of the region's Black growth for a good while now. And even with a White mayor, the city of Atlanta's Black political class would still be robust with Blacks represented in various other sectors of local government.

At the end of the day, I don't buy this whole "the sky will fall for Black people if Atlanta gets a White mayor" argument, especially given the fact that suburban Atlanta is where most Black transplants to the region have chosen to settle--which has been true for decades at this point.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

At the end of the day, I don't buy this whole "the sky will fall for Black people if Atlanta gets a White mayor" argument, especially given the fact that suburban Atlanta is where most Black transplants to the region have chosen to settle--which has been true for decades at this point.

I always view that "sky is falling" schitck to refer to the Jackson political machine more than Atlanta's black population.