Cities with richest African American history and culture (live, state, Atlanta)

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by killakoolaide

Yes, afro-americans are much friendlier than afro-west indians. Thats what I meant by U.S. native born blacks tend to be more welcoming, and less clique-ish.

I agree that we may be cliqueish- I think it is just a defense mechanism to combat home-sickness, but I don't think WI's are any less friendly than AA's that is a wholly wrong statement/overgeneralization

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by jordandubreil

im west indian also and what bothers me is some of the west indians mindset. theirs this women at my job from st vincent omg she is the most racist person i ever met, she is racist to puerto ricans yet married to one.

and she does not trust black people mainly black americans. i guess you can call her a uncle tom but some of the people mindset from the carib can be irritating at times.

That is totally Hilarious, but I have met a lot of those.

And yes some of the Caribbean mindsets are so irritating, especially their social views.

[HoodsofATL]

I think the titled of the thread should be "black" culture rather than "african-american" culture. Because most black cultures intertwine in such places as NO and MIA:

My list for "Black" culture (no particular order):

New Orleans
Atlanta
Birmingham
Houston
Selma(AL)
Savannah
Macon
Harlem
Detroit
Memphis

of course there's more but these are tho ones that really stand out

[urza216]

One of the founders of Chicago was a black man.

[detroitlove]

Originally Posted by polo89

Really?

Yes. Ever heard of Liberia? There is also a city in the DR that I read about African Americans settling in after slavery. I forgot the name though. I believe its a city in Jamaica as well.

[detroitlove]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

It's not about division. You can recognize difference without being divided, very much the same way you can recognize the difference between women and men, but yet have them co-exist. The thread is titled "Cities with the Richest African American culture." African Americans, who are the direct descendants of slaves (typically from the American south), are COMPLETELY different from blacks who MIGRATED here from different countries. This is not hard to understand. Why is it so surprising that people who live in different countries, in a different climate, with a different social and political history, are significantly different from black Americans? That notion should not strain credulity. "West Indian" means something different from "African American," unless you're checking a box on the census form.

first off no one said you all culture or anything wasn't different. FYI going on & on for pages on this thread about African American vs West Indians IS dividing. "Oh NYC can't be included because its too many West Indians" "West Indians are more snooty..." blah blah blah. Sounds so ridiculous. And actually the term "african american" came from fellow West Indian Marcus Garvey and was originially meant to mean ANY person of AFRICAN descent in the "new world", yes including west indians. The term came about from the Pan Africa movement. Hence why you check African American/black on the census.

[detroitlove]

Originally Posted by eek

there are more similarities than differences, by far.

my point exactly. BajanYankee can try to make us so different but in the end we are more similar than ppl would like to admit. Yes true an AA would have more in common with a white american than a west indian but we are not just all together different with no similarities. Detroit has very little carribean ppl but when I lived in florida, joined the Haitian club, and hung around mostly haitian ppl I could even see the similarities. My mom wasn't raised in the Haitian culture at all but besides language and few other things I didn't feel out of the loop at all

[detroitlove]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

I have met a lot of those. I am a mixture of 4 different groups, but hell, I don'tt have time for all of that splaining. I always just claim black.

I feel the same way. And you can see it in my family. In the end I'm black lol

[detroitlove]

Originally Posted by urza216

One of the founders of Chicago was a black man.

and he was Haitian

[eek]

Originally Posted by afonega1

You really think Southerns only do that?You have a Jamaica Queens because so many Jamaicans live there.

did i say that southerners only did that? or is that what you took out of what i said? thats your issue, not mine. please don't put words in my posts that aren't there.

jamaica queens isn't named after jamaicans, either. its not something i ever said or implied. regardless of that, its common knowledge that jamaica, ny is full of west indians.

The Bronx is home to the largest Puerto Rican population in NYC.I could go on.

thank you, captain obvious!! i'm aware of the demographics in nyc. i am born and raised in nyc.

So why do you find it strange that a large portion of "southern blacks" might congregate or search for others like them.

did i say that i found it strange? or is that what you said..? i made a comment about my observations of southerners in nyc. the only reason i mentioned it is because your experience of nyc will be different from a person born and raised in nyc. you are typically outsiders by choice. southerners in nyc tend to be standoffish and stick to chillin with other southerners...whereas the rest of us interact regardless of ethnicity/race, etc.

I never had that problem anywhere because I've always been the curious type.But I will say that if you move up North or even live in Atlanta New Yorkers overall think that just because they live in NYC they know about culture because they feel they have it all up there.

and thats your experience of what a northerner is like that lives down south and i can respect that. as one that has, i think there's some truth to what you say but i will leave it at that. thats another topic for another thread.

And you know as well as I know that it is ALL ABOUT YOU NY'ERs LABELING.

we don't have time for all of that to be honest.

Many of them(especially)blacks are really ignorant to what the South is culturally.Maybe a lot of that has to do with the West Indian backgrounds.
They just see the South as being "backwards" because its not like NYC.

yes and no.
a lot of black nyers have family that lives in the south. most of us have spent summers in the south visiting family and a lot of times family down south visit us in ny. same with west indian blacks. a lot of west indian blacks have american blacks in their family and vice versa. thats how my fam is. we all spent time down south during summers. we aren't ignorant about the south.

the difference is that a lot of southerners haven't been here but a lot of us have been there.

there are cultural differences but instead of agreeing that things can be different and thats ok, a lot of ppl would rather divide, as seen in this thread.

i think in many ways that the SOME of the south is backwards, to be honest. just my observations based on experiences. i have fam in south carolina, for example, and IMHO, south carolina in many ways is a backwards state.

with that said, i keep it honest. nyc is a corrupt city in many ways, IMO. i'll call a spade a spade.

Even when you guys move to a city like Atlanta.Most do nothing but complain about how "corny it is son".I have friends who moved from NYC who are Peruvian and Puerto Rican backgrounds.Both with obvious African traces.They hate it in Atlanta because they dont have the Puerto Rican Day parade,or other stupid reasons.They are quick to say Atlanta don't got this or that.Then they say the hate Atlanta but live in Duluth(suburbs).
they know hardly anything about historical black traditions in America or the struggle.

thats them tho. i won't speak for them because i don't know them. i'll speak for myself.

when you come from a city with damn near everything in it culturally (for example my borough alone is the most diverse county in the country and one of the most diverse areas in the entire world), and you go to a different city and you, read this clearly, and you go expecting things to be like it is where you are from, you set yourself up for failure.

atlanta is atlanta. atlanta is not ny. ny is ny. ny isn't atlanta. let atlanta be atlanta.

I explained to them the significance of the term "house negro".They heard the term but really did not know the meaning behind it or the historical context.

again, thats them. i know plenty of puerto ricans that know what coon or house negro or uncle tom mean. they might even use it in a sentence to describe a "sell out..."

(and yes, even if they aren't black)
(and yes i know that there are black puerto ricans (pr is 8% black). i'm talking about how close even non black pr's are to black ppl here in nyc)