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Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
2,014 posts, read 5,098,018 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by waronxmas
One reason:
For every one but black folks, the first thing they think when you say "DC" is "the Federal government". For every one but black folks, the first thing they think when you say "Atlanta" is "black folks". We had better marketing.
With that said you have a valid point and if this were a poll of just black people it would probably be 50/50 between DC and Atlanta.
Are we talking blacks in general, or just blacks on this site?
Because if we're talking in general, even that comment is too generous toward D.C.
The average, informed C-D user might know about D.C's black prominence, but I'm not so sure the average, common black person knows.
Last edited by Southern Soul Bro; 04-05-2012 at 02:13 AM..
No people in NYC think D.C. is country not Philly and Baltimore. Get it right southerner. As for this Atlanta and D.C. debate both are country. Atlanta has trailer parks in the city just 3 miles from downtown and D.C.'s SE could pass off as Mississippi
LOL
My entire family is from DT Brooklyn. They think anything across the Hudson (Philly included) is country. Fall off!
No one in NYC thinks SF, Boston, Chicago, Philly, or LA is country. We hate Boston for sports, Philly for being industrial, Chicago for their inferiority complex, SF for their nut job liberal policies (I'm liberal but SF is just loco), and LA for being suburban. Most of those today are just generalizations with exception to Boston sports, we still hate them. ;P The rest you'll be hard pressed to find people out of NYC thinking they're country. Your beloved D.C. most of us from here who visit it would never think your northern, at least not like NYC or Philly. You are southerners and need to face your reality.
As for Atlanta, I think it's ok but could have been better if my allergies weren't so bad there, if it was more urban, less southern, and less black but this is my own wish list. For D.C. I personally think its a cesspool in the worst way, stealing our money to feed it's parasitic addictions and the only city worse from my travels has been Orlando. If you pay taxes then you're allowed to criticize D.C.
I can definitely tell you are not from NYC. Most NYers look down on other burroughs, so why would it be hard to look down on Philly & Chicago. Ever heard of the "Bridge and Tunnel" crowd? Look it up. People in the Bronx call Staten Island "the stix." Everytime, we go to Chicago, my brother comments on their accent as being "striaght outta Arkansas or Mississippi." You can't tell me sh*t about NYC. NYC Hop on!
Correct. Atlanta has a larger concentration of HBCUs. That's not in dispute.
Neither is the fact that Howard produces more total graduates, more dentists, more surgeons, more pediatricians, more accountants, more architects, more engineers and more lawyers than all of the AUC schools combined.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutiny77
I'm talking about the TYPE of schools that comprise the AUC when I speak of diversity, not demographics.
I understood exactly what you meant. That's why I said the AUC is only more "diverse" if the metric you're using is the total number of schools. But that's really meaningless because three black colleges in Atlanta are collectively smaller than one black school in Washington, DC. That's like saying that Charlotte, Birmingham and Atlanta are more diverse than Queens because you have three different cities as opposed to one. Nevermind the fact that all three put together are smaller than Queens and demographically less diverse.
If we adopt the very narrow way you're viewing "education" (number and type of schools), then yes, Atlanta would come out ahead since it has an all-boys school and an all-girls school. But I bet there are few people other than yourself who have that restricted a view. If you take adopt a more holistic view (prestige, quality of programs, number of programs, number of degrees conferred, etc.), then I think your conclusion would be quite different.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutiny77
And apparently you missed MY point, which wasn't even about undergrad programs. If you want to compare apples-to-apples, why would you use a school in Atlanta that doesn't have comparable programs? Compare a medical degree from Howard with a medical degree from Morehouse. Compare a D.Min. from ITC with one from Howard. I wouldn't compare a master's degree from any school with another's doctorate degree. That's just silly.
The point is that the AUC does not compare to Howard. So if we're talking about "education," in terms of both quality and the diversity of programs offered, then Howard is technically light years ahead of the AUC. If we're making an apples-to-apples comparison, then we're better off focusing exclusively on the undergraduate programs since Morehouse and Spelman are liberal arts schools (which was why I brought up undergrads in the first place). But the fact that Howard offers a range of programs (law, engineering, physics, medicine, pharmacy, business, communications) that the AUC wholly lacks is a big reason why DC trumps Atlanta in the "education" category.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutiny77
But that's not the subject of discussion. DC's Finest wanted to know why Atlanta is often considered the "capital of Black America" over DC when it comes to education, and it's typically because Atlanta has the largest concentration of HBCUs of any other city in America. If it's just about the total number of Blacks students in HBCUs, then we could probably throw Tallahassee and Greensboro into the discussion.
Let's be precise here. He asked, "How can Atlanta be considered the black capital over DC" when DC, in his perception, trumps Atlanta on different metrics, including income and education. Nobody ever said that Atlanta is "considered the capital of Black America" over DC "when it comes to education." (except you). You responded by saying, "Largest concentration of HBCUs in the country."
You're entitled to your opinion. In response to your statement, I simply pointed out that Howard produces more total graduates than all of the AUC schools combined and offers a whole host of disciplines that are completely absent in the Atlanta University Center (fact). You may not think that's as relevant as the "total number and type of schools" argument, but I think the total number of programs, the quality of those programs, and the number of degrees conferred is equally, if not more, relevant.
And I never said that "it's just about the total number of black students in the HBCUs." I said that Howard confers more degrees, has more programs, and generally has higher quality programs than the AUC. Even if we compared the Howard School of Medicine to the Morehouse School of Medicine, as you suggested, we both know that Howard easily wins that one. Same goes for the Howard School of Education versus the CAU School of Education.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutiny77
UVA isn't in the DC metro nor is UGA in the Atlanta metro, so I fail to see why they were even brought up--unless you're now trying to make this a competition between one state (Georgia) and two states and a federal district (MD, VA, DC)?
I have been talking about "education" all-inclusively in this thread. That means discussing everything from pre-school to graduate programs to the number of college-educated black people in each city (I assume most people are taking the same approach). If I'm a black parent (and I hope to be someday), then the quality of schools (primary, secondary, and undergraduate) is something I am going to consider when choosing a place to raise kids. And the fact that I can live in Alexandria and send my kids to UVA is much more appealing to me than living in Marietta and sending my kids to UGA. I wasn't talking so much about institutions that are physically present in the metro areas as I was about the benefits and opportunities available to blacks who live in the DC area as opposed to the Atlanta area.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 04-05-2012 at 08:36 AM..
And there is no neighborhood period that looks like downtown Atlanta across the whole city.
And? This would also apply to D.C. Double standards now, eh?
Quote:
There are no row houses that come right up to the street.
Pure and total BS. I am looking out my office window at our oldest such block, built in the 1800's. See, this is the sort of crap that gets you called out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Block
Quit spouting off about things you simply know nothing of. And quit ASSuming what type of neighborhoods I do and don't have knowledge of. If you think I'm some whitebread fool afraid of different neighborhoods, guess again homer.
I think the only thing Atlanta really beats DC on is "entertainment." In terms of their impact on media, music and popular culture, Atlanta beats DC by a country mile. DC's just not that type of town.
But as far as being a center of power and intellectual life for black Americans? I think DC beats Atlanta pretty decisively on that front. There's no other city in the world where you will find such a large concentration of ambitious, well-educated and accomplished black people. It's not uncommon to meet a black girl in her early 30s at a house party and then see her anchoring on MSNBC the next week, or run into someone at happy hour who just finished up his second year at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, or have a friend who spends most of the month in the Balkans and Eastern Europe negotiating contracts for the construction of natural gas pipelines (and speaks four languages). You meet all kinds of interesting black people in DC. It's not your typical, "I make six figures and drive a big car" type of black people.
Then DC has the diplomatic crowd and they are all very well-educated (and typically very affluent). You can go to an event at the South African embassy and meet all types of fascinating black people from as far as London and Yaounde. You're not going to find that in Atlanta. And even if you have events like that in Atlanta, they don't occur with the same frequency as they do in DC.
One of my most unforgettable memories of living in DC was when I was an intern way back when. We were scheduled to meet with a delegation from Germany and our translator was late. So my boss (who was black) just kicks off the conversation in fluent German. She was like the black female version of Hans Landa (spoke German, French and Italian fluently). She had also served as editor for the Yale Law Journal and finished Yale College with honors.
That's when I knew that DC was an "it" place for black people.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 04-05-2012 at 09:10 AM..
I think the only thing Atlanta really beats DC on is "entertainment." In terms of their impact on media, music and popular culture, Atlanta beats DC by a country mile. DC's just not that type of town.
But as far as being a center of power and intellectual life for black Americans? I think DC beats Atlanta pretty decisively on that front. There's no other city in the world where you will find such a large concentration of ambitious, well-educated and accomplished black people. It's not uncommon to meet a black girl in her early 30s at a house party and then see her anchoring on MSNBC the next week, or run into someone at happy hour who just finished up his second year at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, or have a friend who spends most of the month in the Balkans and Eastern Europe negotiating contracts for the construction of natural gas pipelines (and speaks four languages). You meet all kinds of interesting black people in DC. It's not your typical, "I make six figures and drive a big car" type of black people.
Then DC has the diplomatic crowd and they are all very well-educated (and typically very affluent). You can go to an event at the South African embassy and meet all types of fascinating black people from as far as London and Yaounde. You're not going to find that in Atlanta. And even if you have events like that in Atlanta, they don't occur with the same frequency as they do in DC.
One of my most unforgettable memories of living in DC was when I was an intern way back when. We were scheduled to meet with a delegation from Germany and our translator was late. So my boss (who was black) just kicks off the conversation in fluent German. She was like the black female version of Hans Landa (spoke German, French and Italian fluently). She had also served as editor for the Yale Law Journal and finished Yale College with honors.
That's when I knew that DC was an "it" place for black people.
Ronald Machen (United States Attorney for the District of Columbia)
Last edited by BajanYankee; 04-05-2012 at 09:54 AM..
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