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I was at 16th Street Mall extensively in 2016. I spent a week in Denver with a Denver native, in LoDo, Bow Mar, out to Vail, and some more. Felt mostly white. Denver overall felt pretty white, not monochromatically. Didnt feel hostile as a black person but it was pretty white. The far east side near Aurora was abt more diverse (black) but still mostly white it wasn't like a majority-black area. Most notably- It felt as though everywhere in the metro, every town and neighborhood was plurality or majority white. I know there are many Mexicans but I guess they're mostly light skin mestizos as I didn't notice them.
It definitely looked and felt hospitable to middle-class white Americana.
It is true that there are much fewer minority plurality areas in the Denver metro. A lot of the 'diversity' that I felt was coming from the Hispanic side so people might register their level differently. However when I go to these places I do feel that minorities are over-represented in comparison to their numbers which might have to do with how different races utilize certain public spaces.
Bow Mar is pretty white but Lakewood has diverse pockets.
People have different opinions on what diverse means, but for me it makes little sense to call any city white if you can find members of all four major races on most blocks. If you want to say Denver or Portland is white in the same way that Atlanta is black then I guess that is fair.
There clearly hasn't been a building (capitol) built for White America, but I suppose that it may look like a Mormon Temple on the outside. You know, all white.
Manhattan will be over 50% white in a few years, if not already so. If we are listing even less white places like Austin, Boston and Dallas.. then Manhattan would count. After all, Lower Manhattan is the breeding ground for Middle income white kids who want city living.
I am quite literally the darkest person walking to work for blocks at a time. And I am white.
Can't see that happening. It got less white between 2010 and 2020 and I think the continuous Asian growth will keep it minority-majority for the foreseeable future.
For me, the answer is Boston. It feels like the most culturally white major city in the country (despite having a fairly significant minority population), so I'll go with it here.
The first 3 of these also has the image of white people who are generically white, vs the Mormons of Utah or white Southerners south of the Mason Dixon Line or whites in places like West Virginia with a unique Appalachian culture.
For me, the answer is Boston. It feels like the most culturally white major city in the country (despite having a fairly significant minority population), so I'll go with it here.
But Boston doesn't feel generically mainstream "white" like places like Omaha, Des Moines, or Colorado Springs. Its known for a unique college yuppie culture and also for its very ethnic whites, particularly the Irish and Italians. The Boston Irish are probably one of the less assimilated white immigrant groups in the US, compared to Irish Americans elsewhere. My area has lots of people with Irish and Scots-Irish backgrounds but they're more assimilated into mainstream Southern culture.
For me, the answer is Boston. It feels like the most culturally white major city in the country (despite having a fairly significant minority population), so I'll go with it here.
That is certainly what it is portrayed as. And in the very core "downtown area" that s true. But it has a lot more extensive cultural offerings and Black cultural history than a place like Austin, Denver, Portland Seattle. Probably significantly more.
Shows like Martin were created by Black Bostonians, and it feature prominently into the history of Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan and even had a Black secessionist moment put to ballot. As well as black cultural pundits or comedians like Sam Jay, Patrice Oneal, Toure, Free and others. For example last night I saw two black native Bostonians perform at the BET Awards. Boston sort of has its tentacles everywhere like that. In between Gospel Fest, BAMSFest, Roxbury Homecoming, and a host of other festivals and history and the fact that there are only about 6,000 white kids in all of Boston Public Schools. There are a few places on the ground in Boston are not very 'welcoming' to white people. Much of which can be attributed to the racial tensions in the city historically. Much of the cultural supremacy white people have in Bostons image was hard fought, not a given.
So while it does export out that way- the reality on the ground is different and probably contributes to a declining white population in the area. I don't want to say you're wrong as many white culture Icons come from Boston but its more about it overshadowing another aspect of the culture rather than a lack of non-white culture. Generally, I would not say the presence of other culture means you cant be the capital of another culture, but if its the premise fr the argument I think factually its a bit off. More importantly though- Tom Lennox made some good points, in that its not really representative of generic white America due to ethnic and price reasons really. I think you can find many cities with more young white families, and more middle-class 'generic' white-type communities-even in the south- places like Raleigh or even Charlotte come to mind. And I think when I think "Boston Native" I typically personally do not think of someone white. Just because I know its typically not- most people dont.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 06-26-2023 at 08:07 AM..
I typically personally do not think of someone white. Just because I know its typically not- most people dont.
Well...I don't know about that.
Boston is still 43% white which is the largest racial group being more than twice as large as the next largest group. So if you managed to put all the people in Boston into a hat and were to randomly draw one out, you'd probably pick out a white person.
But I also don't see Boston as the capital of white American culture because Boston's white culture is too unique, but it's predominant cultures are from Europe. While I know parts of the metro area are different (Lawrence, Lowell, etc.), the culture exports of Boston are overwhelmingly not from minority races.
Boston is still 43% white which is the largest racial group being more than twice as large as the next largest group. So if you managed to put all the people in Boston into a hat and were to randomly draw one out, you'd probably pick out a white person.
But I also don't see Boston as the capital of white American culture because Boston's white culture is too unique, but it's predominant cultures are from Europe. While I know parts of the metro area are different (Lawrence, Lowell, etc.), the culture exports of Boston are overwhelmingly not from minority races.
~65% of all births in Boston from 1994-2010 were to Black or Latino mothers.
People happen to who live in Boston does not equate to Boston natives.
Then after birth white families and children flee Boston. Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site
^So one of these things is not like the others.
The city of Boston has a lower share of white teenagers than New York City or Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site
According to Boston Public Schools- when accounting for kids inside and outside of the city's schools in 20222... only 11,774 out of 73,600 school-aged children in Boston are white. This 15.9%So essentially 84% of families raising kids in Boston are minorities. About 75% of which are black and latino. Hard for me to see that as a white capital in any serious way unless you're really talking about perception.
[/url] So to me when I hear Boston native I don't think of a white person. Im thinking of people born and raised in the city. Far more than 57% of whom are POC. More like 77-78% (the share of children in the City of Boston who are white is 16%). In reality Boston just takes a massive influx of white residents in the 18-year-old age range due to college. But its demographics of people in their 50s and 60s is actually more diverse than the demographic of people in their 20s. One of the only-if not the only- major city to do that. A huge share of the white population is non-native and arrived for college- but to be fair a huge share of the minority population is born abroad.
So with that and other things- you and Tom mentioned it basically rules it out.... for me.
Id wager good money if you polled 25-year-olds who were born and raised in Boston something like 85% of them would be minorities and 75% of them would be black or Hispanic. Just speaking as someone raised in MA, when I met someone my age from Boston- it felt 9/10 times it was a black or Latino person.
I mean its one of those things that are hard to measure.
But the way interpret the thread is about White culture capital which I agree isn't Boston simply because, while the overwhelmingly majority of Boston's culture exports are white, they are European more so than white American. Cultural exports and demographics are different. Look at Houston. Houston's cultural exports are overwhelmingly black despite the fact they are only 25% of the population. Houston is WAYYYY more Hispanic than it is black in terms of what the population is and what it feels like on the ground. But that's not what the cultural exports are.
I know when I was in Boston, outside of places like Roslindale and Dorchester, I had to try really hard to even see an African American person. Its a very segregated place outside the areas to the Southwest. Downtown doesn't feel integrated at all. It feels very Irish and Italian with large numbers of people speaking Portuguese and large number of Chinese. So even though you probably are right the average native Bostonian not being white, when it comes to what your visitor is going to see or what your cultural exports are, Boston is very culturally white just of the European white variety.
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