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Black politics has a long history in Oakland dating back to 1925 with the founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The uncle of former mayor of Oakland Ron Dellums (C.L. Dellums) founded the organization with Asa Phillip Randolph to protest the abysmal pay and working conditions black porters had to deal with at the time on railroads such as Southern Pacific and Pullman. He became vice president of the organization in 1929 and president in 1966. Here's a photo of C.L. Dellums:
Fast forward to the 60's and Oakland blacks exercised their right to protest again in the form of the Black Panther Movement; this time they were protesting the police brutality that plagued West Oakland. The Black Panthers are easily one of the most significant black political organizations founded in the 20th century. Panther founder Bobby Seale ran for mayor of Oakland in 1973 and finished second, which is incredible when put in the social context of both the city and the country at the time.
In 1978 the first black mayor of Oakland was elected; Lionel Wilson was born in New Orleans but raised in Oakland since the age of 3. He had the backing of very notable civil rights crusaders such as Cesar Chavez and the Panthers and he went on to radically change the demographics of Oakland's city government. It's also notable that he was reelected twice. Here's a photo of him posing with Cesar Chavez before he was elected:
Do many black people in California ever go back to Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi to visit family they left behind? My grandma goes back to Louisiana every once in awhile...
Do many black people in California ever go back to Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi to visit family they left behind? My grandma goes back to Louisiana every once in awhile...
Cities with largest black population losses between 2000 and 2010 .
1. Detroit: -185,393
2. Chicago: -181,453
3. New York: -100,859
4. Los Angeles: -54,606
5. Washington, D.C.: -39,035
6. Oakland : -33,502
7. Cleveland: -33,304
8. Atlanta: -29,746
9. Baltimore: -24,071
10. San Francisco: -12,010
Percentage-wise, Oakland's had a far greater loss in black population than L.A.
Other Bay Area cities experienced the same drop.
Richmond's black population decreased 23 percent, Berkeley's 20 percent, Daly City's 24 percent and East Palo Alto's by 31 percent.
All of California's major cities, except Sacramento, saw declines in their black populations.
Some other cities to add to that.
San Diego: -10,333
Long Beach: -6911
San Jose: -1,987
Santa Ana: -1,132
Cities with largest black population losses between 2000 and 2010 .
1. Detroit: -185,393
2. Chicago: -181,453
3. New York: -100,859
4. Los Angeles: -54,606
5. Washington, D.C.: -39,035
6. Oakland : -33,502
7. Cleveland: -33,304
8. Atlanta: -29,746
9. Baltimore: -24,071
10. San Francisco: -12,010
Percentage-wise, Oakland's had a far greater loss in black population than L.A.
Other Bay Area cities experienced the same drop.
Richmond's black population decreased 23 percent, Berkeley's 20 percent, Daly City's 24 percent and East Palo Alto's by 31 percent.
All of California's major cities, except Sacramento, saw declines in their black populations.
Some of those cities are just on there due to how large the black pop. in their cities are. If the city is predominantly black, chances are the folks moving away are also predominantly black. They might be moving away for whatever reason.
Some of those cities are just on there due to how large the black pop. in their cities are. If the city is predominantly black, chances are the folks moving away are also predominantly black. They might be moving away for whatever reason.
While there's definitely some migration happening to locales outside of those metros, many of those stats just represent a flow to the suburbs of those cities.
An interesting fact is that both Los Angeles (1973) and Oakland (1978) elected black mayors before NYC (1989), Philadelphia (1984), Memphis (1991), Birmingham (1979), Baltimore (1988), Houston (1997), Dallas (1995), St. Louis (1993) or Chicago (1983).
I lived in the heart of Seattle and saw black people everyday. I worked for two large pnw Fortune 500 companies and worked with blacks everyday. If you live in Mill Creek you will see far less black people.
Don't know what to tell you. To begin to imply Seattle has any reasonable black population is you lying to yourself. Anyone honest would agree that there aren't a lot of black people in Seattle. I mean my first week in Seattle, I literally saw no black people, even when I was walking around downtown. I mean you'll run into black people occasionally here and there. However for the most part, you will rarely see many black people. I have admit, I'm an east sider. But compare this to cities with a black population, where blacks are represented in most neighborhoods and economic classes. This simply isn't the case in Seattle. At first I thought Seattle was just racist, but I've found most black Seattlitrs I've run across are very complacent and lazy. They remind me of the black people in my home town, KC. Black people just refuse to even try to live outside of non black areas. I guess after living in Atlanta for so long where the black people are more diverse in politics, class levels, and success, it's weird to see this level of this level of homogeneity found amongst Seattle blacks.
Cities with largest black population losses between 2000 and 2010 .
1. Detroit: -185,393
2. Chicago: -181,453
3. New York: -100,859
4. Los Angeles: -54,606
5. Washington, D.C.: -39,035
6. Oakland : -33,502
7. Cleveland: -33,304
8. Atlanta: -29,746
9. Baltimore: -24,071
10. San Francisco: -12,010
Percentage-wise, Oakland's had a far greater loss in black population than L.A.
Other Bay Area cities experienced the same drop.
Richmond's black population decreased 23 percent, Berkeley's 20 percent, Daly City's 24 percent and East Palo Alto's by 31 percent.
All of California's major cities, except Sacramento, saw declines in their black populations.
Native born blacks and whites are leaving California by the droves. Much of California is mired in a deep economic depression. This is not debatable. California continues to suffer some of the worst unemployment and foreclosure of the economic downturn. Fresh off the border Latinos and fresh-off-the-boat Asians, the latter to a lesser extent, are slowly becoming the overwhelming majority in many California cities as California is infinitely better than the real third world. Things like San Francisco implementing the higher minimum wage mandate does not give incentive for businesses to hire unemployed English speaking Americans for jobs when illegal immigrants can be hired under the table. Not to mention cities like San Francisco are pretty hellish for black people. Black people are a peripheral and often neglected minority in most big California cities. It is no surprise that blacks relocate to areas of the country where black people are not confined only to the worst parts of town. California has become a state for those who are rich enough not to work, people with insane highly marketable high tech skills and gang bangers who will shoot or stab you for wearing the "wrong" color.
But tens of thousands of black folks are leaving big cities, period. Black flight is reshaping American cities:
It is worth mentioning that although DC, proper, is losing its black population, black folks that used to reside in the District aren't going far. Most black folks displaced by gentrification in DC only move a few miles away across the city line into bordering Prince Georges County, Maryland, much of which is basically a nearly indistinguishable extension of Northeast and Southeast DC. DC is too expensive for most people. However, nearby PG County is statistically the richest black-majority county in America. Although PG County is infamous for its crime-ridden inner beltway towns locally, the wealthy majority black areas of PG County continue to attract high earning black residents moving from all over the country.
Many blacks leaving cities in California are moving way out of state to places like Atlanta, Houston and DC. Especially upwardly mobile black folks with education:
Last edited by LunaticVillage; 02-22-2013 at 11:22 PM..
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