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Ehh, I can’t keep going back and forth on this lol. You have good observations. I’m saying current day NYC, not in the 80s and 90s (and earlier) when NYC still had more traditional black communities, the ones that influenced the arts. But present day, many of us fled NYC during or within a decade or two after the crack epidemic. My Grandparents are born southerners who stayed in NY nearly 50 years, they are back down south… with the rest of my family. There are thousands of black New York families like this. And because of this migration back south, a lot of traditional black culture is absent from NY ( in representation and proportion) in ways not present in other cities.
There's a ton of cities experiencing the Great reverse migration back down south. If I'm not mistaken Chicago has had the biggest decline of Black people out of all major cities outside the south. But I get what your saying, unlike Chicago, Detroit, LA, Bay Area...NYC is still experiencing growth from Black immigrants at a much higher rate than those cities. With that said the last time I went to NYC which was 4 years ago I still saw heavy traditional Black cultural representation all throughout NYC. And even if there were other groups of ppl of African descent people walking around I wouldn't know the difference unless they told me their nationality.
So like I stated earlier IMO NYC has a more diverse Black cultural experience than any other city in America. Me personally as a AA who is Pan African I rock with that. NYC for me still punches above their weight when it comes to traditional Black culture. You just have much more variety all throughout the NYC/NJ/CT MSA area.
Really it's not too different than my experience here in West-Southwest Houston. There's a ton of Continental Africans and even a few Caribbean people sprinkled throughout this part of Houston that I guess would "dilute" the traditional black culture in this part of town. I mean before we moved to this side of town we lived in the Far North burbs and took our child to daycare in Northwest Houston. Despite there being a couple of African shops here and there and the area it is overwhelmingly AA. Majority of her classmates were AA. Compared to where were at now it's completely different. Most of her classmates are Continental Africans and even a few Caribbean kids. She'll spend her day to day life growing up in West Houston so she'll have a whole different experience if we would have stayed in Northwest Houston or any other part of the MSA outside West Houston.
Still nobody would dare say Houston Black culture is diluted because of a couple of enclaves. And mind you generally Continental Africans are not as assimilated into AA culture as Caribbean's. Which again I understand NYC is much more of a melting pot of Blackness than Houston or any other city with the exception of Boston (maybe). But I do think some AA's (especially those banging the ADOS/FBA drum) have over exaggerated the "invasion" of Non-AA culture when it comes to NYC.
It’s likely not a winner, but it may not be the worst of the options (Harrisburg?).
I’m really surprised that Hartford isn’t an option. This article is a bit old, but it has both Hartford and Providence in the “good and gaining ground” category. Boston is “good and losing ground” along with NYC. Philly is “bad and losing ground” per the article, which is admittedly a bit surprising.
Among others...Something to keep in mind is that Syracuse's black percentage from 1980-2010 doubled from 15.5% to 31.1%(black alone and in combination non-Hispanic). So, this is a city that has seen its black population grow: https://s4.ad.brown.edu/projects/div...cityid=3673000 and in turn, political/leadership representation has grown.
As for the Say Yes to Education Program, which is the bolded information and could apply to anyone, Buffalo also has this scholarship program citywide. https://sayyestoeducation.org/where-we-work/
So, if you go with the city of Buffalo, you have plenty of non private options and all would allow you to qualify for the scholarship program. Some that go private may go with city schools such as Canisius(all male, good Football program), Bishop Timon-St. Jude in South Buffalo, The Nichols School, Nardin(girls), Mount Mercy(girls), Academy of the Sacred Heart(girls) or if they go outside of the city schools such as The Park School(very good Boys Basketball program), Cardinal O'Hara in Tonawanda(very good Girls Basketball program), St. Joe's in Kenmore(boys, good Football program), St. Francis(boys, also known for Football program) and St. Mary's in Lancaster.
As for the city in relation to the thread, I'd say that North Buffalo, Elmwood Village, Parkside, Central Park(neighborhood), the NE corner of the city(parts of University/University Heights, Kensington Heights), Linwood and parts of the Allentown and Hamlin Park neighborhoods would have a presence of such families. Hamlin Park is actually a historically designated neighborhood with a long history of having a black middle class, with some streets retaining that character better than others: https://buffaloah.com/h/hamln/hamlin.html
Nearby Parkside across Main Street is another historic style neighborhood with a long time and visible black middle class due to the neighbors standing firm in staying the neighborhood versus leaving: https://parksidebuffalo.org/index.php
The eastern half of these middle class census tracts cover much of the neighborhood(in between Delaware and Main) and it is also very close to Elmwood Village: https://censusreporter.org/profiles/...t-169-erie-ny/
Keep in mind that this is a city with around 100,000 black residents, give or take/who you include(about 36-40% of the city) and quite a bit of black people in leadership positions(mayor, police chief, school superintendent, city council president(also a prominent pastor in the city), a deputy fire commissioner, President of Buffalo State College(about 33% of students are black), etc.
Once things open up, you are less than 100 miles from Downtown Toronto and for the family, there's Niagara Falls, Darien Lake amusement park, historical sites, etc.
If you want suburbs, Eggertsville in Amherst(Amherst Central SD, very good schools), Cleveland Hill in Cheektowaga(Cleveland Hill SD, solid schools), the Sweet Home SD in Amherst(solid/good schools), Cheektowaga Central SD(solid schools) and Maryvale SD in Cheektowaga(solid schools) are suburbs with higher black populations that others. Williamsville SD is arguably the area's top SD and has historically been another suburban SD where some athletes/coaches/professionals have lived, with the zones for South and North Highs having more of a presence. Some go with the Kenmore-Tonawanda SD, with Kenmore West having more of a presence historically; Cheektowaga-Sloan and West Seneca Schools as well. Lackawanna is a steel town that has had a long time and quite visible black population that is largely concentrated on its west side(known for having some very good Football teams at times). Ironically, a lot of the Bills players live near the stadium/facility in the Southtowns(Orchard Park and Hamburg) south of the city, while most of these listed suburbs are North/NE/East of the city.
Here is a video of highlights of a Boys Basketball game between these 2 suburban high schools in the same town(Amherst) to illustrate a presence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVzWt_oSW_U
I wouldn't call the black culture in NYC (or Boston) 'diluted'. As I said earlier it's just different...and for some that may be slightly uncomfortable or disorienting at first, but it's definitely interesting due to the diversity.
The biggest difference between NYC and Boston is that NYC's black culture obviously has more impact on the city as a whole outside of just black diasporic areas and more impactful of the city's image. It's clearly more important to the city's image of itself and nationwide. Which is what pushed me to NYC over Boston.
yup, I never understood how n.y.c. is seen as a paradise for diversity when there is stop-and-frisk, rudy giuliani, donald trump, sean bell, the women who had her baby snatched away at the social security office, ... bostons not the greatest for black persons but its somewhat better than n.y.c.
becuz if the quintessential city with the statue of liberty, empire state building, times square, ... is racist; then, that would mean the entire u.s. is racist so we pretend that n.y.c. is our racial utopia.
I'm afraid I have to disagree here.
While underrated, I don't see it better for black persons. The white culture is too dominant in the mainstream and professional settings.
There are 2x as many white people just in the city of Boston as any other group. They are not only predominant but overrepresented in the social sphere. That is not the case in NYC. Even if the neighborhoods, housing, and communal feel are better/more idyllic/more serene in Boston. <--Which is how I felt.
You feel like you have more "range" in NYC. Nice place to be young or to visit, seems like hell to raise a family in. So Id say just for black people in general NYC is better.
This is why I like Houston and Atlanta. You get a predominantly black culture AND some very, very nice neighborhoods as the norm. Albeit Houston does have some terrible-looking neighborhoods, they seem small relatively. But we are not talking about the south, so I digress.
It's clearly more important to the city's image of itself and nationwide. Which is what pushed me to NYC over Boston.
True true, but Boston is the one with the black mayor currently. Might change with both cities' upcoming elections, though.
I also think the black population in metro Boston grew by much more than that in metro NYC between 2010 and 2019 per these tables: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table...T1Y2010.B03002 (I'm calculating 10,800 vs 98,000)
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 06-13-2021 at 08:41 AM..
True true, but Boston is the one with the black mayor currently. Might change with both cities' upcoming elections, though.
I also think the black population in metro Boston grew by much more than that in metro NYC between 2010 and 2019 per these tables: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table...T1Y2010.B03002 (I'm calculating 10,800 vs 98,000)
ACTING mayor, and so? It's still 4-5x as many black people in NYC alone as Boston's whole metro. Its almost like some detached minimized offshoot of NYC black culture to me.
Not comparable, I feel I've given credit where credit is due. Boston boosters should be happy with their place in the poll. Even though I personally think NYC and Boston should be 1/2... clearly, Philadelphia is the favorite.
ACTING mayor, and so? It's still 4-5x as many black people in NYC alone as Boston's whole metro. Its almost like some detached minimized offshoot of NYC black culture to me.
Not comparable, I feel I've given credit where credit is due. Boston boosters should be happy with their place in the poll. Even though I personally think NYC and Boston should be 1/2... clearly, Philadelphia is the favorite.
I wouldn't quibble with rating New York over Philadelphia, but I would with rating Boston above it.
I worked on Mel King's 1981 campaign for mayor of Boston when I lived there, and I know the city has changed a good deal since then. And Blacks play a more significant role in the city's cultural life now, if not its political life as well.
But as I noted above, on the politics front, Philadelphia is actually the outlier of the three: we were the first of the three to elect a Black mayor, and we've had two more since him. We've also had six Black Police Commissioners, including every one who has held the post for the last decade (save the Interim Commissioner who held the post for a few months before our current one took over; she was also the first female commissioner; our current commissioner is the first woman to hold the post officially). And we've had two Black City Council Presidents; the first was encouraged by his predecessor as Mayor* to run for the post when his second term ended (he won), and the current one has held the post since 2012.
I'd say that should demonstrate rather clearly that Blacks play a greater role in Philadelphia politics than they do in either New York or Boston.
As for the culture, neither Philadelphia nor Boston has a community of Harlem's stature, but Philadelphia has many Blacks who have played major roles in the world of music, from Marian Anderson to Paul Robeson to John Coltrane to Philly Joe Jones to Patti Labelle to the Gamble-Huff stable of performers at Philadelphia International Records (edited to add: to Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild and Freeway). And the influence even rubbed off on visitors who just passed through: David Bowie, who recorded the album "Young Americans" at Philly's Sigma Sound Studios, was clearly influenced by his environment on his visit, as the title track off that album is the most soulful song Bowie ever recorded.
It's also the home of the oldest Black newspaper still publishing in the United States, The Philadelphia Tribune, founded in 1884. It's the birthplace of the largest Black Protestant church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church; it was the birthplace of the first educational institution specifically aimed at Black youth, and in its suburbs you will find the oldest degree-granting HBCU in the country (both of these part of the state higher-education system); and it's where the first protest against segregation on public transportation took place, in the 1870s (Google "Octavius V. Catto" for more about this). So we have pretty strong historical claims to preeminence over Boston too, and probably even New York.
I could probably dig up a few more reasons, but I think those should suffice for now.
*That Mayor, who served in between the first and second Black Mayors, was the most popular mayor in the city's recent history (and even more popular in its suburbs than he was in the city itself) and the first to be elected Governor of Pennsylvania since 1906 when he won election to the office in 2002.
Last edited by MarketStEl; 06-13-2021 at 01:02 PM..
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