US cities with most identifiable/unique/robust local Black culture (tiered) (beautiful, development)
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Because its black culture just simply isn't strong enough? Never gained enough pull in its region? Not AA driven but more West Indian/African driven? Considering blacks only make up 12% of the population in the US, it requires a lot of cultural superiority in your respective area in order to reach that level; which is a stage I don't think black Boston has ever reached. DC, on the other hand, has been culturally black and had a cultural monopoly on this city for decades. Apples to oranges, tbh.
Other large cities that have black cultural superiority are Baltimore, Chicago, Memphis, NYC (fading tho), Philly, Houston, LA (also fading), and of course Atlanta. Among others, but it's honestly not a whole lot.
I just have this feeling that due to the lack of AA influence in black Boston, they're just more passive and would rather acquiesce to what people want out of them. Obviously this makes for a safer, more tolerable community; but at the expense of any robust or charismatic identity or persona like the other cities.
Just one quick call out - NYC's Black Cultural superiority is no where near fading as fast as LA's. If anything it's been reinvigorated with the rise of Tik Tok, Black Mayor + City Council Speaker, Black Female NYPD Chief, and the rise of Black Brooklyn from a creative and political angle. It's still pretty strong and has secondary effects on the entire Tri-State Area (large proportion of transit workers are Black/African-American and best believe will get you together in a second to "stand clear of the closing doors please").
When I look at the criteria you set and started really thinking about these cities local Black cultures I started thinking how I can't possibly breakdown the particular cities cultures into tiers. So I'll just list in no particular order based on your criteria what cities stick out to me the most more than others. If I didn't put down your city/region it's not that I think it's not unique or distinguishable (Hell wherever Black people reside is unique enough culturally for me) it's just these particular cities stand out more to me.
Again this is not a official listing or ranking.
1. New York City
2. New Orleans
3. Sea Islands (Coastal Carolinas/ Coastal Georgia/ N. Florida)Gullah-Geechee corridor
4. Baltimore
5. D.C.- DMV area
6. Philadelphia
7. Bay Area
8. Los Angeles
9. Atlanta
10. Houston
11. Memphis
12. Mississippi Delta
13. Chicago
14. Miami
15. Detroit
16. St. Louis
Ha my man knows what he's doing here. Has a random top 16, but couldn't make it a top 17 to include Boston. Why are you messing with the Beantown bros like that lol
Ha my man knows what he's doing here. Has a random top 16, but couldn't make it a top 17 to include Boston. Why are you messing with the Beantown bros like that lol
People get hard off that. Only city black people make it harder to live there for other black people.
Having to defend Boston is a real sport,” Turner says. “As a student at Northeastern, people coming from New York, California, and all across the country, I think they honestly love to hate Boston. It’s like a little club. It’s not cool if you say you’re from Boston.”
“One, I’m not going to let you disrespect the place where I’m from,” said Turner, 29. “Two, I strengthened my pride in college and coming out, still being here, this is where I want to be. I am staking my claim, my roots, here. I’m investing my time in the community here.”
“You are told at every turn people don’t think Black people live in Boston, the city don’t care about Black people in Boston, and Black people outside of Boston hate Boston.”
Boston black community us and had been very Afro centric because of Carribean rots and the need to insulate ourselves from the white cultural dominance of the rest of the city.
This right here just illustrates what I was saying in my post, my guy. Black Boston never overtook whites when it came to cultural superiority, or even came close nor attempted to (aka passive). & quite honestly, it'll never happen. This happened already in several cities, decades ago. Namely in the cities I listed, but I forgot New Orleans and Detroit too. I won't even get into all the brand worship going on in this thread.
I'm not sure how you took me saying black Boston is more acquiescent than other black communities of similar stature to being a "coon". Never said that broski. If I said more "civilized" or "intelligent" you would've took it better, right? Of course you would. What y'all decided to pull from my post and spin it into is some alchemist sh*t, I ain't gon hold you. Tho I should expect this from the Celtics starting lineup on C-D.
I meant they're more community oriented and have higher behavioral/QOL standards that they abide to, and don't typically step outside the mold. Black immigrant communities tend to be like this, and Boston's AA community is more in line with them than other AA communities. Boston simply isn't as AA driven as other major cities, and most of the black cultural strength in the US lies in the AA community. It wasn't meant to be anything more than that.
You spoke about this very dynamic in great detail in the murder thread as to why Boston's black murder rate is so low, had no issues in that context saying how orderly y'all are and how the community prevents dysfunction (aka being acquiescent), now you're getting mad offended when it's referenced in a different setting other than shootings and stabbings, talking about "he called us coons!!" when it wasn't even a derogatory term, just a descriptive one. But go off, G lol.
This right here just illustrates what I was saying in my post, my guy. Black Boston never overtook whites when it came to cultural superiority, or even came close nor attempted to (aka passive). & quite honestly, it'll never happen. This happened already in several cities, decades ago. Namely in the cities I listed, but I forgot New Orleans and Detroit too. I won't even get into all the brand worship going on in this thread.
I'm not sure how you took me saying black Boston is more acquiescent than other black communities of similar stature to being a "coon". Never said that broski. If I said more "civilized" or "intelligent" you would've took it better, right? Of course you would. What y'all decided to pull from my post and spin it into is some alchemist sh*t, I ain't gon hold you. Tho I should expect this from the Celtics starting lineup on C-D.
I meant they're more community oriented and have higher behavioral/QOL standards that they abide to, and don't typically step outside the mold. Black immigrant communities tend to be like this, and Boston's AA community is more in line with them than other AA communities. Boston simply isn't as AA driven as other major cities, and most of the black cultural strength in the US lies in the AA community. It wasn't meant to be anything more than that.
You spoke about this very dynamic in great detail in the murder thread as to why Boston's black murder rate is so low, had no issues in that context saying how orderly y'all are and how the community prevents dysfunction (aka being acquiescent), now you're getting mad offended when it's referenced in a different setting other than shootings and stabbings, talking about "he called us coons!!" when it wasn't even a derogatory term, just a descriptive one. But go off, G lol.
Not killing each other isn’t being submissive to what other people or acquiescent (what would you be acquiescing to? Don’t they want us to kill each other)want… that’s idiotic. And dangerous as rhetoric.
Also nonsensical as Boston has had a MUCH higher crime rate than NYC for years and year year and probably still does tbh. NYC Homicide rate hops above Boston for the first time in 20 years and now we’re subservient- wow.
I’m laughing you pretending to know what black Bostonians attempted to do or didn’t attempt to do . You’re wild for that. How would you possibly know that?? Explain that to me, please…
You are also wild if you think the black culture of some of these cities trumped white culture to anyone other than black people.
Dysfunctional= culture and charisma to you. Milwaukee and Cleveland should be lit then. Think about that. Caring about your community is not being submissive that having pride in yourself and respect for your neighbors. This is so backwards, get it together.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 03-25-2022 at 04:52 PM..
Is this a joke? How is this even remotely up for debate? Most people know DC has one of the most unique Black cultures anywhere. It may not be liked by other cities, but they would all admit it’s a DC thing. What is nationally known historically about Philadelphia’s Black community that people would identify with?
"TSOP." It was to the 1970s what Motown was to the 1960s. (And talk about cross-pollination: the distinctive lush string sound of not only the song of that name — you probably know it as "the Soul Train theme" — but other hits to come out of Philadelphia International Records were provided by Philadelphia Orchestra musicians who headed one block south on Broad Street to the Gamble & Huff hit factory after their own rehearsals.)
Church folks, especially in the denomination he founded, will know who Richard Allen was. Philadelphia was the birthplace of the Black Protestant church in America — all the way back in 1816, when Washington was still an overgrown swamp. (Actually, it goes back further than that — to 1787, when Allen and Absalom Jones founded the Free African Society, the first Black religious organization in the country.)
Remember the Black contralto who the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let sing in their Washington concert hall, so DAR member Eleanor Roosevelt arranged to have her perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial? Marian Anderson was a Philadelphian.
So was the great singer Paul Robeson.
Ditto John Coltrane, arguably the greatest jazz musician of the 1960s and one of the GOATs of jazz, period. Philadelphia may not be one of the mother lodes of jazz in America on the order of New Orleans, Kansas City or New York, but it has a very rich jazz heritage that fans of that music know very well — it definitely occupies the tier just below those three cities.
And let's not forget that avatar of Black middle-class polish, the comedian who mined his growing up here to great comic effect (and made me think that his alma mater was an HBCU when I was growing up in Kansas City), The Comedian Who Shall No Longer Be Named thanks to his sexual offenses.
I will grant that much of Philly's present-day Black community arrived here during the Great Migration of the early 20th century. But that puts this city in the same boat as Chicago and Detroit, both cities with noteworthy and notable Black cultures and Black cultural contributions.
BTW, I see a couple of you upthread namechecked Mitchell & Ness. You all do know where that company is headquartered, right? They're not a Black thang per se, either.
Not killing each other isn’t being submissive to what other people or acquiescent (what would you be acquiescing to? Don’t they want us to kill each other)want… that’s idiotic. And dangerous as rhetoric.
Also nonsensical as Boston has had a MUCH higher crime rate than NYC for years and year year and probably still does tbh. NYC Homicide rate hops above Boston for the first time in 20 years and now we’re subservient- wow.
I’m laughing you pretending to know what black Bostonians attempted to do or didn’t attempt to do . You’re wild for that. How would you possibly know that?? Explain that to me, please…
You are also wild if you think the black culture of some of these cities trumped white culture to anyone other than black people.
Dysfunctional= culture and charisma to you. Milwaukee and Cleveland should be lit then. Think about that. Caring about your community is not being submissive that having pride in yourself and respect for your neighbors. This is so backwards, get it together.
You wocky, bro lol. First of all. Didn't even ask for clarification just went off jumping to conclusions and speaking on my behalf like you know my intentions. That's a dub. Not everyone who speaks on Boston has some vendetta or beef. It's just a harmless observation. Get outta your feelings.
I literally used Japan and Korea as a reference earlier for insular societies that produced unique cultures to the world, why would I say dysfunction and crime means you have culture? Relax, my guy lol. Culturally you're passive and uninspiring, plain and simple. Musically you don't have a sound, visually you don't have a look, audibly you could pass as a black dude from Connecticut, and mentally you suffer from inferiority complexes that constantly keeps you comparing yourselves to the black cultures south of you. If you weren't, you'd be somewhere in the list of cities I mentioned.
"Don't they want us to kill each other?". That just shows you completely missed what I was trying to say. Kid really thought I was referencing white people....smh. Just think of it as unassuming and monotonous culture. Acquiescent to your own, stick to status quo of the community, hardly any cultural developments happening. Just normal everyday citizens. I won't use that word anymore since it apparently gives off the wrong idea, but that one flew way over your scalp and you ran with it.
Nobody is saying you're subservient because of your murder rate (or anything like that), I said you used the same dynamic to explain why the murder rate is low in Boston but you don't like it when it's used to explain why black Boston isn't as proactive culturally in its own region as other areas. The demographics and community structure. Reading comprehension, c'mon Boston.
Ok fair, maybe I don't know what y'all attempted to do and perhaps black Boston is in fact making crazy moves in the community. Enlighten me, what were the grand efforts to dominate the city culturally that led black Boston to where it is today? Still having no cultural leverage. I said culturally passive because you guys' presence is lukewarm despite being 24% of the population, live in urban areas and the core of Boston doesn't acknowledge your culture at all.
Which black community hasn't surpassed whites in cultural influence from that list? I'm very curious. The only cases you can really make are Memphis and LA.
Just one quick call out - NYC's Black Cultural superiority is no where near fading as fast as LA's. If anything it's been reinvigorated with the rise of Tik Tok, Black Mayor + City Council Speaker, Black Female NYPD Chief, and the rise of Black Brooklyn from a creative and political angle. It's still pretty strong and has secondary effects on the entire Tri-State Area (large proportion of transit workers are Black/African-American and best believe will get you together in a second to "stand clear of the closing doors please").
Yeah nah I wouldn't say it's fading as fast as LA's, but it's still fading just at a more gradual pace than before. Bronx and Brooklyn are both heating up, Bronx is killing it on YT and TikTok and musically they had some of the hottest drill joints out. Gotta understand that NYC's black culture is so strong, that even if it'll gradually decline for the next decade, it'll still be top 5 largest black cultures in the country. LA, that's another story.
My son who's five loves watching Kai Cenat and Fanum from the Bronx, basically all the AMP but they're based in Atlanta. Getting sturdy got some shine too, but you can also credit Crip Mac for reinvigorating some long lost interest in the LA gang culture. It was wild to see so many people around the world being interested in him getting "DP'd" like they understand gang politics lol.
It's odd to me that he would essentially say Caribbean Americans / non AA black people are "more passive and would rather acquiesce to what people want out of them" and lack "any robust or charismatic identity or persona like the other cities", when his bio says NYC. I can't really think of any way to interpret those statements except as an attack on non AA black Americans and utter lack of knowledge of NYC's (and the US's and the Caribbean's) black history.
So if I say something like Asian Americans are more passive and tend to assimilate rather than craft their own culture, that's an attack on them? Or you're like BostonBorn who got offended because they felt attacked personally? I wasn't even talking about NYC, I was talking about Boston.
You think I don't know about West Indian cultural influence in the city? I used to run dance circuits with Flex crews and Bruk up back in high school. It's all Jamaican influenced. Those dances are used nationwide now, out in Oakland they called it "Turfin" and they add their own spin to it. But like I said, despite West Indian contributions, massive carnivals, and also being pioneers in the formation of hip-hop, the overall local black cultural zeitgest is still predominantly AA. The only city where the Caribbean influence supersedes the AA culture is Miami or South Florida in general.
Maybe saying "any robust or charismatic identity" was the wrong wording, just not as pronounced and dominant locally as AA culture.
You wocky, bro lol. First of all. Didn't even ask for clarification just went off jumping to conclusions and speaking on my behalf like you know my intentions. That's a dub. Not everyone who speaks on Boston has some vendetta or beef. It's just a harmless observation. Get outta your feelings.
I literally used Japan and Korea as a reference earlier for insular societies that produced unique cultures to the world, why would I say dysfunction and crime means you have culture? Relax, my guy lol. Culturally you're passive and uninspiring, plain and simple. Musically you don't have a sound, visually you don't have a look, audibly you could pass as a black dude from Connecticut, and mentally you suffer from inferiority complexes that constantly keeps you comparing yourselves to the black cultures south of you. If you weren't, you'd be somewhere in the list of cities I mentioned.
"Don't they want us to kill each other?". That just shows you completely missed what I was trying to say. Kid really thought I was referencing white people....smh. Just think of it as unassuming and monotonous culture. Acquiescent to your own, stick to status quo of the community, hardly any cultural developments happening. Just normal everyday citizens. I won't use that word anymore since it apparently gives off the wrong idea, but that one flew way over your scalp and you ran with it.
Nobody is saying you're subservient because of your murder rate (or anything like that), I said you used the same dynamic to explain why the murder rate is low in Boston but you don't like it when it's used to explain why black Boston isn't as proactive culturally in its own region as other areas. The demographics and community structure. Reading comprehension, c'mon Boston.
Ok fair, maybe I don't know what y'all attempted to do and perhaps black Boston is in fact making crazy moves in the community. Enlighten me, what were the grand efforts to dominate the city culturally that led black Boston to where it is today? Still having no cultural leverage. I said culturally passive because you guys' presence is lukewarm despite being 24% of the population, live in urban areas and the core of Boston doesn't acknowledge your culture at all.
Which black community hasn't surpassed whites in cultural influence from that list? I'm very curious. The only cases you can really make are Memphis and LA.
Please go to Boston and turn the radio dial and you will find 3 Spanish, a French and a Portuguese radio station. These almost exclusively cater to Afro-Latinos since the Mexican, Cuban and Spanish populations in Greater Boston (as well as French and Quebecious) are tiny tiny fractions of the population.
I also can see where saying Crime is a key indicator of African American culture would rub African Americans the wrong way who may like Fried Okra but don’t like being shot at.
Also the idea Black culture has surpassed white culture in any Northern City (sans Detroit) is just not true. The first thing people think about New York is a 45 year old white man yelling “I’m Walking here” while holding a dollar slice.
Last edited by btownboss4; 03-26-2022 at 07:30 AM..
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