Colored Man Moving to Denver, is it safe? (Parker, Castle Rock: insurance, house)

[Avangeliz]

You'll be fine.

If your looking to move to an area with alot of african americans Aurora, Montbello, and Green Valley Ranch is usually where most black people buy / rent their houses. There black people every where here but if your looking to live in a black community. I generally see more in these areas. Montbello is know for its gun crime though so be careful. We have had alot of shootings there in the past couple of months. Green Valley Ranch would seems nice.

I live in Denver and i'm black. I've been here since. I have only had an out of place racial feeling in the Cherry Creek Mall/ any area near the Cherry Creek Mall. They follow black people in there like the intend to steal something.Plus, the shops they have dont really pertain to what is affordable for most people. Otherwise, I pretty much haven't had any problems.

Every local here knows about Colfax. Colfax is trendy or Colfax is dangerous depending on what time of day it is buts that's for everyone not just for african americans

[Mr Potato]

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[Mr Potato]

This seems like an old post but being a minority I found it interesting; hopefully you've moved to Denver. I agree with the almost universal response that Denver is safe for minorities. Denver is a town that has very little diversity other than the indigenous hispanic population. It has, on the outside at least, always opened it's arms for minorities and in general I seriously doubt there are any places around here where minorities would be targeted openly. However, after moving here over 20 years ago, I'm moving away since even though Denver on a personal basis is not racist, I do believe strongly that it's professional and social institutions (companies, churches, social groups, universities, etc.) are becoming increasingly so. For example, in the company I work at, 20 years ago we at least had diversity in the form of hiring many foreign students but today, there isn't a single foreigner here (and again, very few, in fact no minorities with any real power). At the time, I'd felt that the usual way of meeting diversity quotas (mine is a government organization) using foreigners was a form of racism (i.e., don't hire more equal-minded native-born minorities) but now I can see that in some way, that was how whites here truly felt they were making progress. I have seen some posts for instance supporting the claim that "whites can't explain racism". And even though whites can understand bigotry I agree that from an institutional perspective, they really can't because when they're born, they are born into a society where their appearance is not held against them. After all, all influential institutions in this country have a tremendously strong (demographically wise) white presence that will nurture their advancement. I used to say, that if a white person took a single step, they would be rewarded for trying while if a non-white person ran a mile in 4-minutes the majority would say that "well they didn't do it in record-time". I think Denver is a great place for minorities in at least you won't be overtly attacked and most here will let you co-exist, but this place is much too white. Everywhere you go you'll see groups of white people partying and carrying on, driving BMW, Lexus, and Audis, and living in huge McMansions in almost all-white, exclusive neighborhoods. The economy is quite good and you will see that it's overly inflated homes, traffic jams, and way too many mega-hospitals competing for bucks. But underneath that veneer, it's all white and the general attitude seems to be a desire to keep it that way by closing it's doors to all but the most menial career opportunities. In summary, a good place for minorities to come for safety and the general welcoming and friendly nature of it's citizens, but definitely not a good place to develop professionally.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by denverian

All the statistics I'm seeing say Denver proper is around 11% Black and around 30% Hispanic and 4% Asian. That's getting close to half the city not being white. I wouldn't exactly call it a "very white" city.

Some Hispanics are white. Some classify themselves as white. With some, both cases are true.

When I say "white", I am talking skin color.

[alloo66]

Is Five Points an African American community too?

[Count David]

Originally Posted by alloo66

Is Five Points an African American community too?

Not really anymore.

[philberf]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Not really anymore.

Yeah. even looking at 2010 census data displayed in a very cool way (The Racial Dot Map: One Dot Per Person for the Entire U.S.), black communities have been increasingly going north and east, I would say.

[DINCO D]

What about jobs though for a brown, specifically for a black man, degreed with experience also moved from Texas. I am finding a dickens of a time getting hired here. Thankful my wife has a high six figure job with her hospital system. But I just find it even before we moved that I had internal apprehension that I would run into this, as these offices, and I am a Finance professional, are for the most part filled with folks of one background. I love everyone and get along equally with all folks I am under 40, as Texas had similar issues but at least companies had sort of a mandate to try and make their offices look like the communities surrounding the areas where they were doing business. Does anyone know of any recruiter/companies that specialize in getting minority candidates placed in the Denver Metro area? All seems good and dandy until you seek employment here, you are welcomed at any bar and club, but to earn a living here there seems to be issues.

[BabyBoomers2]

We lived there, I worked for a company just north of Coord Field and, from what I remember, there was only one Black person working for the company. He worked in the same dept. that I did, but in the warehouse. He was in his mid 30's and we got along fine.

I don't know really what to tell you.

[fishhooker]

Originally Posted by Taos

It's going to depend on the neighborhood. For instance, there are very few Blacks in Golden, CO but no overt racism in the city center, although the brown people going to the college sometimes report problems. Town folk tend to minimize those issues, citing "Town and Gown" problems supposedly normal to a city with a colleges. OTOH, there's one neighborhood that used to have a lot of skinhead wannabees and sovereign citizens that would make your life uncomfortable. But luckily housing prices have shot up in Golden and more educated persons are moving in.

I worked with Texans and traveled for business there and was scared out of my wits by the bigotry -- and I'm white. Leave Texas and feel much more safe in the Denver area. Just avoid the neighborhoods with yellow flags and confederate flags.

I was blown away by an experience I had in Texas last year. I was getting dinner with a few coworkers. The restaurant we went to said they couldn't let us in because we didn't meet their "dresscode." We assumed it was because one of my coworkers (who was black) was wearing a T-shirt. As we were standing outside of restaurant next to the car looking up other dining options on our phones, we saw the same greeter welcome in an all-white group, several of which were wearing t-shirts and shorts.

I haven't seen anything at all like that in Colorado.