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Do you mean a city where blacks are dominate, or a city where blacks are most successful? Many people would say Atlanta, but, historically, Seattle has had the strongest black middle-class.
But Atlanta has the largest percentage of black millionaires.
Many people and minorities cite "lack of diversity" as a negative, but many times it's their own fault, do to them only wanting to live around each other.
No one is saying that they want to live in a 100% Black (or Hispanic or Asian, etc.) city, but there has to be enough of a Black presence for us to culturally adapt. If it's hard to find barber, a loctician, a COGIC or AME church, or if Kanye or Kirk don't include that city or a nearby city on a tour, I'm not moving there.
I don't agree with the idea that minorities only want to live with other minorities. Often times, poor people live in certain areas because they simply can't afford to live somewhere else. There are poor areas here in Fort Wayne that are entirely integrated. So it's more of a class issue, but until people stop labeling minorities as second class citizens, then people won't truly "get it".
I'm the only black guy on my street. I live where I do because it's where I want to live, and my neighbors just happen to be white. People do tend to want to fit in so to speak, but there's less of that going on than one might think.
No one is saying that they want to live in a 100% Black (or Hispanic or Asian, etc.) city, but there has to be enough of a Black presence for us to culturally adapt. If it's hard to find barber, a loctician, a COGIC or AME church, or if Kanye or Kirk don't include that city or a nearby city on a tour, I'm not moving there.
I'm Black myself and I have to slightly disagree with you about ''enough black culture presence for blacks to adapt''. There are many blacks in this country that live in areas with hardly no black barbers or nothing and were able to adapt. Compare to Native Americans, African Americans have it good, especially when it comes to seeing alot of us across the country. Outside of Oklahoma and a few other states, very few Native Americans are represented. There are no majority NA colleges, very few NA in the media, and basically Native Americans are the invisible race in this country. Cities that tend to be racist/prejudice are usually predominately white rural/small town-ish.
I'm Black myself and I have to slightly disagree with you about ''enough black culture presence for blacks to adapt''.
Well allow me to modify my statement and add adapt comfortably and conveniently--for most of us. There will always be exceptions, but they are clearly the minority (no pun intended).
No one is saying that they want to live in a 100% Black (or Hispanic or Asian, etc.) city, but there has to be enough of a Black presence for us to culturally adapt. If it's hard to find barber, a loctician, a COGIC or AME church, or if Kanye or Kirk don't include that city or a nearby city on a tour, I'm not moving there.
No one is saying that they want to live in a 100% Black (or Hispanic or Asian, etc.) city, but there has to be enough of a Black presence for us to culturally adapt. If it's hard to find barber, a loctician, a COGIC or AME church, or if Kanye or Kirk don't include that city or a nearby city on a tour, I'm not moving there.
I'm also black and I find this viewpoint very uninformed. I don't mean it as an insult, just an observation. First of all, most of what you state about "black culture" is stereotypical at best. Not all black Americans go to COGIC or AME churches, black barbers, or wear dreadlocks. Not all of us listen to Kanye West or Kirk Franklin. There isn't one "black culture." Black Americans share a myriad of different backgrounds and experiences, and have many different cultural traits.
My background: I live in Three Rivers, MI, a town that's about 10% black. It's your typical safe, sleepy, friendly small town. I've never been to a COGIC or AME church in my life, I get my hair cut at a standard (white) barbershop, I despise rap and hip-hop (though I do like some of Kirk Franklin's music), and I would never dream of wearing dreadlocks. I like rock music, country music, hockey, and winter sports. My church is non-denominational and 98% white. Most of my friends are white, though I have friends of all races and backgrounds. Even though I'm not originally from 3R, I feel perfectly at home here. I've never experienced racism or prejudice here.
Don't be afraid of other cultures, and remember that most people are NOT racist. At the end of the day, people are people.
I'm also black and I find this viewpoint very uninformed. I don't mean it as an insult, just an observation. First of all, most of what you state about "black culture" is stereotypical at best. Not all black Americans go to COGIC or AME churches, black barbers, or wear dreadlocks. Not all of us listen to Kanye West or Kirk Franklin. There isn't one "black culture." Black Americans share a myriad of different backgrounds and experiences, and have many different cultural traits.
My background: I live in Three Rivers, MI, a town that's about 10% black. It's your typical safe, sleepy, friendly small town. I've never been to a COGIC or AME church in my life, I get my hair cut at a standard (white) barbershop, I despise rap and hip-hop (though I do like some of Kirk Franklin's music), and I would never dream of wearing dreadlocks. I like rock music, country music, hockey, and winter sports. My church is non-denominational and 98% white. Most of my friends are white, though I have friends of all races and backgrounds. Even though I'm not originally from 3R, I feel perfectly at home here. I've never experienced racism or prejudice here.
Don't be afraid of other cultures, and remember that most people are NOT racist. At the end of the day, people are people.
Wow, so my own preferences are "uninformed"? Way to start out a conversation, particularly when I said that I wouldn't move there, not Black people in general.
Don't miss the forest for the trees here, especially when I never even remotely claimed that all Black people wear locs, listen to hip hop, are COGIC or AME, etc. The hair doesn't have to be natural or worn in locs; the same principle applies (the ease and convenience of finding a beautician experienced in dealing with your hair texture), and it mostly applies to women (that should have been apparent). And while there is no "typical" Black experience--which is why I mentioned several things here--you should also realize that your experience is less typical. Just in case you haven't noticed, there aren't a lot of us in the Winter Olympics--it isn't right or wrong, it's just a fact. Because the Black church played an extremely pivotal role in our history, most of us worship at a congregation with a significant amont of people who look like us and the Church Of God In Christ and the African Methodist Episcopal Church are predominantly Black denominations so I used them as examples (throw in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, the National Black Baptist Convention [USA], the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church--hell, I don't care, there are more to choose from; perhaps you've stepped foot in one of them). And so on and so forth. Blacks aren't a monolithic group of people, but to try and deny the trends is, in your own words, uninformed. If you look at the cities Blacks are migrating to these days en masse, I guarantee you they don't look like Three Rivers or even Salt Lake City (just in case you wanted to make size a factor).
But I do think it's a bit funny that for you, a "standard" barbershop is a White barbershop. What does that make a Black barbershop? I think I'll stop right there.
Last edited by Akhenaton06; 12-08-2008 at 10:15 PM..
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Read victorianpunk's post again, then read mine... Capish?
