Question regarding Garden City (Hempstead: low income, house, schools)
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I would like to hear from other African Americans about their experiences in Garden City. This is one of the areas I am considering moving to. You can direct message me if need be.
I apologize. It just seems like every so often there's some thread that tries to point out how racist LI is, and GC seems to be top on the list. People love to point out that it's SO WHITE and Hempstead is SO BLACK. It gets old for me. Sorry if I took it out on you.
I know your question is serious since you've been asking about towns on LI to move to.
As a 13 year GC resident married to a "lifer" I can tell you that you will probably be getting cricket sounds in answer to this question. I personally know only 1 AA family here in town, and not even the whole family is AA -one half of the couple is white.
I am sure that there are people in GC who wouldn't want AA folks as neighbors. Personally I don't care. I'd be happy if the people behind me moved away and sold you their house. But you are most certainly going to be an island unto yourself, and your kids will pretty much be the only people of color in the schools (including teachers and admins). I doubt that the very very small minority population of GC will just happen to be members of city-data, but you never know. I don't think you will get the first hand experience that you are looking for here. Just MHO. Good look with your house hunting.
I know your question is serious since you've been asking about towns on LI to move to.
As a 13 year GC resident married to a "lifer" I can tell you that you will probably be getting cricket sounds in answer to this question. I personally know only 1 AA family here in town, and not even the whole family is AA -one half of the couple is white.
I am sure that there are people in GC who wouldn't want AA folks as neighbors. Personally I don't care. I'd be happy if the people behind me moved away and sold you their house. But you are most certainly going to be an island unto yourself, and your kids will pretty much be the only people of color in the schools (including teachers and admins). I doubt that the very very small minority population of GC will just happen to be members of city-data, but you never know. I don't think you will get the first hand experience that you are looking for here. Just MHO. Good look with your house hunting.
Thanks for the info Twingles. I just wanted to get a feel as to what to expect. What about other ethnic groups? Are there many Asians or Indians (people from India) in GC?
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GC is mostly white. Not too much of anything else there.
As long as you have money you'll be accepted. Nobody will really bust your chops about skin color. My brother and his family live in GC. He likes it, but he has very thick skin and a great sense of humor. He finds it is very snooty and uptight, and people will talk smack about you behind your back when it comes to your home, stuff you have or don't have etc...
He does enjoy living there though, but he takes everything with a grain of salt and a smile. He has no major complaints. Schools are good.
I've seen a couple Asians in GC and there is an Indian-American married to an Irish woman who lives down the block. I don't know of any African American families in GC, but according to the school data there are a couple students in the district who are black.
I honestly don't think anyone in GC, aside from those over 70 yrs old, really care about your skin color. They care if you are good people, if you take care of your house, if you don't cause trouble, etc.
One other thing about GC to remember, it is VERY Catholic...probably the most Catholic town on LI aside from maybe Rockville Center. So, if that is relevant to you, it's something to consider.
By the way, I should explain GCGuy's ACORN reference. ACORN, that fine organization whose employees promote, among other things, prostitution and the traffic of immigrant teenage girls, sued Garden City for what they describe as "racial segregation".
They claim that Garden City purposefully rejected a bid for lower/middle income housing on a certain site and instead awarded it to a developer who was going to put in high income housing. That claim is true. GC does not want low income housing in its community because it believes that will ruin the community for a number of reasons.
ACORN claims that this antipathy towards low income housing is a guise to exclude minorities. Frankly, as a GC resident, I find their claim to be ridiculous. GC residents don't care about the color of your skin...they care about the color inside your wallet being green. Now, that kind of socio-economic discrimination is disappointing in its own right, but its not racial discrimination. It's what goes on in many wealthy communities all throughout LI and the US.
Bottom line...GC wants to keep its community safe, clean, and upscale.
OP, be prepared for your kids to start acting "very white" if you move to GC and send them to school there and possibly to partially lose their identity as black people.
I know from what I speak. Grew up in all white area. Very few (can count on 1 hand) blacks in school.
Once in the girls' room there was a light skinned black girl showing off her "tan lines" to us. She was laying out in the sun on the weekends tanning like her white schoolmates. It was surreal!
I also had a friend who moved from NY, where she was part of the only 1/2 white/1/2 black family in a town and everyone treated them very well and liked them. She moved to California and she and her brother were treated like total crap (name calling and beaten up) by the black kids in school for being 1/2 and 1/2 and also for "acting too white" and being "oreo cookies" because they made friends with some white kids.
Why would you want to put your kids through this? Anyway, kids in general are better off in an environment that is more mixed and I say this for all kids. This is a globalized world and it is better that they start getting used to being around all kinds when they are kids instead of being sheltered in a bubble of "overwhelmingly white," or overwhelmingly anything.
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