Is LA in danger of losing all of it's African American communites? (San Diego: to rent, crime rates)

[diallomacedo]

Originally Posted by Thaddeus_Hewitt

Did anyone know that the 2nd president of Mexico was a black man?..Interesting fact. I think the west coast would appreciate blacks more if they were more in touch with their black heritage like the east coast Latinos. I have Latino family members and I'm black. I cannot even imagine us hating one another like they do on the West coast.

Truth

[BlueSky1231]

Originally Posted by Kobe25

No Los Angeles is still a top 10 African American city & California still has the 5th highest Black population in the u.s

But put it in perspective. L.A. County is around 9% black and California around 6%. I get what your saying in terms of raw numbers but % wise blacks are a small part. Even Asians are double the population of blacks.

[shapeshift]

There is some truth to some of the theories put forth on why blacks are moving out of LA.. I was on a bus once and this older black woman was speaking with another black lady about her kids and how successful they've become ...education wise.. She said something about if her daughter was getting involved with the wrong crowd and doing what she's not suppose to be doing, the further she'll move them to the desert.. I grew up around black folks.. they do tend to move to desert areas like las Vegas, victorville, Lancaster and palmdale.. Had some even complaining how other blacks are bringing the street culture of South Central and Compton to palmdale and victorville.. Saying its 'LA' all over again for some..

[blam]

Its not that they move out. It is because they don't have as many children as they used to and especially compared to catholic hispanics. Basically the same exact reason why white population is shrinking.

[MrQdotJ]

Originally Posted by blam

Its not that they move out. It is because they don't have as many children as they used to and especially compared to catholic hispanics. Basically the same exact reason why white population is shrinking.

Partially true.... I have many family members who relocated to the outskirts of the city (Palmdale, Riverside, Moreno Valley) as well as to the south (Texas, Louisiana, Georgia). The increased cost of living, lack of true "black" culture amongst other things, has caused black-flight.

[CityGuy88]

I posted here before but failed to read any of the follow-up comments. I live in LA County and unfortunately, the decline of the Black population will continue. You know when you start seeing Whites and Latinos moving into Leimert Park that the change is rapid. And unstoppable. I was on the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Westside Ave. and saw what appeared to be a Latino family pulling into their new Leimert Park home (I know that they just moved there because I remember seeing the house for sale not too long ago). The week before, I was visiting a friend on 80th and Crenshaw when out of nowhere her Mexican neighbors began blasting Mariachi music. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with either of the two aforementioned occurrences. There's nothing inherently wrong with a Latino family moving into Leimert Park, just as there isn't anything wrong with a Mexican family listening to their culture's music. But anyone who is even vaguely familiar with Leimert Park or the Crenshaw District knows that this is something that you just DID NOT see 10 years ago (or even 5 years ago). Through all of the demographic changes that South Central has gone through, it seemed that Leimert Park, Crenshaw, and Baldwin Village ("the jungles") were the neighborhoods that would be immune to the Latinization that most other neighborhoods in the south section of the city underwent. But slowly, even these somewhat sacred areas for Black folks are becoming more diverse. And while diversity is indeed a good thing, I think in the long run African-Americans will regret that they lost the numeric stronghold of the only cultural space in Southern California that truly reflected who they were.

On somewhat of a brighter side, I think the Black culture and essence of the Crenshaw and Leimert areas will be retained, even if the actual Black population of the areas does decline. I think what will eventually happen is that Leimert Park and Crenshaw will become very similar to what Koreatown is now; a hub for Koreans and people who want to experience Korean culture, though not a neighborhood where many Koreans still live. Koreatown, like most of LA, is majority Latino with a small but increasing White yuppie population. Most of the Koreans who lived there before have moved to the San Gabriel Valley or Orange County, in an eastward (and southward) migration out of the central city neighborhoods they once called home.

"Black LA" is getting smaller and smaller, and what will have to happen is that Blacks in the LA Metro area (including the Inland Empire) will have to unlearn what our spaces were and relearn what it means to be Black in a region where we have sizable numbers yet are still by far the minority. There are still around 1.5 million Black people in the immediate Southern California region. 1.5 million of anything is a lot. If Black people who decide to remain in this area can find a way to mobilize, then there is hope for unity to be had regardless of if they live in a majority Black area or not.

[Marv101]

The fact remains that the percentage of the population of children under 14 years of age has been sinking since the very early seventies; toss in the state's below replacement birthrate as detected by Dowell Myers at USC and this state is in deep trouble thanks to a rapidly aging population and horrible schools not to mention brutal poverty rates and sky-high cost of living exacerbated by liberal extremism and a very hostile business climate.

[Ceece]

Communities may be lost but I don't see that as a "danger". The ebbs and flows of society are part of life. What one generation holds dear another can't wait to shed, and there is no point in stressing about it too much.

The reasons are many. Getting to the nitty gritty of WHY may be interesting but ultimately that's all it is. Change can't be stopped no matter how well you think you understand because by the time you understand another change is taking place that you know nothing about and it's for the next generation to figure out...and so on and so forth.

[Chowhound]

I see lots of black people, I don't seen any kind of exodus of black leaving.

I will say that I hear due to the latino influx of peole that blacks are now getting displaced out of Compton, but that's about the only thing I've heard on this subject.

I know you take a drive through Long Beach and you almost have to be on the lookout for someone who is white, as I see tons of non-whites as well as blacks here in LB.

[twiggidy]

I think the answer is pretty simple. Cost of living is rising, especially in California which is a desirable state to live in when you're talking about the coastal cities. That means a lot of land that many rich people, both foreign and domestic will pay alot of money to get their hands on. Neighborhoods that were once cheap, "dangerous", red-lined, are now the focus of gentrification. While black unemployment remains in the double digits, now you have black folks that can't afford to buy or stay in their neighborhoods (or they sell to move to safer, cheaper, black areas, ie, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc).

It's not just LA. I live in the Bay Area and soon Oakland will not be the predominantly black city it used to be. Good weather, proximity to downtown areas, and a booming tech industry are all the cause. I'm sure the same in happening in LA. When people realize they can't afford Venice, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach etc, they will steadily move inland and cross the 405. I'm suprised that given the proximity to the beach, that the "black areas" have remained black this long.