Lack of Black Americans in Southern California (Windsor, View Park-Windsor Hills: median income, tax)

[radiolibre99]

Fair enough.

[CaliDude1]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

Seriously I don't know where you are getting this from. I hardly saw this, especially as I got older. It was "cool" to be smart and make good grades. If anything it was "yo this n-word smart, he got you". I remember the really smart Black girls being pretty popular.

+1. I am so tired of this stupid stereotype. I was a "smart" black kid. I was a book worm. I wore glasses. I was introverted. And I grew in a neighborhood where Crips were very active. I was never mocked or intimidated for being "smart". The general message I got was to stay in my lane. I wasn't about the gang life and was told on many occasions (by actual gang members) to avoid it.

I'm not speaking for other people's experiences. But that was mine. Was I ever made fun of? Sure. And for many different things, from hairstyles to clothes. But that comes with growing up.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by CaliDude1

+1. I am so tired of this stupid stereotype. I was a "smart" black kid. I was a book worm. I wore glasses. I was introverted. And I grew in a neighborhood where Crips were very active. I was never mocked or intimidated for being "smart". The general message I got was to stay in my lane. I wasn't about the gang life and was told on many occasions (by actual gang members) to avoid it.

I'm not speaking for other people's experiences. But that was mine. Was I ever made fun of? Sure. And for many different things, from hairstyles to clothes. But that comes with growing up.

+1000. I'm not black but grew up around a lot of black friends and not once was there this attitude of mocking a smart guy or a guy who was upwardly mobile. The ONLY time I would see any sort of mocking was if and only if the smart or successful guy would start to act "bougie" and think they were better than everyone else. That's what "acting white" always meant to me; acting stuck up, not smart. I just don't like this new attitude of disparaging working class blacks or people stuck in hard places by those that perceived themselves to be better. I hate it when they throw poorer blacks under the bus just to tell racist white people, see I'm different, I'm not like them.

Honestly, it grated me watching the movie Dope because of this.

[NYtoDC]

Originally Posted by jamills21

The culture will always be in NO. It's why people move here, love it, and stay. You'd be surprised though that people are complaining about rent and housing cost here too. I would love for NO to have more of a corporate presence but its O&G, the port of NO, and the service industry.

The COL is crazy now! I guess you can blame the developers and flippers for that. My friend was trying to convince me to move down there with her but I decided not to because of the lack of jobs outside of the service industry. That was back around '11, I believe. I'm sure that there are more job opportunities now but the question is: are AAs being given the opportunity to work at the higher end positions? I guess you would know that better than anyone else since you are down there now.

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by NYtoDC

The owner of Roscoes is AA. He was just dumb and didn't keep tabs on the managers he put into place. Apparently, he had a personal relationship with the female manager who was playing favorites with schedule assignments. The AA employee who was being discriminated against fought it in court and won.

Apparently, the trial court jury found enough evidence to conclude that the Latino managers at Roscoe's were discriminating against its black employees. In the trial court's determination, the ethnicity of the owner of Roscoe's is irrelevant. Considering the recent bankruptcy filing by its parent company, Roscoe's has other problems in addition to an adverse ruling in a discrimination lawsuit...
Parent company of Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles files for bankruptcy protection - LA Times

[NYtoDC]

Originally Posted by Jonah K

Apparently, the trial court jury found enough evidence to conclude that the Latino managers at Roscoe's were discriminating against its black employees. In the trial court's determination, the ethnicity of the owner of Roscoe's is irrelevant. Considering the recent bankruptcy filing by its parent company, Roscoe's has other problems in addition to an adverse ruling in a discrimination lawsuit...
Parent company of Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles files for bankruptcy protection - LA Times

I believe that the employee that was discriminated against went to the owner first before filing the lawsuit and the owner just shrugged him off in an effort to protect his GF (the Latina manager). He is probably one of those types of AA's that turn their back on other AA's once he made it big (a la Bob Johnson). It came back to bite him in the butt though. I'm not surprised that the parent company is filing for bankruptcy since the food quality has gone down tremendously over the years. I just went to the Inglewood location last December for old times sake and the food tasted pretty bad.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by NYtoDC

I believe the key is to work smart and not hard. Otherwise, we will end up like those factory workers in the movie Metropolis; just cogs in a machine working ourselves into an early grave. My friend (who is a software test engineer) has a great work-life balance. He makes six figures which is more than enough to get by. He only works 40 hours a week. In fact, pretty much everyone I know only works a 40 hour workweek and they are doing fine financially. Obviously, this will not work in every industry out there. Personally, I have chosen and will continue to choose to work in an industry that respects my need for a personal life as much as it does making a profit. I have no need to be filthy rich and I prefer to have my free time after work more than anything.

Actually even some wealthy people work hard and smart. Millionaires in Hollywood, though while working on specific projects may have crazy hours, but in between projects they have a lot of downtime.

Also keep in mind people do inherit money. It's a huge myth that anyone well off worked themselves 80 to 90 hours a week. Wealth is often generational, as we discussed. Parental support goes a long way towards helping people get the education they need to work smart.

[Bert_from_back_East]

If you think there aren't a lot of black people in LA, you should spend some time in Phoenix or Salt Lake City, LOL.

My dentist office's is in Ladera Heights, and whenever I go, I'm usually the white person for miles.

I don't think you know LA very well.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by CaliDude1

+1. I am so tired of this stupid stereotype. I was a "smart" black kid. I was a book worm. I wore glasses. I was introverted. And I grew in a neighborhood where Crips were very active. I was never mocked or intimidated for being "smart". The general message I got was to stay in my lane. I wasn't about the gang life and was told on many occasions (by actual gang members) to avoid it.

I'm not speaking for other people's experiences. But that was mine. Was I ever made fun of? Sure. And for many different things, from hairstyles to clothes. But that comes with growing up.

That was your experience. Where did you live? I ask because I wonder if being in L.A. could have played a role.

I went to middle school and high school in the outskirts of metro Atlanta. I got mocked.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by CaliDude1

+1. I am so tired of this stupid stereotype. I was a "smart" black kid. I was a book worm. I wore glasses. I was introverted. And I grew in a neighborhood where Crips were very active. I was never mocked or intimidated for being "smart". The general message I got was to stay in my lane. I wasn't about the gang life and was told on many occasions (by actual gang members) to avoid it.

I'm not speaking for other people's experiences. But that was mine. Was I ever made fun of? Sure. And for many different things, from hairstyles to clothes. But that comes with growing up.

I got this message as well, from not only Black men who had had their past issues from the criminal justice system, but even from drug addicts and hoodlums of other races.

The reality is no one is thrilled that they ended up in a lifestyle that gets them shot and/or locked up. No one likes having a criminal record which bars them from employment and reduces them to SSI.

I'm not saying that people in the middle of making poor decisions can give out advice to avoid them, but certainly those who lived the consequences of these decisions or who had relatives who did will definitely encourage people to stay in school and otherwise do well.

And as far as families go, what family wouldn't be happy if their children did well in school and ended up doing very well in life.

I also think at least in the past 20 years or so there are enough professional Black Americans that are visible that people do know having a good education can pay off well.