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Best thing to do is find out from your family and friends (particularly your black friends) if they know any black people that have lived in the area and what their experiences were like. Part of the beauty of NYC is its rich ethnic diversity. You can literally have friends and lovers from any and every part of the world. Unfortunately there is a still a nasty underbelly of racism and segregation so be aware of that.
There are blacks in Astoria. The majority of the blacks are situated in an area around 27th Avenue between 12th street and the East River where Astoria Houses are located. Overall it is not a bad area. In no way I am trying to be racist. I am a African American male. I know the area I have been there plenty of times to go to the pool in Astoria Park.
To me, it's quite amazing that there are some aboard who are arguing that there's only a handful of blacks in Astoria. I visit there frequentlty, I taught at a business institue there several years ago, I shop there sometimes - and I certainly see a great diversity of people. Sure, it's not Harlem or St. Albans, but there are blacks living, working, shopping there.
Who cares about the stats or perceptions. The bottom line is any black person can move to Astoria without feeling alienated. This isn't some redneck town in the south, it's cosmopolitan, diverse New York where people are educated, hard working and open to embrace other cultures.
Black people do live in Astoria, yes but there are very few of them, just like East Asians in Astoria, but that hasn't stopped me from living here. I feel completely a part of the neighborhood even when I'm walking in little Egypt, or an all Italian street. I'm sure you'll feel the same way as long as you're a regular person like everyone else.
I figure if you're an American you can live in any diverse neighborhood in this country no matter what your race is. But if you're not from this country, it might be harder to adapt, and so living in an ethnic enclave might feel more comfortable. Personally I don't feel comfortable in ethnically homogenous neighborhoods, even if it's my own race. I actually need the diversity to feel like I belong.
I just happened to mosey on over to this board after a loooong hiatus and caught this thread and figured this would be a good one to come out of hiding on as it's right up my alley considering I'm a bit of a statistics and demographics nerd and have been living in Astoria for a little over a year now.
In short, yes there are blacks in Astoria, but not a huge amount, but Astoria is a very accepting multicultural community, and you're unlikely to face any problems here due to your race. If interested in a longer more nerdy analysis....
According to the Census Bureau, when taking into account all the zip codes that constitute Astoria (Ditmars, Steinway, 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th Avenue...which some may consider Long Island City), the neighborhood is approximately 55% white (I would say around 1/3 of whites are Greek, around 1/3 are some other "ethnic white" such as first or second-generation Italian, Serbian, Croatian, Albanian, Romanian, etc, and the remaining 1/3 are native-born young professionals and creative types), 5% black (almost all Americans...very few West Indians or Africans), 25% Hispanic (largely Colombian, Ecuadorian and Mexican, with a good number of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans too) and 15% Asian (about 2/3 of which are Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani, and most of the rest are Chinese, with a smattering of Japanese and Filipinos). In general, the neighborhood gets whiter the further north you go (it's around 65% white in Ditmars, compared to around 40% around Broadway where the number of whites is roughly on par with that of Latinos). This data however is from the year 2000 and there has undoubtably been some shifting since then and I would say that all of the non-white groups have risen, although none have probably risen terribly sharply as there's also been an influx of professionals from Manhattan (largely white) into the area which has offset the number of older white Astoria residents (largely Greeks and Italians) who have left in recent years. The aforementioned numbers also do not necessarily convey the diversity of the neighborhood. Astoria is generally thought to be the center of New York's Brazilian community, as well as home to one of the city's largest Middle Eastern (especially Egyptian) communities, both groups considered white by the Census. A full 50% of Astoria's residents are foreign born. There is also a large gay population here. The general ethnic trends it seems to me in Astoria are that a lot of Brazilians are moving back to Brazil, the Greeks stopped coming a good 15 years ago and started moving to the suburbs, the other Southeastern Europeans just stopped coming recently, the Middle Easterners are increasing pretty rapidly, Bangladeshis are leaving and Indians are replacing them, Chinese are increasing, a growing Japanese community is forming, and Latinos are slowly increasing, especially Mexicans.
As far as the black population in particular, at the time of the 2000 Census, it was heavily centered in a cluster of housing projects near Broadway and Long Island City. This area as a whole was around 10% black whereas the rest of Astoria was only around 1-2% black. I would say that the community has increased and spread out a bit since then. Those old figures cite my part of Astoria (at Ditmars) at being around 2% black, and while there's not a huge number, my day-to-day experiences would indicate it's closer to 5%. The schools around here are around 5-10% black, there are black employees at the local Rite Aid, CVS, Subway, Key Food, Starbucks and many other businesses. So I don't see a huge number of black people but...they're here and I don't see much of a social or economic difference between black and white in my part of Astoria.
I've found a lot of neighborhoods in New York to be surprisingly racially tense, particularly in relations between blacks and whites, but have generally found that not to be the case in most of Queens. It's so multicultural with so many accents and skin colors that everyone just sort of blends together.
I just happened to mosey on over to this board after a loooong hiatus and caught this thread and figured this would be a good one to come out of hiding on as it's right up my alley considering I'm a bit of a statistics and demographics nerd and have been living in Astoria for a little over a year now.
In short, yes there are blacks in Astoria, but not a huge amount, but Astoria is a very accepting multicultural community, and you're unlikely to face any problems here due to your race. If interested in a longer more nerdy analysis....
According to the Census Bureau, when taking into account all the zip codes that constitute Astoria (Ditmars, Steinway, 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th Avenue...which some may consider Long Island City), the neighborhood is approximately 55% white (I would say around 1/3 of whites are Greek, around 1/3 are some other "ethnic white" such as first or second-generation Italian, Serbian, Croatian, Albanian, Romanian, etc, and the remaining 1/3 are native-born young professionals and creative types), 5% black (almost all Americans...very few West Indians or Africans), 25% Hispanic (largely Colombian, Ecuadorian and Mexican, with a good number of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans too) and 15% Asian (about 2/3 of which are Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani, and most of the rest are Chinese, with a smattering of Japanese and Filipinos). In general, the neighborhood gets whiter the further north you go (it's around 65% white in Ditmars, compared to around 40% around Broadway where the number of whites is roughly on par with that of Latinos). This data however is from the year 2000 and there has undoubtably been some shifting since then and I would say that all of the non-white groups have risen, although none have probably risen terribly sharply as there's also been an influx of professionals from Manhattan (largely white) into the area which has offset the number of older white Astoria residents (largely Greeks and Italians) who have left in recent years. The aforementioned numbers also do not necessarily convey the diversity of the neighborhood. Astoria is generally thought to be the center of New York's Brazilian community, as well as home to one of the city's largest Middle Eastern (especially Egyptian) communities, both groups considered white by the Census. A full 50% of Astoria's residents are foreign born. There is also a large gay population here. The general ethnic trends it seems to me in Astoria are that a lot of Brazilians are moving back to Brazil, the Greeks stopped coming a good 15 years ago and started moving to the suburbs, the other Southeastern Europeans just stopped coming recently, the Middle Easterners are increasing pretty rapidly, Bangladeshis are leaving and Indians are replacing them, Chinese are increasing, a growing Japanese community is forming, and Latinos are slowly increasing, especially Mexicans.
As far as the black population in particular, at the time of the 2000 Census, it was heavily centered in a cluster of housing projects near Broadway and Long Island City. This area as a whole was around 10% black whereas the rest of Astoria was only around 1-2% black. I would say that the community has increased and spread out a bit since then. Those old figures cite my part of Astoria (at Ditmars) at being around 2% black, and while there's not a huge number, my day-to-day experiences would indicate it's closer to 5%. The schools around here are around 5-10% black, there are black employees at the local Rite Aid, CVS, Subway, Key Food, Starbucks and many other businesses. So I don't see a huge number of black people but...they're here and I don't see much of a social or economic difference between black and white in my part of Astoria.
I've found a lot of neighborhoods in New York to be surprisingly racially tense, particularly in relations between blacks and whites, but have generally found that not to be the case in most of Queens. It's so multicultural with so many accents and skin colors that everyone just sort of blends together.
My landlord (Broadway and 33th St street) of 6 years once told me that much of Astoria is run by Greek mafia -- and they discriminate against black people. The same goes for most of the landlords there. My landlord didn't know that I didn't share his views -- and backpaddled when I asked him why people in Astoria are so racist. Things were changing a little when I moving out a couple of years ago. But I don't think it's because the landlords are becoming more enlightened.
My landlord (Broadway and 33th St street) of 6 years once told me that much of Astoria is run by Greek mafia -- and they discriminate against black people. The same goes for most of the landlords there. My landlord didn't know that I didn't share his views -- and backpaddled when I asked him why people in Astoria are so racist. Things were changing a little when I moving out a couple of years ago. But I don't think it's because the landlords are becoming more enlightened.
Racism by owners/landlords against prospective tenants still exists in pockets in the city - but this occurs across the entire five boroughs and is not peculiar to some landlords in Astoria alone.
lol...please don't get attitude with me. It's really not called for. I didn't create this thread to start a race war. If I am one of very few blacks in a neighborhood, it would feel awkward because the residents could possibly look at me as an outsider and ostracize me, etc. I've attended majority white schools in my life and I know the feeling. It's not a good one.
But, if what someone else in this thread has already stated is true, then I should have nothing to worry about in Astoria, because they are supposedly welcoming, friendly, non-racist people.
P.S. I'm not like the dude in the other thread... I don't "like my white women" because I'm not a lesbian.
Astoria is one of the more diverse neighborhoods in NYC. I don't think you'll have a problem at all unless you think you would feel more comfortable around more Black people.
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