More Allegheny County Homicides Outside Than In The City 2019 (Wilson) - Pittsburgh - Pennsylvania (PA) - Page 7 - City-Data Forum

Uptown kid · 01-23-2020, 12:03 PM

“The African-American upper class consists of engineers, lawyers, accountants, doctors, politicians, business executives, venture capitalists, CEOs, celebrities, entertainers, entrepreneurs and heirs who have incomes amounting to $200,000 or more.”
African-American upper class

Pittsburgh has all of the above. They tend to be scattered in the more affluent parts of the city and county. Plus if you scroll down to Greek / Social & Family Organizations, theres also local Pittsburgh Jack and Jill of America Inc., the Links Inc., 100 Black Men of America, various private school / college scholarship family programs and several “Divine Nine” Greek Organization Regional Groups.

Saying Pittsburgh doesn’t have middle class, upper class or elite Blacks is a micro-invalidation. Sure it’s smaller than most cities, but it’s there. If you don’t know you’re either too poor, too White/non-Black or not reading the New Pittsburgh Courier/other publications. There are Black entrepreneurs, Blacks in real estate and developing parts of Black Pittsburgh (Crawford Roberts for example).

From Lower Middle Class Black women who have made money in Black women’s hair products. Even highly successful barbers/tradesmen who are less “formally educated” but are well respected in community and are able to provide a better life for their kids. These types of individuals often choose to remain living in/near the hood and are sometimes involved as youth sports coaches, girls dance instructors, etc.
All the way up to your Franco Harris/former Steelers and intergenerational well-off Blacks, etc., they are here too. Just not like other cities in terms of visible presence and sheer numbers which says a lot about the culture/prevalence of racism in this region!

Uptown kid · 01-23-2020, 12:28 PM

People tend to downplay anything Black in Pittsburgh... Good or Bad!

From “Pittsburgh doesn’t have a gang problem” ~ dead wrong... App. 70% of the violence is related to “groups” (gangs) and there were Black Blood and Crip gangs in Pittsburgh before the rest of the northeastern US.

“Pittsburgh doesn’t have a violence problem and/or is safe” ~ what this thread is all about... 3,000+ shots fired in the city and places like the rough parts of Homewood, Wilkinsburg and McKeesport where murder is a monthly or bi-monthly occurrence.

“Pittsburgh doesn’t have diversity within Blacks... I.E., mega churches, domination of churches, Black Muslims, Africans, West Indians, Afro-Latinos, etc.” couldn’t be more wrong.

“Pittsburgh doesn’t have a Civil Rights Movement & Black Power Movement History“ ~ wrong. Desegregation of Highland Park Pool, Freedom Corner, racial uproar at Gladstone High School/Aliquippa/etc.,

”Pittsburgh doesn’t have a Black music scene” ~ wrong from the Crawford Grill to the deceased Jimmy Wopo.

What people say about the Black middle class/upper class/elite. It’s here you just have to be in the know and not ignorant! However, I agree that in terms of with the latter three examples and expansion of upward mobility classes that there (1) should, (2) could and (3) would be more if it wasn’t for the barriers that are here!

wpipkins2 · 01-23-2020, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Independentthinking83

Fairywood was the worst and probably the most violent city in the neighborhood until the very early 2000s. Westgate village and broadhead manor were huge housing projects. Probably around 1,000 or more units combined at one time. westside elementary school, now demolished, looked like a bomb shelter. There used to to be a community store across the street and right across from Westgate, now emerald gardens, is the remnants of a strip shopping mall that once had a giant eagle and hills department store. It looks like now one part of the strip is used for storage and the other is u haul or something. For a period not 20-25 years the drug dealing and violence there was incredible. Making it worse you had one road in and one road out, broadhead fording road. And yes it was ground zero for the crack dealing. There was probably more cash flowing out of those projects than local banks and businesses in the city. I remember in the early 90s when Sophie was mayor the Jamaicans from NYC came in and tried to take over the neighborhood because the drug business was lucrative there due to its location between NY and Chicago with access to Detroit and Cleveland. The national guard almost came in to gain control. People were afraid to stand at the bus stops worried about getting hit by stray bullets. If you go on YouTube and search for Westgate village there is about a half hour home made documentary about a gang member that lived down there. He walks through the new emerald gardens and said. These people are paying top rent and have no idea that this is a modern day graveyard for gangbangers that were here 15 years ago.

But you are right. The problem didn’t go away it just was spread out. Crime was concentrated until the early 2000s when public housing went away and neighborhood integration was the new thing. All it did was push groups of these folks to depressed municipalities outside of the city and middle class neighborhoods where there were no more buyers due to a poor economy and no job growth. A lot of the places you mentioned used to be OK until the early 2000s. I remember Sto rox used to have a parade and carnival on their football field. That ended about 2003.

African Americans are automatically disadvantaged being born in Pittsburgh. I saw it with my own eyes. I was one of the few to make it out.

This is a sad generalization of Pittsburgh's black community. You are one of the few to make it out? It is sad that you feel this way. In my experience with growing up in the hood of Pittsburgh is that those that wanted out made it. There are many success stories to come out of Homewood and all hoods. Some black people that grew up in the hood have tunnel vision. They use generalizations and blanket statements about "all" black people because this is their reality. Pittsburgh has a black middle class. Pittsburgh black middle class is no different than any other city. The concentration is less here but the overall population is less. Cities with a high black middle class concentration tend to have an even higher concentration of poverty within city limits. The crime rates are higher as well. Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, St Louis, Charlotte. The lions share of black middle class in Pittsburgh is in the Eastern Suburbs with Penn Hills as the epicenter. Most of the transplants to Penn Hills /Plum/Monroeville are black upwardly mobile residents from places like Homewood.

Black men that graduate and keep clear of felonies are almost guaranteed to elevate to middle class.

There is something to be said about a black man promoting Western Suburbs over the city. Seems kind of weird to me. Most of all the black goods and services are housed in the East End and East End suburbs.

wpipkins2 · 01-23-2020, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I'm a white guy who grew up in Pennsyltucky and had the exact same experience with Cleveland Heights. We stopped at the Whole Foods shopping center there (actually, I believe it may be neighboring University Heights) and couldn't believe we saw more African-American faces than white faces. Despite being in a part of town with a white/black plurality, it seems like the VAST MAJORITY of faces in the East End ("progressive center of the universe") Whole Foods here in Pittsburgh are white.

Why does Pittsburgh have such a tiny black professional class when compared to other MSA's? I can't think of any majority-black middle-to-upper-middle-class neighborhood in this city. Just about every heavily-black neighborhood in this city is impoverished and has very few people who possess an education beyond high school.

I work in a middle-class profession in a building with many middle-class professionals. Despite the jobs here paying $15/hr.-$20/hr. a college education is unnecessary. The vast majority of the workers in my building are white. There are fewer than a dozen African-Americans I can think of in our building in comparable roles to my own. I can only think of one African-American in our building who has a supervisory role (higher than my own). We are always hiring. Why aren't African-Americans applying, then? Is the African-American population here just declining much more rapidly than even Briem's analysis indicates?

Uptown kid · 01-23-2020, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

I’m on you’re side of the argument per say but to tell the truth when you say Wilkins, Plum and Churchill I bet most people (Black/White/non) think majority White. When you say Homewood most people think majority poor. And when it comes to Stanton Heights, recent estimates indicate loss of Black population — which if true would definitely be sad!

Although to your point these common perceptions shouldn’t be blanket statement/generalizing statements that they are for Wilkins, Plum, Churchill and increasingly Homewood especially Homewood South — south of Hamilton Ave by the busway. In terms of Penn Hills, the Crescent Hills neighborhood has a widely good reputation, but for the area surrounding the house off of Ivyland Dr & Dollman Road... It’s Lincoln Park — considered the worst part of the municipality for decades. Hence, epitomizing why there’s so much lack of knowledge of the Black middle class. (1) They are scattered (either in clusters or individually) among majority White municipalities. (2) Located within or on the outskirts of hoods/areas with annual violence and long-standing negative reputations. Which goes along with what I said earlier.

Other than the micro-invalidation component, this isn’t a necessarily bad thing for Black people... If Black people can keep them a majority Black secret, then they can stay in the hands of majority Black homeowners. I’ve heard potentially well-meaning Whites refer to Manchester and Wilkinsburg west of the busway as “they were ‘undiscovered’ when they found it”... Look at how the White explorers have changed the demographic make-up of those areas now. The problem becomes if middle class Blacks can’t keep their streets a majority middle class Black secret and new era suburban slum lords renting to drug dealers and at-risk families take over due to vacancies...

gg · 01-26-2020, 08:28 AM

A good article as usual.

https://newpittsburghcourier.com/202...rcent-in-2019/

I am not sure people realize how big of a deal the Pittsburgh Courier is. A very long and powerful history that has been one of the top black newspapers in the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Courier

Uptown kid · 01-26-2020, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gg

A good article as usual.

https://newpittsburghcourier.com/202...rcent-in-2019/

I am not sure people realize how big of a deal the Pittsburgh Courier is. A very long and powerful history that has been one of the top black newspapers in the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Courier

Agreed. Great contribution

gg · 01-26-2020, 01:55 PM

Uptown I put you on ignore because how upset you were when I gave an opinion. Figured it is better for both of us to not engage.

I don’t think most on here would know much about the Pittsburgh Courier and its very rich history on a US level, not just locally. Read about it. Very impressive history.

Copanut · 01-26-2020, 03:14 PM

One of the big contributors to The Pittsburgh Courier was photographer Teenie Harris. If you've never seen his works the Carnegie Museum of Art established a dedicated presence in their permanent collecion. Really worth the time and money to see it. I've seen the past showings, really great stuff.

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/art-...s/202001260011

Uptown kid · 01-26-2020, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gg

Uptown I put you on ignore because how upset you were when I gave an opinion. Figured it is better for both of us to not engage.

I don’t think most on here would know much about the Pittsburgh Courier and its very rich history on a US level, not just locally. Read about it. Very impressive history.

Agreed. Great contribution