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Wow you have said a lot, and being a person of faith, I do believe to much is given much is required. I am a success story being born and raised in Compton, CA, and I thank God for allowing me to have the family, and parents who taught me one a strong work ethic, and two to trust God in helping me achieve my dreams.
You can say I am living the so called American Dream; I am in a nice house in a nice community, and my wife and I earn well over six figures. But, I don't feel guilty about it or feel like I owe anyone anything either. I didn't start this thread with the intent of making anyone think that black people who are successful owe their community anything. You are right about blacks who are successful are in a sense giving back by helping mold their children to be PRODUCTIVE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS, NOT FITTING INTO ANY ADDITIONAL STEREOTYPES.
With this said, all I can do is to keep doing what I am doing every day on my job (4th Grade school teacher), and that is to mold the young minds who enter in my classroom who look just like me and tell them that YES YOU CAN SUCCEED. But you have to want success like you want to eat every day, and don't let anyone stop you.
I'm trying to take this all in. I knew there are many Asian-owned businesses in Black areas. I never heard of Black business owners selling their businesses. It would certainly play a part in low Black business ownership. Redlining certainly would not help.
My father used to own two cleaners one in Compton and one not too far from Compton in the Willowbrook neighborhood of South Los Angeles. My dad told me that once stricter regulations came in to place where dry cleaner business owners had to become licensed for handling cleaning fluid chemicals by taking a test to remain licensed and compliant to handle those chemicals, many business owners (and I would assume black owners too) decided not to stay in business. He also said that it was getting to expensive to keep your business opened with all of the new strict guidelines for disposing chemical waste created by the dry cleaners. Cleaning agencies where people no longer cleaned their clothes on the premises became more manageable and profitable, and those owners didn't have to worry about any possible contamination of the ground water as a result of not properly disposing those chemicals.
My father used to own two cleaners one in Compton and one not too far from Compton in the Willowbrook neighborhood of South Los Angeles. My dad told me that once stricter regulations came in to place where dry cleaner business owners had to become licensed for handling cleaning fluid chemicals by taking a test to remain licensed and compliant to handle those chemicals, many business owners (and I would assume black owners too) decided not to stay in business. He also said that it was getting to expensive to keep your business opened with all of the new strict guidelines for disposing chemical waste created by the dry cleaners. Cleaning agencies where people no longer cleaned their clothes on the premises became more manageable and profitable, and those owners didn't have to worry about any possible contamination of the ground water as a result of not properly disposing those chemicals.
In other words, those who could not afford to comply or who refused went out of business. That might explain what happened to dry cleaners. However, there are other kinds of businesses to consider that don't involve cleaning.
On a side note, I live in the Atlanta area, which is supposedly known as the "Black mecca". I've never seen a Black-owned dry cleaning service in my life. Not saying it doesn't exist. However, in my experiences, most of the ones I've seen were owned by Koreans or South Asians.
In other words, those who could not afford to comply or who refused went out of business. That might explain what happened to dry cleaners. However, there are other kinds of businesses to consider that don't involve cleaning.
On a side note, I live in the Atlanta area, which is supposedly known as the "Black mecca". I've never seen a Black-owned dry cleaning service in my life. Not saying it doesn't exist. However, in my experiences, most of the ones I've seen were owned by Koreans or South Asians.
Yes, I guess you could say that. I don't know how old you are. But when I was growing up in Compton, 70s and 80s, there were about a half a dozen black owned cleaners in my area. My father was friends with all of them. LOL
Yes, I guess you could say that. I don't know how old you are. But when I was growing up in Compton, 70s and 80s, there were about a half a dozen black owned cleaners in my area. My father was friends with all of them. LOL
I'm 28. I was born in 1986. I didn't get to the Atlanta area until the mid 1990s. and the vast majority of it was spent in the exurban/suburban areas. In all the time, the only dry cleaners I've ever seen were owned by Asians.
What I'm wondering is what happened to other businesses.
I'm 28. I was born in 1986. I didn't get to the Atlanta area until the mid 1990s. and the vast majority of it was spent in the exurban/suburban areas. In all the time, the only dry cleaners I've ever seen were owned by Asians.
What I'm wondering is what happened to other businesses.
I can only speak for the South Los angeles and Compton area of the 70s and 80s. Blacks did own gas stations, meat markets, barber shops, and beauty salons in a recognizable number during that time period. Some of the local barber shops are still black owned, but the demographics of the area is rapidly changing to Hispanic.
I can only speak for the South Los angeles and Compton area of the 70s and 80s. Blacks did own gas stations, meat markets, barber shops, and beauty salons in a recognizable number during that time period. Some of the local barber shops are still black owned, but the demographics of the area is rapidly changing to Hispanic.
I'm not even 30, so I'm still learning about this stuff. I've become so used to seeing a relatively low percentage of Black-owned businesses, that growing up, I never asked, until I got into my mid 20s. South LA is quite different from what goes on in Atlanta.
As for the Black middle class, I have to say this. I feel that the Black middle class is an often ignored segment of the Black population. Often, there is so much attention towards those who cause so much trouble, and the reason for doing so is to complain about Blacks. That is big catch 22. Be a good citizen and basically become invisible. Be a crook and a thug, and you get all kinds of attention.
Blacks who rise to the middle class don't owe other blacks anything. If they want to stay that's up to their personal preference. Maybe they don't see everything as race?
Blacks are not portrayed as bad on TV as they could be. Blacks in Louisiana inner cities are unbelievably ridiculous in their behavior. So encounter so many uncivilized young blacks on a regular basis that it has really jaded me. They destroy neighborhoods (literally) and then Hispanics fix them up some when they move in.
Token Blacks on TV shows are usually the rational characters with a moral compass. They defy the stereotypes, usually.
The OP isn't saying middle class Blacks owe anyone anything. He is talking about what HE is doing.
Maybe it would help if you didn't hang around the inner cities. Everyone knows the inner cities have issues. Black people know this. This is why most Black middle class people won't hang around them.
And Blacks are portrayed quite bad in other places. Go search for stuff on WorldStarHipHop and you'll know what I mean.
And "token Blacks", that is TV.
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