NPR: Seeking Oakland's Soul in the 'New Oakland'

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by KeyLimePie2015

I do not have any white friends or associates, so I'm not sure what white people listen to, but if I had to guess, I'd say that most listen to country, or rock.

To my knowledge, there aren't any white rappers, besides eminem and I'm not certain if he even makes music anymore, since he's approaching 40.

I do recall that when I was growing up, my brothers (who are black) loved rap music, but they were never interested in listening to white rappers, like eminem, because they didn't view them as authentic. Eminem, in particular was kind of like a fake rapper who had a lot of backing and support from various studios. Although I'm sure he had a lot of support from white teens, most black teens didn't really care for his music.

you are out of touch the a number one one the billboard 100 is rap song has been thrift shop for the last couple of months
2 young white rappers from seattle macklemore and ryan lewis

MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - THRIFT SHOP FEAT. WANZ (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube
US Billboard Hot 100[56]1US Pop Songs (Billboard)[57]1US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[58]1US Rap Songs (Billboard)[59]1US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[60]14US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[61]27

[jade408]

Originally Posted by KeyLimePie2015

I may relocate to the Oakland area if I get a job transfer, but I'm a bit worried because I don't typically like to live in areas that do not have a sizable black middle class population.

I always seek out up and coming areas, because those areas tend to be filled with interesting people. But the area can't have too many whites, because I don't feel comfortable in environments with a lot of white people, but a good mix of Asian and Hispanic is ok.

Anyhow, I'd love to find an area in Oakland that's at least 70-80% black and middle class. I'm far from rich, but I make enough that I can afford to pay 1800 - 2000/month for a one bedroom. Needless to say, I'm seeking Oakland's Soulful areas, if there's even such a thing.

Most of California doesn't have entrenched black middle class areas. The middle class areas that are mostly black probably top at 50%. But don't believe the media. Oakland has lots of black middle class people. In most middle class+ areas.

Oakland is mostly white but there is no ethnic majority. It is approximately 35% white, 30% black and roughly evenly split Asian and Latino. If you want 80% black middle class, don't go west of the Rockies.

[jade408]

Anyone can say they prefer to "live amount their own" as long as it isn't followed with a comment along the lines of "because the other people have cooties."

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by Voiced Reason

Nothing racist about a Black person wanting to live around Blacks. For one, all you have to do is go in the comments section of any article to see how whites really feel about us, actually just go to the politics forum here. We still face random hate, what have we ever done to deserve the level of BS we receive from whites? Be born brown?

That's not what I said, I said that it comes off as racist when you don't want to live next to a group of people for no other reason than that they're a certain race. Decades ago, racist property covenants were used to legally enable whites to bar minorities from living next to them regardless of whether they had the same income or the same background or the same beliefs. Thanks to push-back on said practices, housing discrimination is far less widespread than it used to be and anyone who openly practices it is inviting themselves to get sued. I don't condone that sort of thinking today either regardless of where or who it comes from.

Now, my tune would probably be different if I lived in the heartland of the country where in a lot of places it is still "us vs. them" but I don't. I've never felt as if I have to only live around people that look like me... I don't want to be the only one in the neighborhood either but I feel comfortable living around whoever as long as they aren't racist towards me or others in the neighborhood who look like me.

[Natural510]

Plenty of black people don't want to live in a majority black or brown area either. I don't think the question was out of order.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Nineties Flava

That's not what I said, I said that it comes off as racist when you don't want to live next to a group of people for no other reason than that they're a certain race. Decades ago, racist property covenants were used to legally enable whites to bar minorities from living next to them regardless of whether they had the same income or the same background or the same beliefs. Thanks to push-back on said practices, housing discrimination is far less widespread than it used to be and anyone who openly practices it is inviting themselves to get sued. I don't condone that sort of thinking today either regardless of where or who it comes from.

Now, my tune would probably be different if I lived in the heartland of the country where in a lot of places it is still "us vs. them" but I don't. I've never felt as if I have to only live around people that look like me... I don't want to be the only one in the neighborhood either but I feel comfortable living around whoever as long as they aren't racist towards me or others in the neighborhood who look like me.

Great point. San Leandro was once the classic exclusionary racist white suburb that used every trick in the book to block out people of color from moving, until the courts caught up with them and forced them to open up. Radio personality Brian Copeland and his family were one of the first black families to move into San Leandro, and he said it was not easy - he wrote a book and a play, "Not a Genuine Black Man", touching on his experiences. BTW, he still lives in San Leandro.