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There are over 37,000 West Indians in Boston proper and only 7,000 in the District of Columbia. Even when adding up all of the surrounding areas, DC Metro does not come close to Boston. Boston is very much a West Indian and Cape Verdian town.
The Census can tell you how many people are of Jamaican, Barbadian, Trini or Puerto Rican descent. The numbers for those groups are much larger in Boston.
Now DC does have a lot of Africans. But not really that many West Indians. A lot of the people you see here for carnival come from NYC, so you probably have that impression based off that alone.
What? 7,000? You must be smoking something! I know about 7,000 west indians lol. i think your numbers are really off.
What? 7,000? You must be smoking something! I know about 7,000 west indians lol. i think your numbers are really off.
He's going off foreign born residents. He doesn't understand that most west indians in DC were born in America. I know a ton and I'm sure you do also. Boston only has 300,000 or so black people metro wide to begin with lol. We have more asians an hispanics in DC than Boston has black people which is almost their second largest group. We have more black people in DC than hispanics and asians in DC put together which puts Boston's diversity into perspective. Boston doesn't really have other races living there compared to places like DC.
I'm going to take the other side here (smile DC's Finest and MDAllStar!!!).
I was on Metro and I ran into this lady who grew up here. She was a white woman, in her late 40s to early 50s, who had just returned to DC after living in Boston for 5 years. She told me she grew up in Cleveland Park. We got to talking about Boston and how it measured up to DC and she says, "DC just doesn't have any character...not like Boston anyway. The Sox, Baked Beans, the pubs, ya know. DC is a really transient city." I nodded in agreement, but couldn't resist playing the role of Devil's Advocate.
I replied, "Well, Boston is pretty transient, too. Nearly a fourth of the people there are students and they bail for the summer. And so is Manhattan. I, myself, am one of the millions who have called the island home for a very brief while."
"That's different," she said. "New York still has a lot of people who are natives...who were born there, grew up there, and have a sense of connection to the city." We boarded the train and didn't talk much after that.
That got me to thinking. Are the native Washingtonians, the overwhelming majority of whom are black, invisible to most people here? Why is Southie full of authenticity and character but Petworth just the hood? Why do Boston transplants embrace the pub culture but DC transplants denigrate the Go-Go culture and basically regard it as something "locals" do? I don't think I've ever once heard anyone in Boston or NYC refer to native Bostonians or New Yorkers as "locals." So why do people say that here? What gives?
ignorance on her part, pure ignorance. DC is one of those cities you have to spend some serious time in to get a feel for the character. and you have to get out of the tourist traps. plus there are two DCs, as is the case with a lot of cities that have a lot of transients. you could say the same about Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, IMHO.
The main point I was making is the subcultural music in every city except DC including New Orleans is not the main culture. DC is the only city where their local music is the most popular music in the city. Artists nationwide will tell you DC is the only city with that dynamic. DC is also the only city that had it's own local fashion from local boutiques. Name another city where local boutique clothing dominated the fashion of the city instead of national brands.
DC Music = GoGo end of story. Wale ingeniously rapped over sampled GoGo music to win DC becoming the first rapper to do so ever. A rapper can't make it nationally without first winning his or her city and Wale figured out how to break through the GoGo steal wall.
DC Fashion = Shooters Sport, Solbiato, HOBO, Madness, City Life etc. Russel Simmons got all his ideas for urban gear by studying DC's booming local urban fashion brands. (this is one catagory that is now losing to national brands in 2011 unlike the past decades)
DC Dancing = Every dance move in DC is related to the beat of GoGo. Beat your Feet, Chop, Hee Haw etc. Also, black women dance different in DC than other cities because of the GoGo subculture which even National Rapper ludacris has mentioned.
DC Food = Chicken and Mambo Sauce would be the only food DC has that no other city has in the nation.
At the end of the day, DC is very unique and New Orleans is very unique. The difference is most non African American people don't venture into the neighborhoods of DC and Maryland where the local culture resides. Can't experience something if you have never been there.
It didn't hurt that Wale had Lady Gaga on the track either. That was totally unexpected.
There are over 37,000 West Indians in Boston proper and only 7,000 in the District of Columbia. Even when adding up all of the surrounding areas, DC Metro does not come close to Boston. Boston is very much a West Indian and Cape Verdian town.
The Census can tell you how many people are of Jamaican, Barbadian, Trini or Puerto Rican descent. The numbers for those groups are much larger in Boston.
Now DC does have a lot of Africans. But not really that many West Indians. A lot of the people you see here for carnival come from NYC, so you probably have that impression based off that alone.
Dumbest post of the week award! There are 7,000 West Indians on Georgia Ave alone.
Dumbest post of the week award! There are 7,000 West Indians on Georgia Ave alone.
Are any of you guys West Indian? I think I'm more of an authority on the subject considering those are the circles I run in and the fact that I happen to be, well, a Bajan.
You can argue with the Census data all you want, but I believe it's accurate. Boston has a much larger West Indian population than the DC Metro area, period. So does Hartford, CT. DC has more black people, yes, but those blacks are the descendants of slaves from Virginia and the Carolinas.
I mean, you could always put your money where your mouth is and present some data to prove me wrong.
Your argument is basically "Look at how many people are at DC Carnival" and "I know tons of West Indians" and "Boston has no black people." At the end of the day, DC's West Indian population is paltry compared to NY/NJ and New England.
When I mentored in Boston schools, there were very black kids who were not of West Indian descent. And when you go to clubs, it's dancehall and reggaetone that reigns supreme, something you would never find in Washington, DC.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 08-11-2011 at 08:00 AM..
He's going off foreign born residents. He doesn't understand that most west indians in DC were born in America. I know a ton and I'm sure you do also. Boston only has 300,000 or so black people metro wide to begin with lol. We have more asians an hispanics in DC than Boston has black people which is almost their second largest group. We have more black people in DC than hispanics and asians in DC put together which puts Boston's diversity into perspective. Boston doesn't really have other races living there compared to places like DC.
I'm not going off foreign born residents. I'm going off what people marked on the Census. Many people will check "West Indian" on the Census form because that's what they identify as. It has nothing to do with where they're born.
Your first bolded statement is true, but a sizable percentage of those blacks are West Indian. Chicago also has more black people than Boston, but that does not mean it has more West Indians. Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Memphis, Houston and Chicago have waaaaaay more black people than Miami-Dade, but that does not mean that they have more West Indians. Get my drift?
Your last statement is just ignorant. Washington, DC is in the South (whether you want to admit it or not), and as such, it's going to have a lot of black people. So it's naturally going to be more "diverse" than Boston if you're just looking at a pie chart. But the city of Boston is ridiculously diverse. Every country on the map is represented in just about every public school. There are no schools in the entire DC Metro area (or within 200 miles of the DC Metro area) that are anywhere near as diverse as Cambridge Ringe and Latin or East Boston HS.
The suburbs of Boston, on the other hand, are not very diverse. The white population is more ethnic, however, with heavy numbers of Irish and Italians.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 08-11-2011 at 08:01 AM..
Your last statement is just ignorant. Washington, DC is in the South (whether you want to admit it or not), and as such, it's going to have a lot of black people. So it's naturally going to be more "diverse" than Boston if you're just looking at a pie chart. But the city of Boston is ridiculously diverse. Every country on the map is represented in just about every public school. There are no schools in the entire DC Metro area (or within 200 miles of the DC Metro area) that are anywhere near as diverse as Cambridge Ringe and Latin or East Boston HS.
Help me out on that one. Seems to me that many schools in Montgomery and Fairfax County are more diverse than East Boston HS, which is over 2/3 Hispanic and has few Asians:
I'm no expert in West Indian demographics, but was recently in Toronto and the West Indian influence in that city is pervasive in a way that clearly isn't the case in DC.
As to the complaints that "DC has no character," I view them largely as a put-down of the majority-white worker drones who fill the streets of DC during the daytime hours. I think there is a recognition that there's a black community with its own character and traditions who have lived here a long time, but the nuances of those traditions are largely lost to those who lodge the complaints.
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