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DC isn't well integrated as NYC is. There's relatively little black/white co-mingling Fri/Sat nights. What a shame. Adams Morgan is hilarious because it's half white douches half ghetto trash and ne'er shall the twain meet.
When I was at the Omni Hotel, the cooperate square of D.C. was AMAZINGLY packed and vivid. Although once night fell it literally died. As for diversity, it seemed to have far more asians , and little more blacks than were I live. I like the diversity alot, it gives D.C. more of a robust/full fell to it.
We can always just turn to the numbers to settle this. From the Census:
DC metropolitan area/USA
Whites: 54.8%/72.4%
Blacks: 25.8%/12.6%
Asians: 9.3%/4.8%
Hispanic/Latino of any race: 13.8%/16.3%
Other: 6%/6.2%
So overall, blacks and asians are overrepresented while hispanics are slightly underrepresented. Whites are also underrepresented, and interestingly "other" are just about right.
So this region is definitely racially diverse. Ethnically it is as well; "black" includes African-Americans and Ethiopian immigrants, for instance.
I was born and raised in DC and still maintain residency today. My perspective on diversity in DC is that it's a very, very segregated city. More segregated than most cities in large metropolitan areas I've been (Chicago, Hartford, New York, Raleigh, Richmond, Philadelphia, Atlanta among them). Although I've noticed a growing white population in the past several years, I've also noticed a decrease in areas that were formerly concentrated with poor blacks, likely due to the common gentrification. If you ride around the city throughout various neighborhoods, the middle and upper middle class areas are filled with people identifying as white and Asian. There are almost no poor whites in the city. Every poor area is predominately Black, by at least 95%. Pockets resembling suburbia are popping up in areas such as Anacostia, Shaw, and what was formerly a predominantly Black ghetto of public housing near the Navy Yard area in Southwest and Near Southeast, are now expensive luxury condos filled with... whites and Asians.
The city itself is diverse, considering it's about 50% black and over a third white, with a growing Asian population, but when you consider which area you're in, it's very single-sided to either Black or White in this town. For example: Capital Hill: white; Palisades: white; Chevy Chase: white; everywhere east/south of "the river," with "pocket exceptions" in small areas such as Hillcrest: black, disproportionately poor, and unemployed. It doesn't seem so diverse. There are Black children growing up in D.C. right now who think a white population in the city is "strange" and an abnormality because they aren't exposed to them where they live.
Downtown is pretty diverse. When I take my child to our neighborhood park, it is rare that I hear fewer than 4 or 5 languages spoken, and it isn't a very big park.
We can always just turn to the numbers to settle this. From the Census:
District of Columbia/USA Whites: 38.5%/72.4%
White Non-Hispanic: 34.8%/63.7%
Blacks: 50.7%/12.6% Asians: 3.5%/4.8%
Hispanic/Latino of any race: 9.1%/16.3%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%/0.2%
Two or more races: 2.9%/2.9%
American Indian and Alaskan Native: 0.3%/0.9%
FTFY
Source: 2010 D.C. Census Don't really care about metro area. Only the District is the district.
I was born and raised in DC and still maintain residency today. My perspective on diversity in DC is that it's a very, very segregated city. More segregated than most cities in large metropolitan areas I've been (Chicago, Hartford, New York, Raleigh, Richmond, Philadelphia, Atlanta among them). Although I've noticed a growing white population in the past several years, I've also noticed a decrease in areas that were formerly concentrated with poor blacks, likely due to the common gentrification. If you ride around the city throughout various neighborhoods, the middle and upper middle class areas are filled with people identifying as white and Asian. There are almost no poor whites in the city. Every poor area is predominately Black, by at least 95%. Pockets resembling suburbia are popping up in areas such as Anacostia, Shaw, and what was formerly a predominantly Black ghetto of public housing near the Navy Yard area in Southwest and Near Southeast, are now expensive luxury condos filled with... whites and Asians.
The city itself is diverse, considering it's about 50% black and over a third white, with a growing Asian population, but when you consider which area you're in, it's very single-sided to either Black or White in this town. For example: Capital Hill: white; Palisades: white; Chevy Chase: white; everywhere east/south of "the river," with "pocket exceptions" in small areas such as Hillcrest: black, disproportionately poor, and unemployed. It doesn't seem so diverse. There are Black children growing up in D.C. right now who think a white population in the city is "strange" and an abnormality because they aren't exposed to them where they live.
That is true. What a lot of people here don't understand is that having "white" and "black" sides of a city is not diverse. You can find that makeup in almost any large city in the country, except maybe Honolulu.
Source: 2010 D.C. Census Don't really care about metro area. Only the District is the district.
IMO, each municipality is so interconnected with each other that either set of numbers is valid.
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