Atlanta: the unofficial capital of black America

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by Tuckerman

This discussion is quite interesting, if not a bit amusing. To begin with the topic “the unofficial capital of black America” is at best a hypothetical statement and at worst, pure speculation. Nonetheless, some aspects are not in doubt: the percentage of African-americans living in the ATL metro is very high in comparison to any other metros of over 5m and there is little doubt that among such metros the housing and living costs in the ATL metro are very low in comparison. In addition, there is a well documented migration of black families and individuals to the ATL area. Finally there is a very large contiguous middle class living area with a high concentration of black households. These are some of more factual components of the argument on this topic.

There are other points of discussion that may be relevant and they are more subjective. 1. The ATL area has a strong basis in colleges and universities with a history of black empowerment, not just the prestigious Morehouse and Spellman colleges, but also an emerging Georgia State University with a strong urban focus. 2. A history of strong and leading black mayors such as Andrew Young, Maynard Jackson, Shirley Franklin and the current Kasim Reed. 3. A laudable civil rights history that is recognized globally- MLK, Abernathy, John Lewis, and many others. 4. A history of business and organizational support for civil rights - “city to busy to hate” etc. 5. A notable development of black entertainment industries e.g. hip-hop, Tyler Perry, etc. In short, these more subjective items foster a sense of participation and ownership of the city and the events that occur in it. That message gets transmitted on the grape vine to other places.

In context, subjective interpretations of cities and their attractiveness are hardly new. Once Paris was the place for artists, now it may be Berlin. Some cities have reputations for welcoming entrepreneurs; others as great places to retire. The list goes on.I believe that ATL now has a reputation that it is attractive for black Americans; deserved or not, these subjective reputations have a life of their own.

This post is exactly the point I was trying to make. It isn't just about how much the top 1% make or how many top 1%ers of a group exists in a metropolitan area.

There's more reasons Atlanta is considered one of the black bastions of America.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by AccraGhana

... it expedited an existing trend but I think factors have changed considerably in the Midwest, while the economy has weekend in places like Georgia relative to the previous decade. With things getting better in the North, there will be less of a PUSH factor driving blacks south and with opportunity not as abundant as in the past, the PULL factor of the south will diminish.

I find it interesting that many Africans Americans' family tree probably have people's locations as something like, 19th century, Georgia; 20th century, Michigan; 21th century, Georgia...

Opportunity moves around...

[Tuckerman]

Originally Posted by AccraGhana

I see the previous decade as an anomaly of sorts. True, it expedited an existing trend but I think factors have changed considerably in the Midwest, while the economy has weekend in places like Georgia relative to the previous decade. With things getting better in the North, there will be less of a PUSH factor driving blacks south and with opportunity not as abundant as in the past, the PULL factor of the south will diminish.

It will be interesting to see if this diminishing will the case. However the migration to Atlanta of Northern blacks was well underway before the more recent economic downturns; in fact the last 4-5 years in the southeast were heavily impacted by the economic downturn and blacks were probably more impacted than whites. Nonetheless, the migration has continued. It should be noted also that a large part of the movement of blacks in the Atlanta area has been from the central city to the suburbs and that the central city white proportion of the population is increasing - a trend that seems to be continuing. Of course there is a notable bi-racial mix as well. ( I do apologize, however, for even using the term race, because it is scientific nonsense - that is stubbornly perpetuated by misuse).

[dc_denizen]

The south always had most of the black-only universities/colleges. morehouse, spellman etc.

This has to have been a huge factor in what made Atlanta the capital of the black America, historically.

But watch out for DC. better leadership, more cooperation with the white establishment, more money coming in all the time.

[Tuckerman]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

The south always had most of the black-only universities/colleges. morehouse, spellman etc.

This has to have been a huge factor in what made Atlanta the capital of the black America, historically.

But watch out for DC. better leadership, more cooperation with the white establishment, more money coming in all the time.

DC is clearly another case for a leading city for blacks; I think the mix of possibilities is not quite like that for ATL - the employment diversity is greater probably in ATL; however the govnt has always been a significant employer and that is a key factor in DC.

[atlantaguy]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

But watch out for DC. better leadership, more cooperation with the white establishment, more money coming in all the time.

Uh, what? Please explain.

[Kenneth]

[QUOTE=ColDayMan;6896386]Uh...excuse me? I'm black and I'm good here (as are the other black folks here). Apparently you don't know much about Columbus if you think a city that actively promotes black business, a wonderful black mayor, a growing African-American and African population, and increasing African/AA opportunities is "bad for blacks." Hell, even coonery-driven BET gave us props:

[url]http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/columbus-ohio-tops-list-of-best-cities-for-african-american-families-76073752.html

My bad !! I never hear much about the black pop. there. It seems like it could be a great city for us. But from my experience there, it seems like the black population is so... small that they become irrelevant in the region

[ColDayMan]

The Columbus area has around 270,000ish blacks so I wouldn't call that "small" in a metro of around 2 million. We aren't in the Black Belt but for a northern city, it's typical. I understand what you mean now. Yeah, black business is a big deal here, politically.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by AccraGhana

Interesting. I did not know that. I think its a double edged sword, like most things. It can either help diminish the focus of race or hide terrible racial inequalities. For example, in America, the black poverty rate is 3 times that of whites and the rate of unemployment is twice as high. Given the nations history with race and racism.....it's a vital sign that lets the country know how it's improving or how much more work there needs to be done....if healing that history is of value to the nation. Otherwise, without keeping statistics you could never really know how the nation is improving in that respect....other than optics.

Right, I see what you mean, it's a fair point.

I know some French Blacks advocated that US custom to ourselves for that reason, since there's been racism over here too. Not so much in things of privacy, however. For example, being in a relationship with a black person is not too much of a problem when you're white-skinned, most don't mind about those things of one's private life. That's how we've got lots of multiethnic marriages and kids, supposedly more than anywhere else in proportion, some loud French proudly claim.

It's in business and even in schools that racism has been real and terrible. The abilities of black and Arab students have generally been regarded lower than those of the Whites for too long, which of course had a disastrous effect to the black and Arab youth, ruining their self-confidence. It made it twice harder for a black student to be a serious student. And for those who yet nerved themselves to get over stereotypes and be successful at school, well, racism just kept on going once graduate while they would seek a job, or even once actually in business, obstructed in their career progressions because a white senior executive would say - wait a minute, we're not going to let the Blacks or the Arabs become too influential, though.

You see, it's typically that kind of appalling unfairness to ethnic minorities that feeds violence in society. So some black organizations in particular said - okay, we don't really feel enthusiastic about it, but since our community has been facing obvious injustice, we think ethnic statistics could help defend the interests of those both black and deserving of high responsability occupations. This came up to the public debate and has been widely discussed. It's definitely been disturbing to many as something shameful roughly exposed, but at least entire society could better realize its own faults.

Most as myself remain opposed to ethnic statistics on principle anyway, because as an idealistic concept and project, the French Republic was not designed to support that kind of practices. It's nonetheless been essential and effective to discuss it. I think today, it's less and less hard for a black or Arab graduate student to get hired, and the overall mindset in top management has been gradually changing.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Watch one of those, or watch pretty much any movie in which Blacks are the main characters, and you'll quickly conclude that the only city in the entire country where Blacks live and work is Atlanta.

Outside of Tyler Perry movies (and not even all of his movies are set in Atlanta), this isn't true; just as many are set in LA and NYC.

[mello]

I have always wondered why they always film black movies in Atlanta, LA, and NY. Its so boring same old places every time. Why not Dallas, Portland, Nashville, Omaha... I'm so sick of LA movies. Sorry off topic lol. Speaking of Nashville I know a Trini gyal who moved from Miami burbs to Nashville and loves it. She said economy is solid hardly any traffic plentiful jobs etc. It seems like Nash is killing it right now.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by KB0679

Outside of Tyler Perry movies (and not even all of his movies are set in Atlanta), this isn't true; just as many are set in LA and NYC.

Heavens! Three whole cities?! Don't tell anyone, but I've also heard rumors of "Black" movies even being set in entirely different parts of Georgia than Atlanta, plus there's a spate of token Black characters in various TV shows who must be terribly lonely out there in Portland or Hartford or wherever.

The fact remains, however, that from most media representation you would never know that the blackest Blacks who ever blacked blackly are doing so in places like Houston, Birmingham, Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond, Des Moines, and God only knows where all else. Like most popular culture, media representation provides and incredibly shallow and one-sided perspective of Black culture.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Heavens! Three whole cities?! Don't tell anyone, but I've also heard rumors of "Black" movies even being set in entirely different parts of Georgia than Atlanta, plus there's a spate of token Black characters in various TV shows who must be terribly lonely out there in Portland or Hartford or wherever.

LA and NYC are the de-facto cities where most movies are set, but I'm sure you knew that.

The fact remains, however, that from most media representation you would never know that the blackest Blacks who ever blacked blackly are doing so in places like Houston, Birmingham, Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond, Des Moines, and God only knows where all else. Like most popular culture, media representation provides and incredibly shallow and one-sided perspective of Black culture.

Very few movies of any sort are set in those cities. But if you take a larger and more comprehensive view of the issue, Black sitcoms throughout the years have been set in various cities, mainly large urban centers with significant Black populations. But of course, there are all sorts of reasons behind this which are beyond the scope of this discussion. I just had to counter your point about Black movies and Atlanta these days.

Now had you said something about Atlanta and Black reality TV, then you'd have something of a point. But movies? Nah.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by KB0679

Very few movies of any sort are set in those cities. But if you take a larger and more comprehensive view of the issue, Black sitcoms throughout the years have been set in various cities, mainly large urban centers with significant Black populations. But of course, there are all sorts of reasons behind this which are beyond the scope of this discussion. I just had to counter your point about Black movies and Atlanta these days.

Now had you said something about Atlanta and Black reality TV, then you'd have something of a point. But movies? Nah.

This is a very stupid thing to discuss, and an even dumber thing to care enough about to post something about weeks after the fact, but you'll be edified to know that after watching a great many old reruns of 227 (Washington, DC), Amen (Philadelphia), and Family Matters (Chicago), I have seen the error of my ways and will never again imply that Atlanta is in any way relevant to Black pop culture.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

This is a very stupid thing to discuss, and an even dumber thing to care enough about to post something about weeks after the fact, but you'll be edified to know that after watching a great many old reruns of 227 (Washington, DC), Amen (Philadelphia), and Family Matters (Chicago), I have seen the error of my ways and will never again imply that Atlanta is in any way relevant to Black pop culture.

You can't be this dramatic in real life.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by KB0679

You can't be this dramatic in real life.

You should see a proctologist about that stick. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to continue this discussion.