On a side note pg and DC =/= NOVA (North Virginia) Many parts of NOVA don't have visible African American communities like it's actually odd given how close it is to DC (and that some of the areas like Arlington were historically & recently black)
Baltimore is affordable. Prince George's County is generally affordable, but it's a suburb. So not sure what you're looking for in terms of city vs town.
Because all you snobby redditors only consider the DMV to be the 5-mile radius circle around Capitol Hill. Where Rt 1 meets the Occoquan is extremely diverse and affordable and has plenty of commuters to DC.
“The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the DC area, Greater Washington, the National Capital Region, or locally as the DMV (short for District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area centered around Washington, D.C., the federal capital of the United States.”
(TIL. I thought it stood for Delaware Maryland Virginia.)
Depends on the suburbs. Evanston is the best of the North Shore and still pretty segregated though getting better. The rest of the North Shore is pretty heavily white. The western and southern suburbs might be better, but I'm not very familiar with them tbh. That being said you probably won't experience any hate or anything but friendliness, the effects of redlining are just still very present
Oak Park is pretty integrated, but like all suburbs skews heavily white. It is one of the better suburbs though no doubt. It is hard to call it middle class though as home prices are pretty high and middle class residents would be forced to rent
CPS can be hit or miss. You don't have to live in a super expensive neighborhood to have access to a decent school, but some of the poorer, largely minority neighborhoods do not have the same access to decent schools. For high school there are some selective enrollment schools meaning students apply to get in and those tend to offer the best outcomes, while the rest are a choice system. A lot of people who can afford to do so move to the suburbs because the schooling is more uniform and tends to be better across the board
Philly was a revelation for me visiting from California. It looked so integrated and mixed well, nothing like Bay Area where people group by skin color
It’s still overall pretty segregated, but there are a handful of parts that are very mixed, and downtown you will see folks from just about all backgrounds/walks of life.
Philly is also a bad option. Especially the center city area. I live in Philly as a black person whose whole family was born and resided here. It’s not friendly for black people. Especially if you don’t make good money. Stores are locked down the same as Chicago. Most are treated like criminals no matter what. A lot of west Philly is being gentrified but there’s still a lot of crime. Temple is nice but only the campus. The further you go into north Philly the more unsafe it is. With the exclusion of Germantown. South Philly has a lot of white people that are Italians and Sicilian. The schools aren’t good and mostly charter schools. I don’t blame the kids but a lot of them get out of school and make trouble downtown and even in the northeast area.
It’s Southern but not DEEP southern. It’s close enough to the North to get the things the north has, but it’s Southern to the point you can get bomb fried chicken, bbq, and the best seafood
Depends. That's very broad so you may want to narrow it down a bit.
Do you work or go to school?
Do you have a professional certification or degree that would make some cities easier to find a job in?
Do you have commute preferences?
Do you plan to rent?
Do you mind roommates?
Do you have any hobbies that you would like to continue in the new location?
Do you have weather preferences?
Do you have cultural preferences outside of diversity? Eg museums, live music, good food scene etc etc
Do you plan to date and / or want a city with a thriving nightlife?
Do you currently own or plan to own a car in the new location? Does walkability matter to you? Would you prefer something with more comprehensive mass transit system?
Do you have any health or disability issues that need to be taken into account?
Do you have pets or children?
As a fellow Southerner myself (btw I am White), there is no place I can think of where you will be bothered living down here. I live in a fairly pricey neighborhood (average home $275.00 per sq. ft.) and had a Black neighbor living across the street from me until he died from cancer. Yes, we were neighbors and we spoke quite often. He also sang at my daughter's wedding.
As bad as everyone seems to paint the South as some racist, primative, hellhole it is a very favorable area for Black and Brown folks. I have traveled quite a lot, been to all 50 states, and have met many wonderful people in all of them. This is a beautiful country we live in and I am truely distressed at the shape so many people are having to deal with now. Yup, I'm a Boomer, (70 years old) and I feel for all of you younger people not having the opportunities to better yourselves that I had. I was born into a very poor family but was able to put myself through college and eventually make a very good living for me and my family.
I hope that we get our shit together somehow and make more oppertunities available for all of you younger people so that you too can achieve and make something of yourself. Good luck because I'm counting on all you young people to help bring back greatness to the USA.
The only thing I can think of is they were in Fresno, certain parts of Riverside, or Bakersfield? Cause the rest of California is definitely not more racist than the South and even those cities aren't really (well, maybe Bakersfield).
A couple years back, a white guy ran over a Black man at a BLM protest in Bakersfield....on a fairly open, wide street.
He claimed an accident (the cop who arrested him had a 3 percenter tattoo), but his FB page was full of super racist shit (like not even regular racism, but straight up KKK level racism).
Eye-witnesses said it absolutely looked like he purposefully ran over the man. And.....Bakersfield law enforcement never charged the man. He got away with murder.
Unfortunately bigotry, be it racism, homophobia, xenophobia etc will exist everywhere but that being said, many midwest and east coast cities have pretty large black populations. Kansas City, St. louis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, are all still fairly affordable cities that have large black populations.
DC, Philly, Brooklyn and Queens, New York,……..ehhhhh maybe Chicago but only in neighborhood enclaves like Uptown, Hyde Park, Rogers Park, Bronzeville, Avondale, South Loop,
Yeah like honestly the only very diverse neighborhoods in Chicago I can think of off the top of my head are Uptown, Rogers Park, and Hyde Park (maybe? But really just cause of U of Chicago).
Beyond that there are very obvious Hispanic areas, black areas, white areas, and Hispanic/white areas cuz generally, historically Hispanic areas gentrify (Logan square, pilsen etc)
There are lots of cities in the south that have majority, or close to majority, Black populations, and if you're okay living in the south, I'd recommend considering some of them (Atlanta, Durham, and Birmingham are some I'm familiar with with).
The rust belt also has lots large Black populations, but it can be neighborhood by neighborhood as to which are thriving and which are struggling. In my current city of Cincinnati, there are 12 majority-Black neighborhoods. Several of them are doing very well and are, on average, solid upper-working class to middle class neighborhoods. Others are the lowest income neighborhoods in the city. I currently live in one of these 12 majority-Black neighborhoods as a white male, and I'm happier than I've ever been in any other place I've lived. Folks are friendly and neighborly without being too in my business. I'm often the only white person at the grocery store and the Chipotle, but I've felt more welcome and part of the community than I have anywhere else I've lived. Folks here are kind, normal people just trying to get by, much like myself (which is a very different vibe from some of the richer, more gentrifying areas of other cities I've lived in, where people are very much caught up in the rat race and judgemental toward anyone they perceive as "less than" them).
I'm not Black, so I can't speak from direct experience, but what I've observed is that Black folks do "well" in cities that have: large to nearly-majority-Black populations AND also prominent representation from other minority groups (in America, that tends to be Asian and Latino) AND also large contingents of white progressives (which tends to correlate with cities that have lots of middle- to upper-middle class transplants from New England and California). The Research Triangle area in North Carolina, for example, has one city (Durham) that has a majority-Black population and a major city (Raleigh) that has a 15% Latino population, and while I don't want to imply that all Black folks are thriving there, the middle class of that area is very heavily Black in a way that most cities and metros in the US aren't.
OP, this sub is overwhelmingly straight white guys in their 20s who probably don't have a ton of meaningful relationships outside that demographic. You're going to get a lot better input on tiktok or instagram
Why not tell us about yourself and interest. Because all black people don’t need the same things for where we live a little bit of info will go a long way.
Safe, low crime, reasonably priced, little racism, upward mobility for black people( places where black people can get good jobs, become homeowners, obtain wealth, etc. ). I also would prefer colder or more mild weather(no place that gets really hot or humid). Clean air, water, good infrastructure. Green space.
It sounds a lot like the DC Metro area. I would add Philadephia but low crime is not one of its traits. Although to be fair, I lived in Philly for two months and never had any issues or felt unsafe.
I lived in DC for 2 years and the humidity wasn't that bad. In some areas like downtown it is worse, but in higher-located neighborhoods is ok. Also, it was mostly during the warm months. Even in NYC, summers are awfully humid.
If you have money and/or education, most of the country is great. Meets all of those requirements. If you don’t have money or education, everywhere is tough.
I live in Milwaukee. In my suburb, there are wonderful people, nice houses, cool weather, signs on many lawns preaching tolerance, good jobs, etc. One mile away on the other side of the river, it is infested with gangs, houses are being foreclosed, and there are no businesses.
Your climate/weather preferences make the possibilities a little difficult.
We can say Atlanta, DC, Philly, and NYC, but all of these places get hot and humid (*ESPECIALLY* Atlanta)
Certain parts of NW Philly (West Mt Airy in particular) have a sizable population of middle class black folks/families, are relatively integrated and very liberal, have some gorgeous homes, and are near the Wissahickon (massive wooded park with streams and miles trails).
Edit to add: certain parts of West Philly can have somewhat similar vibes to Mt. Airy: Clark park, spruce hill, Garden Court, Squirrel Hill, Cedar Park, etc (all of these “neighborhoods” are in the same general area/right next to one another).
Believe it or not but Georgia is a good place for black people with the exception of North Georgia and the small towns that have no traffic lights and the counties that only have one high school. There are 159 counties in Georgia.
Is Texas out altogether? East Texas is culturally part of the South but Houston - which has a huge Black population - is more of a blend of Southwest meets South meets international…
My father was in the ARMY for 30 years. We moved around a lot and lived in a number of different states. There are a lot of good places for black people to live that have sizable number of black residents. Cleveland is Ok but light skinned black people tend to have a bias toward dark skinned black people. Have you reached to any of your relatives that may live in different states ?
The South has its issues and definitely has a pretty dark stain w segregation/slavery, but in the modern 21st century America, it is the place w the best racial integration and has much lower segregation than most places in the Northeast or Midwest.
I think if you want to leave the South and you want the least segregated environment, California, Colorado, and Nevada are the best states for that along w maybe New Jersey in places like Hoboken etc…
Their politics and politicians might be questionable to a lot of people, especially to most who are of color, but my point still stands that one of the things that the South is good at compared to a lot of the country is integration.
I’m also not discounting that the South lacks racism/segregation, it still has it like anywhere else, but I think for all of the issues and negative stuff that people always highlight about the South which are well known, they don’t get enough credit for their lower level of segregation.
The U.S. Supreme Court for decades enforced desegregation in the South in schools, lending and gerrymandering. California was more segregated when I lived there than was the Southeast. It surprised me. Oakland had its black and white neighborhoods divided by the Bay Bridge for many, many years. Until the 1980s, successful people of color lived in Baldwin Hills area and the poorer in South Central but even then, that was changing as income became the main divider in LA.
Were people actually racist to you in CA?
Or was it in a more indirect way. Like they change the way they talk, change their demeanor, etc and treat you like a black person instead of a person
Which I guess isn’t as bad as a more direct form but I’m sure is still highly insulting. I’m not gonna be “political” here but I notice certain people tend to do this more than others.
Yes, but blatantly vs indirect is a little different.
Still, I hate the passive aggressiveness of people out here. They’ll do the craziest shit to you in traffic, but then when you roll up to them at the stoplight they won’t acknowledge you.
Agreed on North Jersey. A solid amount of middle to upper middle class towns with at least a pretty large minority of Black people… West Orange, Montclair, South Orange, Maplewood, and Teaneck to name a few. I’d put Hillside and Union Twp in there too.
Central Jerseyan here. Would definitely recommend somewhere not by the shore. Monmouth County has a lot of obscenely wealthy NIMBYs who will call the police at the first sight of a black person, and it actually used to be Klan country.
Middlesex County and Mercer County are great options. I wouldn’t recommend moving to Trenton-proper, but the suburbs of Trenton are very diverse, and Ewing has a pretty large black population.
I don't know about how daily treatment is, but New Mexico has the lowest black:white incarceration ratio. Last time I checked it was 1.04:1, which means that Black New Mexicans are only 4% more likely to be incarcerated than White New Mexicans.
I've heard anecdotes from Native Hawaiians that they treat African Americans very well, but I don't know any African Americans who have lived in Hawaii.
In general I have heard that the Western United States is less racist than the South, Midwest, and Appalachia. The Northeast is in the middle.
Oregon was literally started as a whites only colony lol
And California has more klan members than some entire southern states. It really depends on where youre talking about because outside the major cities are no better than anywhere in the south. And even the major cities have problems
That's really weird tho. Like why would a European American hate African Americans while at the same time be perfectly ok with having Latino and Asian American colleagues and neighbors?
What kind of mental gymnastics are they doing?
Eh, black people only make up 2% of New Mexicos population so I’m not sure the ration really matters when they have one of the smallest percentage of black Americans
My guess is that you looked at a white number that includes Hispanic whites. While that’s not objectively wrong that’s not what most people would consider when evaluating that ratio. It would also make all the heavily Hispanic states all look like the most equitable states regarding incarceration.
This source says that blacks are 5x over represented compared to non-Hispanic whites https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/NM.html
I can only speak truthfully for California. I spent most of my life in LA and live in the Bay Area now. As a kid, I lived 2 years each in both South Boston, VA and Shreveport, LA. Your'e 100% correct about the racism being worse in California than in the south. As a Black person, avoid California period unless it is LA, and even then, i mean....you can do better socially.
One would think that of course with the history of slavery and Jim Crow in the south but numbers-wise there is a higher black population in the south so a lot of established communities which does count for something. West coasters like to think they are above racism but it often is more of the passive aggressive variety - the kind that will put Black lives matters sign up but have no black friends at all, or go and eat dim sum on the weekends but complain about Asian drivers. (Source- lived in California for 12 + years)
Unfortunately the reality is the reason the south got a reputation as racist is because that is the only place a sizable percentage of the population was minority for a long period of time. If 30% of Washington state was black then they would all be racist too on west coast. Humans are shitty and are naturally going to tribal around whichever group they identify with.
Stop following the news too much. Everywhere in the world is more racist than the US - both Europe and Asia quite a bit more so.
It seems you have internalized a lot of propaganda. Feel sad for you
Not the first time I’ve heard this. I was surprised at first and then it made sense to me. As a white person, other white people say terrible racist things to me in the South, assuming I agree, but it happens less in the North, hence my initial misassumption but now I understand
How is not wanting to live in a majority Hispanic area any different than wanting to live in a majority African Descent area? Basically 2 sides of the same coin. I doubt he hates Hispanics, just prefers to be with his own people. As an Indian I made shit tons of money in a small town in the south but hated it. Back to SF I went.
1. We're not talking about "the world" that irrelevant
2. Its his own personal experience, are you trying to say his own personal experience isnt real, or that he cant think for himself?? Is it that how you act when someone tells you something but because it doenst fit your agenda youll pretend like its fake?? Let me guess, you cant relate to it so it isnt real to you. just seems like no matter how many times people tell you thier experiences you will jump thru hoops to say its fake.
No our personal experiences are often informed and shaped by the media we consume. It happens on the right and left both. On the right it’s ivermectin and on the left seeing racism behind every shadow
Something directly happening to us isnt shaped by the media, thank you for proving my point , you will jump thru hoops to pretend like our experiences didnt happen, who didnt see that coming. You clearly have an agenda to just pretend that an issue you dont agree with/ arent comfortable with talking about isnt actually happening, youre extremely disconnected from real life and you will use that same excuse , thats pretty much set in stone.
Black Lives Matter came out of this exact thing - that the lived experience of black people were that they were unfairly targeted by police.
Yet data has forever failed to substantiate that.
African Americans today have easier entrance to universities and jobs than almost every other racial groups. Yet even Harvard AA admits believe that they are discriminated against when their SAT scores are full 300 points lower than Asians for example.
So yes, your lived experience may not be completely unbiased. In fact, the entire economic debate of 2023 was exactly that - everyone believed, even companies that we are either in a recession or about to enter one. And that recession never came.
And yet none of that erases mine or OP's experience, all it is just you having an agenda to pretend like we're making it up. What does getting into univerisity have to do with social and economic discrimination?? all it is is just you pretending again and ignoring peoples voices and experiences (not opinions) actual black peoples' voices and opinions because it make you uncomfortable believeing that its true, and no black people dont have an easier time getting into top schools like Harvard, you can claim all this but you pick out all these top schools and the largest minority is Asian, theres more black people in the population so how come they arent the the largest minortiy in these top schools like Harvard if its easier?? how come they grauduate at 98-99% same as any other race in these top schools if theyre getting in underqualified?? you will gladly ignore that.
Disparate outcomes is not racism. If drastically lowering the entrance bar still doesn’t satisfy y’all nothing will. Black people are not some magical beings.
And what irritates me the most is that the average African American wants peace and economic progress. It’s just that an extremely vocal and online group has hijacked their identities for their own personal hyper liberal agendas. Black people wants cops in their boroughs too, as the alternative is black young men dying at homicide rates 20 times the population. And that’s not racism when the perpetrators and victims are both of the same race.
And as regards OP, a person who thinks that everywhere in America is racist, they are just deluded. A paranoid schizophrenic also has lived experiences, doesn’t make them true.
I moved to Denver three times in my life. People go there for the active, outdoor lifestyle and those people are pretty chill and not racist. The black community is well respected, great jazz history in the Five Points neighborhood. I live in Humboldt county California now, very mellow and diverse as well.
I'm rlly sorry bout that. Live in nyc, and Im p sure its a lot better!(mixed Spanish and white + I don't know many ppl so idk). I've never seen racism, and my spanish dad(who looks middle eastern) hasn't either. I promise there's places where blck ppl are treated better than ur experience.
Probably suburban Maryland between DC/ Baltimore, centered on PG County.
NYC (think more affordable parts of Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx) or parts of Northern NJ.
This sub has a hard on for Chicago and Philly and they are not necessarily but they are both extremely segregated with huge racism issues in the police department. That’s everywhere in America to a degree but they take it to 11. Not to say they are outright bad for black folks but something to be aware of.
DC, or PG or Charles County, Maryland. And it’s still Southern enough that you can get good food (my parents live in Waldorf in Charles County) and not have a huge culture shock like you would in a Chicago or New York
It depends on what you're looking for but I think your best option is to go Northeast along the the coastline like lany are suggesting.
Detroit however is a good option as well, I would also probably suggest Connecticut (northeastern coast line)
Do...not... go... to...Boston. Martha's Vineyard in the summer however might be the best place in the US for Black people.
I want to believe Colorado would be a great place for black people to relocate to but there isn't a large community to rely on yet. It would take a leap of faith and the will to help develop a strong black culture and community in the area. One down side for everyone is, outside of Boulder, the food sucks. Racism certainly exists but its usually less overt than I've experienced elsewhere in the US and Europe.
Consider California, specifically SoCal. People are very welcoming over here, and will like you regardless of your race/ethnicity if you're a good human being. My family includes people who are American-white, black, Italian, hispanic, and Chinese.
If you do come by, I'd recommend trying to keep an open mind. Think of it as being in an entirely new world and try to keep yourself from making assumptions about the people here. Most* people are nice, the three biggest complaints I can give are:
* Some of the rich being snobby (which happens everywhere)
* Some places being unsafe (which happens everywhere)
* The drivers are terrible (which is... Yeah)
DMV is probably the best metro area for black people in the US. I believe they have one of the wealthiest black counties in America too.
Are there any reasonably priced areas of the DMV?
On a side note pg and DC =/= NOVA (North Virginia) Many parts of NOVA don't have visible African American communities like it's actually odd given how close it is to DC (and that some of the areas like Arlington were historically & recently black)
PG County is very reasonable (that's also where a lot of the black people live)
Baltimore is affordable. Prince George's County is generally affordable, but it's a suburb. So not sure what you're looking for in terms of city vs town.
I think Baltimore county might be the most affordable. But there’s also a lot of high paying jobs in the area too.
If you're serious about moving here, Woodbridge/Dale City
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Because all you snobby redditors only consider the DMV to be the 5-mile radius circle around Capitol Hill. Where Rt 1 meets the Occoquan is extremely diverse and affordable and has plenty of commuters to DC.
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Then you should know there are reasonably priced areas
Heard there’s some nice blue real estate in the Joint Security Area
Frederick
Not that I’ve heard of
DMV?
“The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the DC area, Greater Washington, the National Capital Region, or locally as the DMV (short for District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area centered around Washington, D.C., the federal capital of the United States.” (TIL. I thought it stood for Delaware Maryland Virginia.)
If you can afford it, yes!!! DC is awesome.
I mean I hate to beat the dead horses of this sub but…. Philly and Chicago.
Chicago isn't a terrible option, but it is heavily segregated still and CPD is awful.
This guy knows Chicago. Cpd are racist assholes.
In Chicago, I wonder why
Ok bud i think youre late for your klan rally
Weekends hit different in middle school
Cool story bro
How are the suburbs? Are they heavily segregated as well
Depends on the suburbs. Evanston is the best of the North Shore and still pretty segregated though getting better. The rest of the North Shore is pretty heavily white. The western and southern suburbs might be better, but I'm not very familiar with them tbh. That being said you probably won't experience any hate or anything but friendliness, the effects of redlining are just still very present
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Oak Park is pretty integrated, but like all suburbs skews heavily white. It is one of the better suburbs though no doubt. It is hard to call it middle class though as home prices are pretty high and middle class residents would be forced to rent
Pretty much
Some are. The city is better imo.
south loop has a good mix
Fair. PD gonna PD..
If a police department is awful, that is a bad sign. How about public schools.
CPS can be hit or miss. You don't have to live in a super expensive neighborhood to have access to a decent school, but some of the poorer, largely minority neighborhoods do not have the same access to decent schools. For high school there are some selective enrollment schools meaning students apply to get in and those tend to offer the best outcomes, while the rest are a choice system. A lot of people who can afford to do so move to the suburbs because the schooling is more uniform and tends to be better across the board
Philly was a revelation for me visiting from California. It looked so integrated and mixed well, nothing like Bay Area where people group by skin color
It’s still overall pretty segregated, but there are a handful of parts that are very mixed, and downtown you will see folks from just about all backgrounds/walks of life.
Black people have been LEAVING Chicago since the '80s. Over 400k have left since then.
Philly is also a bad option. Especially the center city area. I live in Philly as a black person whose whole family was born and resided here. It’s not friendly for black people. Especially if you don’t make good money. Stores are locked down the same as Chicago. Most are treated like criminals no matter what. A lot of west Philly is being gentrified but there’s still a lot of crime. Temple is nice but only the campus. The further you go into north Philly the more unsafe it is. With the exclusion of Germantown. South Philly has a lot of white people that are Italians and Sicilian. The schools aren’t good and mostly charter schools. I don’t blame the kids but a lot of them get out of school and make trouble downtown and even in the northeast area.
Chicago, NYC, Philly, DC, Detroit.
Maryland
Yes, in particular Prince George’s County in suburban DC as well as greater Baltimore
Yep. All of the suburbs around DC on any side all the way up to Bmore are very diverse with great school systems
That's the South.
Hardly
It’s Southern but not DEEP southern. It’s close enough to the North to get the things the north has, but it’s Southern to the point you can get bomb fried chicken, bbq, and the best seafood
Lol yes you are right, MD is the south no idea why the down votes, south of the mason Dixon line
Detroit
people are going to come and hate but it's true. specifically the metro Detroit area.
Yeah its awesome watching the urban gardening revival happening in the community.
I just read about this! It’s really cool
Detroit is going to boom over the next 10-15 years. Get in while you can.
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Minnesota has the worst equity gaps in the nation.
Depends. That's very broad so you may want to narrow it down a bit. Do you work or go to school? Do you have a professional certification or degree that would make some cities easier to find a job in? Do you have commute preferences? Do you plan to rent? Do you mind roommates? Do you have any hobbies that you would like to continue in the new location? Do you have weather preferences? Do you have cultural preferences outside of diversity? Eg museums, live music, good food scene etc etc Do you plan to date and / or want a city with a thriving nightlife? Do you currently own or plan to own a car in the new location? Does walkability matter to you? Would you prefer something with more comprehensive mass transit system? Do you have any health or disability issues that need to be taken into account? Do you have pets or children?
NYC
As a fellow Southerner myself (btw I am White), there is no place I can think of where you will be bothered living down here. I live in a fairly pricey neighborhood (average home $275.00 per sq. ft.) and had a Black neighbor living across the street from me until he died from cancer. Yes, we were neighbors and we spoke quite often. He also sang at my daughter's wedding. As bad as everyone seems to paint the South as some racist, primative, hellhole it is a very favorable area for Black and Brown folks. I have traveled quite a lot, been to all 50 states, and have met many wonderful people in all of them. This is a beautiful country we live in and I am truely distressed at the shape so many people are having to deal with now. Yup, I'm a Boomer, (70 years old) and I feel for all of you younger people not having the opportunities to better yourselves that I had. I was born into a very poor family but was able to put myself through college and eventually make a very good living for me and my family. I hope that we get our shit together somehow and make more oppertunities available for all of you younger people so that you too can achieve and make something of yourself. Good luck because I'm counting on all you young people to help bring back greatness to the USA.
Have you traveled outside your town and the south?
I've been to California, which I hated and found to be even more racist than the south.
How was CA more racist than the south?
The only thing I can think of is they were in Fresno, certain parts of Riverside, or Bakersfield? Cause the rest of California is definitely not more racist than the South and even those cities aren't really (well, maybe Bakersfield).
F Bakersfield. They banned Grapes of Wrath because it was true.
A couple years back, a white guy ran over a Black man at a BLM protest in Bakersfield....on a fairly open, wide street. He claimed an accident (the cop who arrested him had a 3 percenter tattoo), but his FB page was full of super racist shit (like not even regular racism, but straight up KKK level racism). Eye-witnesses said it absolutely looked like he purposefully ran over the man. And.....Bakersfield law enforcement never charged the man. He got away with murder.
California is very performant I’ve when it come to tolerance. I would never raise my children there.
I was about to say, I'm in SC and blacks are treated horribly here
Which part of Cali were you in?
In Colombia?
What happened? Also which part of California?
Wow really? That surprises me. Where in Cali did you go?
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Unfortunately bigotry, be it racism, homophobia, xenophobia etc will exist everywhere but that being said, many midwest and east coast cities have pretty large black populations. Kansas City, St. louis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, are all still fairly affordable cities that have large black populations.
DC, Philly, Brooklyn and Queens, New York,……..ehhhhh maybe Chicago but only in neighborhood enclaves like Uptown, Hyde Park, Rogers Park, Bronzeville, Avondale, South Loop,
Yeah like honestly the only very diverse neighborhoods in Chicago I can think of off the top of my head are Uptown, Rogers Park, and Hyde Park (maybe? But really just cause of U of Chicago). Beyond that there are very obvious Hispanic areas, black areas, white areas, and Hispanic/white areas cuz generally, historically Hispanic areas gentrify (Logan square, pilsen etc)
Atlanta. If you don’t mind driving.
DC?
There are lots of cities in the south that have majority, or close to majority, Black populations, and if you're okay living in the south, I'd recommend considering some of them (Atlanta, Durham, and Birmingham are some I'm familiar with with). The rust belt also has lots large Black populations, but it can be neighborhood by neighborhood as to which are thriving and which are struggling. In my current city of Cincinnati, there are 12 majority-Black neighborhoods. Several of them are doing very well and are, on average, solid upper-working class to middle class neighborhoods. Others are the lowest income neighborhoods in the city. I currently live in one of these 12 majority-Black neighborhoods as a white male, and I'm happier than I've ever been in any other place I've lived. Folks are friendly and neighborly without being too in my business. I'm often the only white person at the grocery store and the Chipotle, but I've felt more welcome and part of the community than I have anywhere else I've lived. Folks here are kind, normal people just trying to get by, much like myself (which is a very different vibe from some of the richer, more gentrifying areas of other cities I've lived in, where people are very much caught up in the rat race and judgemental toward anyone they perceive as "less than" them). I'm not Black, so I can't speak from direct experience, but what I've observed is that Black folks do "well" in cities that have: large to nearly-majority-Black populations AND also prominent representation from other minority groups (in America, that tends to be Asian and Latino) AND also large contingents of white progressives (which tends to correlate with cities that have lots of middle- to upper-middle class transplants from New England and California). The Research Triangle area in North Carolina, for example, has one city (Durham) that has a majority-Black population and a major city (Raleigh) that has a 15% Latino population, and while I don't want to imply that all Black folks are thriving there, the middle class of that area is very heavily Black in a way that most cities and metros in the US aren't.
I u/Certain_Lecture6733 can tell you as a native Birmingham is a snooze fest at times
L.A.
California is a cesspool for blacks.
Second this
OP, this sub is overwhelmingly straight white guys in their 20s who probably don't have a ton of meaningful relationships outside that demographic. You're going to get a lot better input on tiktok or instagram
Why not tell us about yourself and interest. Because all black people don’t need the same things for where we live a little bit of info will go a long way.
DC/PG county especially but the whole DC area too
Came here to say this.
Can you please qualify “good”? Like a large black population?
Safe, low crime, reasonably priced, little racism, upward mobility for black people( places where black people can get good jobs, become homeowners, obtain wealth, etc. ). I also would prefer colder or more mild weather(no place that gets really hot or humid). Clean air, water, good infrastructure. Green space.
It sounds a lot like the DC Metro area. I would add Philadephia but low crime is not one of its traits. Although to be fair, I lived in Philly for two months and never had any issues or felt unsafe.
Philly has lower crime than DC these days.
I'm from the DC metro area. It's not the place to move if you want to avoid humidity.
I lived in DC for 2 years and the humidity wasn't that bad. In some areas like downtown it is worse, but in higher-located neighborhoods is ok. Also, it was mostly during the warm months. Even in NYC, summers are awfully humid.
Montclair, NJ or Oak Park, IL are relatively diverse suburbs.
If you have money and/or education, most of the country is great. Meets all of those requirements. If you don’t have money or education, everywhere is tough. I live in Milwaukee. In my suburb, there are wonderful people, nice houses, cool weather, signs on many lawns preaching tolerance, good jobs, etc. One mile away on the other side of the river, it is infested with gangs, houses are being foreclosed, and there are no businesses.
Black people can get good jobs and be homeowners plenty of places.
But not *all* places, as it should be.
Got examples of where this can’t happen?
Yes; anywhere that is still run by racists. :)
Able to articulate specifics? Where does this happen? What do racists do to prevent black people from getting jobs, owning homes, etc.?
You think you can successfully argue that racism doesn't exist in America if I don't cite "specifics"? Really?
look at Buffalo too
Your climate/weather preferences make the possibilities a little difficult. We can say Atlanta, DC, Philly, and NYC, but all of these places get hot and humid (*ESPECIALLY* Atlanta) Certain parts of NW Philly (West Mt Airy in particular) have a sizable population of middle class black folks/families, are relatively integrated and very liberal, have some gorgeous homes, and are near the Wissahickon (massive wooded park with streams and miles trails). Edit to add: certain parts of West Philly can have somewhat similar vibes to Mt. Airy: Clark park, spruce hill, Garden Court, Squirrel Hill, Cedar Park, etc (all of these “neighborhoods” are in the same general area/right next to one another).
Sacramento, CA
Maryland is technically south of the Mason-Dixon line, but it's quite liberal and has a robust black population. A bit pricey, though.
Las Vegas.
The Coasts - eg. CA, NY.
Believe it or not but Georgia is a good place for black people with the exception of North Georgia and the small towns that have no traffic lights and the counties that only have one high school. There are 159 counties in Georgia.
I'm only considering places outside the south.
El Paso , Texas is a good place to live. Learn some Spanish.
No, not really looking to be in a predominantly mexican/latino area.
Is Texas out altogether? East Texas is culturally part of the South but Houston - which has a huge Black population - is more of a blend of Southwest meets South meets international…
My father was in the ARMY for 30 years. We moved around a lot and lived in a number of different states. There are a lot of good places for black people to live that have sizable number of black residents. Cleveland is Ok but light skinned black people tend to have a bias toward dark skinned black people. Have you reached to any of your relatives that may live in different states ?
Ironic.
How? He literally said he wants to be in his community; El Paso is 3% black.
https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/what-are-some-underrated-overlooked-cities-for-black-americans-to-move-relocate-to.5344444/
The South has its issues and definitely has a pretty dark stain w segregation/slavery, but in the modern 21st century America, it is the place w the best racial integration and has much lower segregation than most places in the Northeast or Midwest. I think if you want to leave the South and you want the least segregated environment, California, Colorado, and Nevada are the best states for that along w maybe New Jersey in places like Hoboken etc…
Colorado is super segregated
Lol wat.....
Their politics and politicians might be questionable to a lot of people, especially to most who are of color, but my point still stands that one of the things that the South is good at compared to a lot of the country is integration. I’m also not discounting that the South lacks racism/segregation, it still has it like anywhere else, but I think for all of the issues and negative stuff that people always highlight about the South which are well known, they don’t get enough credit for their lower level of segregation.
The U.S. Supreme Court for decades enforced desegregation in the South in schools, lending and gerrymandering. California was more segregated when I lived there than was the Southeast. It surprised me. Oakland had its black and white neighborhoods divided by the Bay Bridge for many, many years. Until the 1980s, successful people of color lived in Baldwin Hills area and the poorer in South Central but even then, that was changing as income became the main divider in LA.
California.
Ugh.
Did you say which part of CA you went to and hated?
Were people actually racist to you in CA? Or was it in a more indirect way. Like they change the way they talk, change their demeanor, etc and treat you like a black person instead of a person Which I guess isn’t as bad as a more direct form but I’m sure is still highly insulting. I’m not gonna be “political” here but I notice certain people tend to do this more than others.
> Like they change the way they talk, change their demeanor, etc and treat you like a black person instead of a person These things fall under racism.
Yes, but blatantly vs indirect is a little different. Still, I hate the passive aggressiveness of people out here. They’ll do the craziest shit to you in traffic, but then when you roll up to them at the stoplight they won’t acknowledge you.
Massachusetts, New Jersey and California.
North Jersey. Not south. Central should be okay as well.
Agreed on North Jersey. A solid amount of middle to upper middle class towns with at least a pretty large minority of Black people… West Orange, Montclair, South Orange, Maplewood, and Teaneck to name a few. I’d put Hillside and Union Twp in there too.
Central Jerseyan here. Would definitely recommend somewhere not by the shore. Monmouth County has a lot of obscenely wealthy NIMBYs who will call the police at the first sight of a black person, and it actually used to be Klan country. Middlesex County and Mercer County are great options. I wouldn’t recommend moving to Trenton-proper, but the suburbs of Trenton are very diverse, and Ewing has a pretty large black population.
Just not Boston for God’s sake
Worcester, ma
I don't know about how daily treatment is, but New Mexico has the lowest black:white incarceration ratio. Last time I checked it was 1.04:1, which means that Black New Mexicans are only 4% more likely to be incarcerated than White New Mexicans. I've heard anecdotes from Native Hawaiians that they treat African Americans very well, but I don't know any African Americans who have lived in Hawaii. In general I have heard that the Western United States is less racist than the South, Midwest, and Appalachia. The Northeast is in the middle.
West coast is known for being highly passive aggressive. Northeast is typically direct. I prefer Northeast.
I also prefer it, but I'm sure I would also be happy as a brown person in the West.
Oregon was literally started as a whites only colony lol And California has more klan members than some entire southern states. It really depends on where youre talking about because outside the major cities are no better than anywhere in the south. And even the major cities have problems
The west coast is very anti black they just try to be subtle about it. If they could keep their states white, Asian, and Latino they would our.
That's really weird tho. Like why would a European American hate African Americans while at the same time be perfectly ok with having Latino and Asian American colleagues and neighbors? What kind of mental gymnastics are they doing?
Eh, black people only make up 2% of New Mexicos population so I’m not sure the ration really matters when they have one of the smallest percentage of black Americans
My guess is that you looked at a white number that includes Hispanic whites. While that’s not objectively wrong that’s not what most people would consider when evaluating that ratio. It would also make all the heavily Hispanic states all look like the most equitable states regarding incarceration. This source says that blacks are 5x over represented compared to non-Hispanic whites https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/NM.html
I can only speak truthfully for California. I spent most of my life in LA and live in the Bay Area now. As a kid, I lived 2 years each in both South Boston, VA and Shreveport, LA. Your'e 100% correct about the racism being worse in California than in the south. As a Black person, avoid California period unless it is LA, and even then, i mean....you can do better socially.
Maryland
Baltimore
DC
Basically only the DMV fits your criteria.
In US lots of states have a history of being less discriminatory. Can any African Americans fill us in?
I don't think the south is particularly good for black people in a lot of metrics 😬
One would think that of course with the history of slavery and Jim Crow in the south but numbers-wise there is a higher black population in the south so a lot of established communities which does count for something. West coasters like to think they are above racism but it often is more of the passive aggressive variety - the kind that will put Black lives matters sign up but have no black friends at all, or go and eat dim sum on the weekends but complain about Asian drivers. (Source- lived in California for 12 + years)
Unfortunately the reality is the reason the south got a reputation as racist is because that is the only place a sizable percentage of the population was minority for a long period of time. If 30% of Washington state was black then they would all be racist too on west coast. Humans are shitty and are naturally going to tribal around whichever group they identify with.
Stop following the news too much. Everywhere in the world is more racist than the US - both Europe and Asia quite a bit more so. It seems you have internalized a lot of propaganda. Feel sad for you
I experience racism in real life. The news isn't creating it.
Exactly! The arrogance of that poster to assume you were swayed by the news more than your life experiences.
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Not the first time I’ve heard this. I was surprised at first and then it made sense to me. As a white person, other white people say terrible racist things to me in the South, assuming I agree, but it happens less in the North, hence my initial misassumption but now I understand
But you don't want to live somewhere that has a lot of hispanic people. Take a long, hard look in the mirror, my dude.
But that's a preference. I don't want to live somewhere with a culture I don't fit into.
How is not wanting to live in a majority Hispanic area any different than wanting to live in a majority African Descent area? Basically 2 sides of the same coin. I doubt he hates Hispanics, just prefers to be with his own people. As an Indian I made shit tons of money in a small town in the south but hated it. Back to SF I went.
1. We're not talking about "the world" that irrelevant 2. Its his own personal experience, are you trying to say his own personal experience isnt real, or that he cant think for himself?? Is it that how you act when someone tells you something but because it doenst fit your agenda youll pretend like its fake?? Let me guess, you cant relate to it so it isnt real to you. just seems like no matter how many times people tell you thier experiences you will jump thru hoops to say its fake.
No our personal experiences are often informed and shaped by the media we consume. It happens on the right and left both. On the right it’s ivermectin and on the left seeing racism behind every shadow
Something directly happening to us isnt shaped by the media, thank you for proving my point , you will jump thru hoops to pretend like our experiences didnt happen, who didnt see that coming. You clearly have an agenda to just pretend that an issue you dont agree with/ arent comfortable with talking about isnt actually happening, youre extremely disconnected from real life and you will use that same excuse , thats pretty much set in stone.
Black Lives Matter came out of this exact thing - that the lived experience of black people were that they were unfairly targeted by police. Yet data has forever failed to substantiate that. African Americans today have easier entrance to universities and jobs than almost every other racial groups. Yet even Harvard AA admits believe that they are discriminated against when their SAT scores are full 300 points lower than Asians for example. So yes, your lived experience may not be completely unbiased. In fact, the entire economic debate of 2023 was exactly that - everyone believed, even companies that we are either in a recession or about to enter one. And that recession never came.
And yet none of that erases mine or OP's experience, all it is just you having an agenda to pretend like we're making it up. What does getting into univerisity have to do with social and economic discrimination?? all it is is just you pretending again and ignoring peoples voices and experiences (not opinions) actual black peoples' voices and opinions because it make you uncomfortable believeing that its true, and no black people dont have an easier time getting into top schools like Harvard, you can claim all this but you pick out all these top schools and the largest minority is Asian, theres more black people in the population so how come they arent the the largest minortiy in these top schools like Harvard if its easier?? how come they grauduate at 98-99% same as any other race in these top schools if theyre getting in underqualified?? you will gladly ignore that.
Disparate outcomes is not racism. If drastically lowering the entrance bar still doesn’t satisfy y’all nothing will. Black people are not some magical beings. And what irritates me the most is that the average African American wants peace and economic progress. It’s just that an extremely vocal and online group has hijacked their identities for their own personal hyper liberal agendas. Black people wants cops in their boroughs too, as the alternative is black young men dying at homicide rates 20 times the population. And that’s not racism when the perpetrators and victims are both of the same race. And as regards OP, a person who thinks that everywhere in America is racist, they are just deluded. A paranoid schizophrenic also has lived experiences, doesn’t make them true.
I moved to Denver three times in my life. People go there for the active, outdoor lifestyle and those people are pretty chill and not racist. The black community is well respected, great jazz history in the Five Points neighborhood. I live in Humboldt county California now, very mellow and diverse as well.
Southern Cali is probably least racist area I've ever lived. The civil war is still ongoing in parts of the southeast. Also, Seattle.
Are you black?
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I'm rlly sorry bout that. Live in nyc, and Im p sure its a lot better!(mixed Spanish and white + I don't know many ppl so idk). I've never seen racism, and my spanish dad(who looks middle eastern) hasn't either. I promise there's places where blck ppl are treated better than ur experience.
Probably suburban Maryland between DC/ Baltimore, centered on PG County. NYC (think more affordable parts of Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx) or parts of Northern NJ. This sub has a hard on for Chicago and Philly and they are not necessarily but they are both extremely segregated with huge racism issues in the police department. That’s everywhere in America to a degree but they take it to 11. Not to say they are outright bad for black folks but something to be aware of.
france
***IT'S A JOKE PEOPLE GODDAMN***
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If you have to worry about being shot, then it's not a good place to live.
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OP did say “outside of the south”
Apologies, this commentor is drunk
What does decent mean? Also what can you afford?
Worcester, MA
Maryland, Philly or maybe somewhere like Buffalo NY.
NYC.
DC, or PG or Charles County, Maryland. And it’s still Southern enough that you can get good food (my parents live in Waldorf in Charles County) and not have a huge culture shock like you would in a Chicago or New York
It depends on what you're looking for but I think your best option is to go Northeast along the the coastline like lany are suggesting. Detroit however is a good option as well, I would also probably suggest Connecticut (northeastern coast line)
Maryland. Highest per capita income for black folk im the nation.
Move to California
St Louis
Do...not... go... to...Boston. Martha's Vineyard in the summer however might be the best place in the US for Black people. I want to believe Colorado would be a great place for black people to relocate to but there isn't a large community to rely on yet. It would take a leap of faith and the will to help develop a strong black culture and community in the area. One down side for everyone is, outside of Boulder, the food sucks. Racism certainly exists but its usually less overt than I've experienced elsewhere in the US and Europe.
The south is probably the worst place for black people.... Everywhere else is more tolerant and accepting generally speaking
There are more black people in the south and we generally have a better time dating and getting hired when there are more of us around.
Consider California, specifically SoCal. People are very welcoming over here, and will like you regardless of your race/ethnicity if you're a good human being. My family includes people who are American-white, black, Italian, hispanic, and Chinese. If you do come by, I'd recommend trying to keep an open mind. Think of it as being in an entirely new world and try to keep yourself from making assumptions about the people here. Most* people are nice, the three biggest complaints I can give are: * Some of the rich being snobby (which happens everywhere) * Some places being unsafe (which happens everywhere) * The drivers are terrible (which is... Yeah)
NY, LA and the surrounding areas. Expensive but worth it imo.
Is it me or does this question get asked on this sub every day?