About On The Dig
2009
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EmailWriter/blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates reminded me of an interesting cyber-discussion happening right now over at New Geography. And you know I love a good cyber-chat to fill up my think tank before the weekend. If you don't know already, writer Aaron M. Renn scribed a great piece called "The White City". It examines the rise in so-called progressive cities that, interestingly enough, are lacking in an African-American presence. You don't say! Somebody help me pick my jaw up from the floor. Renn confesses:
"There’s a generally standing answer to the question of what cities are the best, the most progressive and best role models for small and mid-sized cities. The standard list includes Portland, Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis, and Denver. In particular, Portland is held up as a paradigm, with its urban growth boundary, extensive transit system, excellent cycling culture, and a pro-density policy.
But look closely at these exemplars and a curious fact emerges. If you take away the dominant Tier One cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles you will find that the “progressive” cities aren’t red or blue, but another color entirely: white.
In fact, not one of these “progressive” cities even reaches the national average for African American percentage population in its core county. Perhaps not progressiveness but whiteness is the defining characteristic of the group."
Aaron M. Renn is my new BFF. He hit the nail on the white progressive head. As many of you know I live in the best place on the planet, Brooklyn, New York. My neighborhood is packed to the rafters with progressives—black, white and other significants. Folks who recycle, cycle, invest time in urban redevelopment, push for cleaner environments, insist on safer blocks for the kiddies, advocate for the under-advocated, and do their Saturday shopping at the Farmer's Market.
But outside of Brooklyn, progressive life seems to be exclusively white. I've traveled to San Francisco, Atlanta, Minneapolis, San Diego, Toronto, Denver, D.C., and Cincinnati where I urgently seek out the "progressive" scene and it never fails: whites rule. In fact, I expect it. For the most part, and I'm going to get elbowed for saying this, but so-called progressive ideas like recycling, organic marketing, GLBT advocacy, liberal politics, and religious tolerance tend to be associated with whites. Why? I'll let someone else answer that; I'm tired. But it does appear whites prefer a progressively-inspired life without the company of black folk. Truth be told, I know plenty of "progressive" black who sneak into these white enclaves hoping to avoid black folks, too. Man! Did I just say that? Check out Aaron M. Renn's piece and let me know what you think.
Comments
Don't dig too deep - you might find some actual history. Just look at the clean, shiny, downtown parts and the areas which have been carefully constructed. New Orleans will be "white" too - if the current trend continues.
The economy of the United States has been built up three times by African Americans - before and after the Revolutionary War, and after the Civil War. Anyone sipping a latte today can thank the black people.
White neighborhoods? Lousy, stolen music, bad writing, can't dress to save their lives, and always talking about the black people. No thanks.
and jacquiem is still avoiding the question! and dearie please don't get scared about this harmless back and forth banter on the web. you have WAY MORE to worry about from YOUR OWN KIND then ANY white person that you might run into. have a good evening!
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm
I will not respond to thinly-vieled and blatant insults, taunts, and stereotypical scenarios that you and your cohort(s) pose as "questions." You and your friend(s) have made your views of ALL Black people quite clear. Since I am Black, your view of ME is quite clear. Your hatred for Black people causes you to be unable to see that Black people do not all think, act, believe, live, and behave alike. I can't help you with that, that's something you're really going to have to fix on your own.
With all the evil, violent, nasty, crass, disgusting, inhuman, filthy, racist, polluting garbage you and others like you have said about Black people on these boards, why in the world would I be in the business of, or waste my time, justifying my existence, thoughts, opinions, or person to someone who has already made it crystal clear that they hate me?
Dude, I get it. You and your friend(s) hate me. HATE me. Fine. Boo hoo.
Now leave me alone.
It's been noted at least since the 1988 presidential election (BushI-Dukakis) that in states east of the Mississippi, the percent of the white vote the Republican gets is directly proportional to the black population. The three blackest states are Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, whose whites vote 90% Republican, while the whitest states like Vermont vote Democratic. Of course, there are exceptions like Maryland and New Hampshire.
If this is true, a possible interpretation is that the more actual exposure a voter has to blacks, the less inclined he is to vote their way.
thanks for your information!!
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and the question posed to you on another thread is still waiting jacquiem dearie! since you seem to be evading it let me pose another one; why do blacks ruin schools and neighborhoods when they move into them in sizable numbers???
progressive cities are generally all White because Whites are racist, I'd get slammed by the troll patrol for being...racist. Why would anybody cosign on a statement that is pretty racist itself - stereotyping an entire group of people - without seeing that what you're doing is blatantly racist? And we wonder why we can't get along...
I live in DC, in a very lovely, very safe neighborhood in SE, and as many of my "progressive" White friends talk about diversity, they sure as hell don't want to live over here. When I have parties, which I love to do especially during football season, I have to tell them over and over again that it's perfectly safe for them to come over. They have in their head this idea that there's a pack of crazy Black folks just laying in wait for the helpless, lost White people to attack. They won't say it at first, but that's what they think. And when they get here, they're almost comically relieved that they were wrong. That's when they tell me they were afraid they'd be "targeted' if they came to my house. By whom? The retired couple next door or the family of 4 across the street? They're shocked that we all recycle, we have woods in the back of our development that we make sure is preserved so we can protect and continue to enjoy the deer and other wildlife there, we fly our seasonal banners, tend our lawns mostly with organic products (we share tips), have neighborhood parties, and fly our American flags. We respect our neighbors who are Jehova's Witnesses, atheists, Catholics, Pentacostals, gay, lesbian, or we-don't-know-becasue-we-don't-care; our neighbors' religion and sexual orientation and their beliefs thereof are simply none of our business.
I don't look at my White friends' misconception about where I live as racism, just ignorance. I can't be too mad at you if you don't know any better.
On the flip side of the coin, many "progressive" Black people I know with great jobs and pretty good incomes just can't afford to live in the so-called "progressive" areas of the city, not if they want to live in this "progressive" neighborhood and eat at the same time. Where rent in a decent SE neighborhood might run $1000-1200 for a one bedroom, in upper NW it's close to $2,000. Aside from that, some who might be able to afford to live in these neighborhoods don't feel like they'd be accepted or welcomed by their neighbors if they're NOT progessive, which is crazy to me. My politics/religious beliefs/social and political beliefs are my business, just like they're yours, and I don't pick and choose my neighbors based on those things. Why the heck is anyone else?
Enough divides us. Now we're identifying with each other based on whether we recycle or not? Sheeesh.
Great post. I knew that Austin, Portland, etc. were very white, but I never really connected it to their progressiveness. I have an (admittedly rather circular) argument:
Perhaps the only way a city can reach the critical mass of support for progressive policies is if it is racially homogeneous. I.e. there is some threshold for the ratio of whites to blacks, beyond which too many whites defect to the conservative party.
But this still doesn't explain why these cities are homogeneous in the first place. So I offer another conjecture: The people who live in Austin pay a premium to live there (ie high housing prices) because of "quality of life" more than the presence of good jobs. Unlike say, Houston, plenty of people in Austin are happily underemployed because they love the town. That makes paying rent or buying a house in Austin a bad deal if you aren't as in to Austin's progressive, slacker, artsy culture.
So then the question is, why are white people more willing to pay a premium to be surrounded by others who are into "progressive ideas like recycling, organic marketing, GLBT advocacy, liberal politics, and religious tolerance?" I have no answer.
Just come to Albuquerque where it is hard to be pretentious because everyone it turns out is in a minority category if you will. Over three centuries of Spanish domination or coexistence with Native Americans plus now over 150 years of being American with a relatively small population base. African Americans came with the Americans and in my social setting I can’t even remember the last time I saw an African American although it not a big thing. If you really want to see phony pretentiousness go up to Santa Fe. I think they rent black people to socialize with up there.
While I've commented elsewhere that I think the ranking of these places places primarily reflects folks' desire for places with lower costs of living, great access to the outdoors, lower crime, clean streets and better public schools and the like (things DC, Chicago, and NYC generally lack), I do think there is something to what Mr. Adkins is getting at.
I lived in DC for a long, long time and owned a home in an overwhelmingly black neighborhood that is 'up and coming' but sure isn't there yet. While most of my friends (of any color) were liberals, very very few of them were willing to live where I did, preferring hipster enclaves in NW or just straight up lily white neighborhoods. Why is this? Because although they love to talk about diversity and all that stuff, don't actually want to deal with what comes along with it - wide variation in income levels, racial and ethnic tensions that are not always on the surface but often there nonetheless, higher crime, and differences in culture that are not always interesting but sometimes downright irritating to those who don't have the same background.
Basically, a lot of progressives like to congratulate themselves on their acceptance of diversity as a concept but don't want to actually experience it on a daily basis.