Best Cities For Black People In...Part II: VIRGINIA

[Idaeo]

No bruh, there are entire families of lightskinned blacks and no one bats an eye. It's really different from the rest of the US...

Sonya Curry is from VA with a black mother and father, no one considers her "mixed", though everybody knows Virginia's long history of racial miscegenation. There are thousands of her in VA who would be fawned over as "mixed" around the US but in VA they black like those of us who are darker...

Chris Brown's mother is black the same way, so is he himself, people don't view them differently...

VA was different, for one, of course I'd seen lightskinned blacks before but o don't think I ever saw entire families of light brights like that, meaning mom, dad, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, everyone. But i didn't even notice this until I left VA after high school, because in VA skin tone was rarely brought up. We knew they were black like us...

I think my experience as an adolescent in VA is why I detest the phrases "mixed" or "biracial people not black" so much. Everybody black in the US is "mixed" with white ancestry to various degrees, unless you are a recent immigrant or child of recent immigrants. It has never diminished your blackness. I never knew a "biracial" person in Virginia who didn't claim themselves as black, never saw that until I left Virginia, and this doesn't mean VA biracial don't do this at all, but it's more rare here than anywhere else...

There's just a different pride in blackness I witnesses in VA!

this is definitely true. I grew up the next county over from Chris Brown. I didn’t realize it was a thing until I moved away. My mom’s side of the family is very fair skinned…last white ancestor was 1780. I remember my grandmother saying they weren’t supposed to marry someone darker than them. It’s a ugly reality but many did that to try to have better opportunities.

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

I fukks with VA especially the coastal region, VA beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk and Hampton

 

[UberEatsDriver]

while NoVa has a lower black population compared to neighboring areas the black families that live in Nova are generally all middle to high income and it's very safe with good public schools. It's not for everyone but if you want high income - safe neighborhoods PWC, Fairfax, Stafford etc. are pretty good places for black families.

Good enough for me

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

I want to live near the beach, about a hour and 30 minutes at most. Is Virginia or NC good states to reside in?

 

[Arizax2]

How do you guys feel about Chesterfield? I made a thread a month ago about being transferred to work in Richmond before the end of the year. I since visited Chesterfield which has newer homes which I prefer but not so sure about how diverse it is. It doesn’t seem like much of a drive tina Richmond either which is where I would be working at.

 

[murksiderock]

this is definitely true. I grew up the next county over from Chris Brown. I didn’t realize it was a thing until I moved away. My mom’s side of the family is very fair skinned…last white ancestor was 1780. I remember my grandmother saying they weren’t supposed to marry someone darker than them. It’s a ugly reality but many did that to try to have better opportunities.

The fact your mom's family can trace their ancestry back to even 1780 (or even sooner) is part of what I was mentioning upthread. I've only seen this in Virginia, black families that can recount their ancestry going back 250 years in the case of your mom, or even further in the case of other families I met...

Most Black Americans can't go beyond 100 years, if even that far. This is a special, special thing about Virginia specifically...

 

[murksiderock]

I want to live near the beach, about a hour and 30 minutes at most. Is Virginia or NC good states to reside in?

Within 1½ hours of the beach in NC puts you in rural areas or living at the beach in racist ass Wilmington or boring ass Jacksonville. These cities may appeal to you for reasons they do not for me, so what are you looking for in a place to live?

Living within 1½ hours of the beach in Virginia puts you in rural areas or the highly populated Hampton Roads region. Just a far better coastal experience in VA than NC, the two aren't even close if the topic is living on the coast. That said, NC is a terrific state to live in and probably better for black folk overall than VA, by a slight margin, but living on the coast is a landslide in favor of The Commonwealth...

Where are you now and why are you looking to move?

How do you guys feel about Chesterfield? I made a thread a month ago about being transferred to work in Richmond before the end of the year. I since visited Chesterfield which has newer homes which I prefer but not so sure about how diverse it is. It doesn’t seem like much of a drive tina Richmond either which is where I would be working at.

I would prefer to live in the city myself but Chesterfield is okay. Henrico and Chesterfield are both the most diverse places in Greater Richmond, but there isn't super diversity in the region in general, it's still a largely black and white area...

What are you looking for in a place to stay?

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

I just came home to visit. Sitting in a bar in VA Beach now btw I'm from Portsmouth.

How's Portsmouth? Houses in that area look affordable. How close to the beach are you typically?

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

Within 1½ hours of the beach in NC puts you in rural areas or living at the beach in racist ass Wilmington or boring ass Jacksonville. These cities may appeal to you for reasons they do not for me, so what are you looking for in a place to live?

Living within 1½ hours of the beach in Virginia puts you in rural areas or the highly populated Hampton Roads region. Just a far better coastal experience in VA than NC, the two aren't even close if the topic is living on the coast. That said, NC is a terrific state to live in and probably better for black folk overall than VA, by a slight margin, but living on the coast is a landslide in favor of The Commonwealth...

Where are you now and why are you looking to move?



I would prefer to live in the city myself but Chesterfield is okay. Henrico and Chesterfield are both the most diverse places in Greater Richmond, but there isn't super diversity in the region in general, it's still a largely black and white area...

What are you looking for in a place to stay?

I just like the idea of hitting the beach after work.

I'm not looking to move now, just thinking 5 to 10 years from now. Of course the sooner the better. I stay right outside of Chicago.

 

[TDA92]

Yea I compare northern VA to Northern NJ a lot. I think there was a thread on this on city data too so I’m not bugging when I say the two are similar except NOrthern NJ has way higher property taxes

Jersey is on crack with their property taxes and rent.

Born and raised in Teaneck

 

[TDA92]

Yea I compare northern VA to Northern NJ a lot. I think there was a thread on this on city data too so I’m not bugging when I say the two are similar except NOrthern NJ has way higher property taxes

Jersey is on crack with their property taxes and rent.

Born and raised in Teaneck

How do you guys feel about Chesterfield? I made a thread a month ago about being transferred to work in Richmond before the end of the year. I since visited Chesterfield which has newer homes which I prefer but not so sure about how diverse it is. It doesn’t seem like much of a drive tina Richmond either which is where I would be working at.

Chesterfield isn't bad. Mostly white suburbia with some black and Latino families.

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

@murksiderock

You should categorize some of those cities. I was looking at houses in Petersburg which are cheap, but turns own it's poor. Not a good place for black folks who want to be relatively safe.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

Jersey is on crack with their property taxes and rent.

Born and raised in Teaneck

Chesterfield isn't bad. Mostly white suburbia with some black and Latino families.

Northern VA rent and home prices seem to be on crack levels too but granted a lot of the houses look new and large. But the type of houses I like were def going for 800k and above

 

[UberEatsDriver]

@murksiderock

You should categorize some of those cities. I was looking at houses in Petersburg which are cheap, but turns own it's poor. Not a good place for black folks who want to be relatively safe.

We had a thread on this a while back and I’m sure everyone said It’s a sh*thole

 

[UberEatsDriver]

I just like the idea of hitting the beach after work.

I'm not looking to move now, just thinking 5 to 10 years from now. Of course the sooner the better. I stay right outside of Chicago.

Move to downtown Chicago. Lots of beaches there. Or Milwaukee lol