Best Cities For Black People In...Part III: NEW YORK

[Mashal88]

That Image they have for "Uniondale" damn sure doesnt exist there. If you're living by Hofstra, you're not living in that. If you live by the Walmart off Jerusalem Ave, you're not living in that either, and that's the whiter part.

Edit: its a B&B in Maine

I was shocked when I saw Uniondale in the top 10. That's a sad state of affairs for black people in this country. Not because it's not a good neighborhood, but I'd expect truly affluent neighborhoods to populate the list..and Uniondale is not that.

 

[Geode]

I was shocked when I saw Uniondale in the top 10. That's a sad state of affairs for black people in this country. Not because it's not a good neighborhood, but I'd expect truly affluent neighborhoods to populate the list..and Uniondale is not that.

Yeah, I was like Uniondale?! Freeport would be a better example because black people actually own some of the nice homes off the water.

A quick virtual trip on google maps would solve a lot of these misconceptions.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

That Image they have for "Uniondale" damn sure doesnt exist there. If you're living by Hofstra, you're not living in that. If you live by the Walmart off Jerusalem Ave, you're not living in that either, and that's the whiter part.

Edit: its a B&B in Maine.

Throughout my life I have hear mostly good things about Uniondale and Baldwin.

Roosevelt and Hempstead are the two places I get a few bad feedback on.

Freeport I use to be hear good things but I’ve been hearing it’s getting worse and MS 13 is getting more active there

 

[315]

I used to party up there heavy and a lot of them nikkas childhood friends are white

Sound like you were hanging with Northside brehs. That’s almost it’s own weird culture lol. East and Southside brehs didn’t grow up around white people like that

 

[Unknown Poster]

There's plenty of things here you won't get elsewhere. You want art, food, fashion, parks, women, diversity...anything you name we have it in abundance.

Yeah once you move out of new york to somewhere else you realize that New York City really does have it all and very few places in the world compare.

 

[ISO]

Yeah Western New York if you got a decent job and don’t mind snow can be comfy but let’s not get it twisted it’s a shyt hole for black folks. But it does have things murk talked about like tons of black civic pride and history and just a certain charm that’s hard to describe. A city like Buffalo is revitalizing but it’s to be seen if the people on the East side will benefit.

Downstate New York and the NYC metro into Northern New Jersey in general is just a much better region with many black middle class enclaves one of the best in the country for black folks.

 

[ISO]

I was disappointed when I went to New Rochelle and I was on like North Ave and Malcolm X…shyt looked like a cookie cutter version of a borough hood nikkas was posted up, Kennedy Fried Chicken and all and the houses looked worse than what you saw in other parts of the town.

It wasn’t nothing crazy tho and New Ro is pretty safe but I didn’t expect a “ghetto” like area in Westchester County

I know plenty of black middle class city workers choose New Ro as the place to live but I guess they live deeper in

 

[ISO]

Yeah that Albany/Troy/Greenbush/Rensselaer stretch is very connected. I really enjoyed Albany...

Good look on the clarification with black wealth in NYC. It's different Upstate, though. Like Schenec is right I'm the same metro as Alb and is very much impoverished, when you run thru places in Cuse/Roc/Buff, there are definitely middle class black areas but there are alot of impoverished black hoods...

I fukk with Central and WNY though. That liberal white NY racism ain't the wave for me, but I fukk with NY overall. And yeah I definitely gotta make it back to The City, I wanna see Queens bad...

As far as The Boroughs, Westchester, and Long Island, what is the experience like for black people? Which one would you say is the worst, Staten Island? I know there are no real majority black neighborhoods there and they say Harlem is no longer majority black...

It seems like if you’re from Buffalo and you have a lil money you go to the Cleveland Hill part of Cheektowaga which is still a mostly Polish-American first ring suburb or you move out to the outer ring and be the only black family on the street type shyt.

In the city it’s different because you have huge swaths of middle class black areas. For example Southeast Queens where if you take just Hollis and Jamaica you’ll have a black population that numerically matches all of the East side of Buffalo and where many folks are living in rows of single and two family homes many that they own and the median income exceeds $60,000, and a lot of kids end up going to college.

 

[Geode]

Throughout my life I have hear mostly good things about Uniondale and Baldwin.

Roosevelt and Hempstead are the two places I get a few bad feedback on.

Freeport I use to be hear good things but I’ve been hearing it’s getting worse and MS 13 is getting more active there

Baldwin is decent, but again you have to look at where in Baldwin people are living. Near the Roosevelt border, heavy black people. South of Merrick, it may change, but I haven't been over there in years. Uniondale near the Hempstead border may look/feel different than Uniondale near the East Meadow border. But I'm sure black folks are more sprinkled throughout the entirety of both neighborhoods now. Back in the day, some of the E/W main roads were hard stops for blacks.

Freeport has changed a lot, but there's probably still some good tier property south of Merrick Rd and even south of Atlantic Ave. I don't think the effects of MS-13 has penetrated that area besides maybe some fukkery on the Mile, but I haven't been over there in a while, so maybe it has.

 

[Supa]

It seems like if you’re from Buffalo and you have a lil money you go to the Cleveland Hill part of Cheektowaga which is still a mostly Polish-American first ring suburb or you move out to the outer ring and be the only black family on the street type shyt.

In the city it’s different because you have huge swaths of middle class black areas. For example Southeast Queens where if you take just Hollis and Jamaica you’ll have a black population that numerically matches all of the East side of Buffalo and where many folks are living in rows of single and two family homes many that they own and the median income exceeds $60,000, and a lot of kids end up going to college.

If you're black and in the 5 burroughs you don't have to move to predominately black area. If you're in upper or lower Manhattan Harlem is 15 minutes away. That's the same everywhere.

 

[murksiderock]

Upstate NY similar to the Midwest is mostly sh*thole after shythole.

Westchester County and Rockland County are good for blacks except Mt. Vernon. One of the wealthiest black communities in America is located in Rockland County


Moving on to the boroughs.

Queens - queens is one of the most successful geographical locations for blacks and well documented.

Bronx - home of many middle class Jamaicans and Guyanese. Africans and African Americans here tend to move to upstate nyc metro counties when they climb the ladder (AAs move down south too)

Harlem - being gentrified but black owned businesses are still opening up here everyday.

Brooklyn - lots of good areas for West Indians. AAs here either own a brownstone, leave the city and go to the burbs or go back down south.

Staten Island - the black community here in my opinion is a sh*thole.

Mount Vernon is the blackest city of the 20 largest NY cities. Why specifically do you say it isn't great for us?

I live in NYC and been to pretty much all of these places on that list and let me tell you everywhere on that list is a shyt hole with the exception of NYC 5 boroughs and White Plains

damn yall borough cats really shyt on Upstate ...

If you are Black born and raised in Upstate NY you essentially are born in poverty. No matter how you came up living you are still poor out there. Even though some of those

Syracuse was recently ranked as the number one city in the country where majority of the children are living in extreme poverty.

Most Black folks from upstate tend to move down south or to the Big Apple for better lives.

I've been to Syracuse visiting friends and a few family members and it's gloomy out there. The CACs be “sneakily” racist by doing certain backhanded gestures. The Black ppl there seems to scared of each other/constantly looking over their shoulder/crossing the street from not standing too close whenever a Black person (especially young/mid-aged) they don't know walks past them and I'm assuming it might because of the crime out that happens out there. Police in Syracuse don't seem to care and are pretty relaxed compared to NYC.

Not much Black culture upstate rather more territorial culture instead.

Muhfukkas in NY are much friendlier with white people than cats in California and down south in my experience. I'm not sure why that is, and of course it isn't every single black person, but in general NY cats are a lot more accepting of white people. I can tell you it definitely isn't because NY is less racist, because that ain't the case at all...

How you described the whites Upstate is ...

The flagrant poverty upstate is jarring, it is much more common to see blacks down bad than blacks doing well, but I will say they are tight knit. There is black culture in Central NY/Western NY/Albany...

Albany and Elmira might as well be Pennsylvania

People kill me with the "it's dirty" nonsense. What areas of Manhattan were you in? If you're in the hood it's not going to look great but if you're in most areas of Manhattan where there's money or businesses it's not dirty. Harlem has some beautiful streets but that's where there's brownstones and more money. My neighborhood is beautiful with plenty of trees and parks. Go to any state and impoverished areas are dirty.

Queens and Brooklyn are definitely more rough looking. They're more diverse but not confusing. Queens will have a block with all Mexican business and all Indians next to that. Then there's some suburban areas with million dollar houses.

There's plenty of things here you won't get elsewhere. You want art, food, fashion, parks, women, diversity...anything you name we have it in abundance.

I've been to other states and there's things they flat out do not have or they only have one. I still run around random blocks and find all kinds of stores and restaurants I didn't know existed.

Albany is more New England-oriented, it really isn't all that different stylistically from Hartford or Springfield, Mass..

Elmira is definitely PA, it is basically a twin city to Williamsport...

Went to Manhattan with a girlfriend back then, the Washington Heights area...

I never lived in NYC and never visited outside that one time, so I'm sure it's a culture shock if you grow up in NY and go elsewhere. I'll say this, everything NY offers is public information and I don't think NY is a drastically different experience from somewhere like DC, but I've also been to DC many times compared to just once for NY....

I lived in LA and have been many times and there isn't much of anything at all NY offers that LA doesn't, they have a parallel existence. The weather is different, the ethnic ratio is different, NY was established earlier and is a much older incorporated place, but as far as lifestyle and livability and things to do and entertainment options, LA is parallel with NY. The Culture shock of living in one and going to another are the changes in cultural nuance rather than one having more options of something that the other...

And again I think DC comes pretty close to what NY can offer, if you cut out a slice of NY the size of DC...

I'll give you that NY's size alone presents both a quality and quantity of many options that most places can't match, u just think LA matches it and DC is relatively close. Can't speak on Chicago or Miami and how they compare...

 

[Jblaze204]

Queens....Rosedale feels like another world in a good way. a lot of black home owners. most are Caribbean. a lot of racist history there as well. good to see its full of black home owners now.

 

[Supa]

Went to Manhattan with a girlfriend back then, the Washington Heights area...

I never lived in NYC and never visited outside that one time, so I'm sure it's a culture shock if you grow up in NY and go elsewhere. I'll say this, everything NY offers is public information and I don't think NY is a drastically different experience from somewhere like DC, but I've also been to DC many times compared to just once for NY....

I lived in LA and have been many times and there isn't much of anything at all NY offers that LA doesn't, they have a parallel existence. The weather is different, the ethnic ratio is different, NY was established earlier and is a much older incorporated place, but as far as lifestyle and livability and things to do and entertainment options, LA is parallel with NY. The Culture shock of living in one and going to another are the changes in cultural nuance rather than one having more options of something that the other...

And again I think DC comes pretty close to what NY can offer, if you cut out a slice of NY the size of DC...

I'll give you that NY's size alone presents both a quality and quantity of many options that most places can't match, u just think LA matches it and DC is relatively close. Can't speak on Chicago or Miami and how they compare...

Washington Heights is dirty but it's a lower economic area. I'm in the area above it which is the very top of Manhattan. The eastern part (Dyckman) is 90% Hispanic and looks like the Heights. The western side I'm on is totally different. It was mostly white but is more diverse now. It's a very family oriented area. You always see people with their kids and dogs heading to the park. Very friendly people too...

This is the park :

It's right on the Hudson River:

That's the Bronx on the right side of the bridge, Jersey in the background:

If you only visited the Heights you've only seen 1/1000th of NYC. You gotta see Greenwich Village, SOHO, LES, Alphabet City, Little Italy, Chelsea, Midtown, Columbus Circle, Central Park, The upper East/West sides, and Harlem. That's only Manhattan. Brooklyn and Queens are massive with plenty to see.

DC isn't close to offering what NY can

Cali has a lot but is a totally different lifestyle. There's a lot of suburbs and you need a car. You can move around NYC on foot and public transport will get you anywhere.

 

[murksiderock]

Washington Heights is dirty but it's a lower economic area. I'm in the area above it which is the very top of Manhattan. The eastern part (Dyckman) is 90% Hispanic and looks like the Heights. The western side I'm on is totally different. It was mostly white but is more diverse now. It's a very family oriented area. You always see people with their kids and dogs heading to the park. Very friendly people too...

This is the park :

It's right on the Hudson River:

That's the Bronx on the right side of the bridge, Jersey in the background:

If you only visited the Heights you've only seen 1/1000th of NYC. You gotta see Greenwich Village, SOHO, LES, Alphabet City, Little Italy, Chelsea, Midtown, Columbus Circle, Central Park, The upper East/West sides, and Harlem. That's only Manhattan. Brooklyn and Queens are massive with plenty to see.

DC isn't close to offering what NY can

Cali has a lot but is a totally different lifestyle. There's a lot of suburbs and you need a car. You can move around NYC on foot and public transport will get you anywhere.

When I lived in NY, I didnt enjoy it. Had alota issues with the chick I was there with and the weather and general culture was way different than anything u was used to, I was 21 when I got there and it wasn't my style of place...

Two years there and it grew on me...

I only spent one trip to NYC so of course I'm aware I didn't get anything close to a full NYC experience. I grew up transient though, born in (Sacramento) and lived in and been to many big cities, so while NYC is the biggest of them all and unique to anywhere I'd been, i didn't leave there with a feeling of damn, I really gotta get back here...

I think the way I grew up, from larger cities in general and moving around alot and seeing many places, is different from people who are from small cities or towns, or people who spent their adolescence in one place. Any big city, certainly NYC, or any place different if you'd never left your hometown, would hit you with that wide-eyed sensation, someone who grew up the way I did, no place is gonna have you open like that. I enjoyed the trip, one of her friends was from out there and I recognized it as unique but this wasn't some small town kid experiencing the big city for the first time...

It was just another new city I've been to. It was New York City, the biggest and most noted city of them all......but it was just another city to me...

I also didn't grow up where NYC was the gravitational city to move towards and I think that affects perception to. If I grew up in the Tri-State or the Northeast in general, I've seen myself from living Upstate the pull NYC has on people. But I didn't grow up where NYC was a must-see place, or people moving there in droves...

All that said, I'm sure I'll come back to visit one day, because I really wanna see Queens . Too many people told me I seemed like "a Queens nikka", abd in general research of Queens it seems like a place of enjoy. I don't really have a desire to see any other borough though, I was supposed to be in The Bronx on 4th if July '14 but went to jail on June 26, fukked up my plans. But if I never see NYC again I'm good, it's not a bucket list thing...

And besides probably Queens I think I'd prefer Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse over anywhere else in NY, but I spent more time in those places and they grew on me. I already know it's better for black folk in Queens than any of those cities, so Queens would be #1...

 

[360dagod]

Middletown new york seems to be the new wave for borough people looking to get a house..lol

I haven't seen anything appealing about the city