Assuming it depends on the person .
As a person who was born and raised in a real black city I find it damn near impossible to live in a city where we’re not the majority . I’m not a militant ass nikka but it would feel strange as hell. The vibe is totally different in a real black city and it simply cannot be matched in the majority in other spot . You can dump me in any spot where nikkas act like it’s hell on earth and that shyt wouldn’t bother me at all but in Atlanta I felt like a damn alien and nikkas was talking about that’s a black Mecca .
I’m pretty sure any nikka from Memphis ,Birmingham or any other REAL black city would have similar feelings. shyt is just different
Where did you grow up?
I went to 8th grade in Memphis (2002-03 school year, Memphis was 60% Black back then), and over the years, I spent a ton of time in Memphis---->haven't been since my (step)grandma died in '17, but between the time I left in '03 and her passing in '17, I went back at least 5 other times...
Granted, I actually lived in a white area of town back then, but went to church in Frayser and had family all over South Memphis from Westwood to Riverview to Blackhaven, had an aunt that worked out east at Oak Court. So I'm illustrating that our apartment was in a white hood but I spent a ton of time in blacker areas of the city, and ironically the part of town that was only around 15-20% Black when I lived there, is like 40-45% black now...
It is different in mostly black cities, but there are positives and negatives to that. I grew up in California and Virginia and never saw as many black people in concentration until I went to Memphis. It was foreign to an extent, but the real culture shock was the southern-ness more than the demographics...
Personally Memphis is not the city anyone should hang their hat on as black excellence. Per capita and household incomes for black folks are WAY below national average in Memphis, overall poverty and child poverty are twice the national average, violent crime rates are like 6x above national average, the public education is one of the worst in the nation, higher education in Memphis is arguably the worst of any city that anchors a 1-million+ metro---->seriously, name a middle to large sized city with a worse higher education infrastructure than Memphis....
Wages are extremely low, the city is insular to a fault, I mean the list goes on. Sure, there could be black cities great for black people but Memphis isn't one of them by any measure that matters...
Nashville is a significantly better place for black folks in the same state as Memphis, with half the number of black people and us as a total making up less than a quarter of Nashville's population...
I'm less familiar with Baltimore but I've been several times and it has most of the same issues as Memphis. Been to Birmingham a few times, ditto for them...
There are drawbacks to growing up in integrated areas, or areas where we are the minority, but there are positives too. The real thing is we gotta find the right places that promote the health abd sustainability of black people, and contrary to popular belief, we can find this all over the nation, all these areas don't look the same...
