Soror, let's see ... where do I start with the left coast... lol.
I went to grad school in the bay area and so I lived up there (Bezerkeley and Oakland for 2.5 years) and have been living in LA for almost 2 years.
Ok, where do I start.
1. First, the housing is ridiculous. You get a raggedy piece of a 2 bedroom CONDO for half a million dollars -just b/c the land is sitting in the state of California. The house will be only 30 years old if you are lucky and it will require work more than likely. The.housing.market.is.ridiculous. I am a lawyer and if *I* think that it's ridiculous - and we are some of the highest paid folk in the country - then how is anyone else supposed to really live there - w/out the need to get married just to be able to afford a mortgage. Perhaps people don't understand that a half a mil condo means almost 4K per month - just for housing expenses, when you add in taxes, 300/month hoas, plus the other stuff that you pay in addition to the 2600/month mortgage...oh, unless you just want an interest only loan or a loan on which you have the option to not even pay the interest..let alone the principal.
2. Second, the human dynamics out west are just WEIRD plain and simple. The AA guys - the only ones that are normal are the ones who aren't really from there. I have NEVER seen AAs that will avoid the eyes of other AAs on the street. WEIRD. Um, hello, I have news for you scary man, you're AA too. So stop tripping.
3. Third, if I have to go outside or go anywhere one more time and only see AA guys with latinas, I may have to scream. Oh, ok, it's ok b/c they are "ethnic minorities" too. Give me a break. 20 years ago, AA guys were trying to date caucasian women. That didn't go over too well so now they are trying to date latinas. These men will do whatever they can get away with. Cali is the only place in the country that I know of where it is such a "coincidence" that so many AA men fall for non-AA women. Maybe the coincidence is caused by something in the water in LA. Not sure. But I think that we would all agree that the coincidence is just uncanny, isn't it?? Who are our sisters out there supposed to date if they want an AA man? marry? The pickings are real slim.
It is a beautiful place (esp. northern) but it depends on what you're looking for I guess. I have enjoyed Cali but again, I had a boyfriend already (who had been normalized by leaving Cali and going to an HBCU), and I didn't care about building any kind of financial wealth. I was ok with paying $50/week to get my hair washed and wrapped, $50/night to board my dog at his cage free boarding place, $1846/month for my 2 bedroom apartment. Now...I's tired.
4. Fourth, everyone is so worried about promoting how great "diversity" is that AA are LANGUISHING - absolutely LANGUISHING - in LA while AAs there are so busy trying to talk about how great a diverse environment is. How is it great when AA are struggling so much? I looked at an LA Urban League report and do you know that AAs in LA have the fewest numbers of businesses, least wealth in terms of home ownership rates, lowest pay??? Now who is diversity helping. Even the immigrants that migrate to the US, like the latino and asian populations in LA have a greater number of business and own a greater number of homes. What gives? This SUCKS for AAs yet we are the first to talk about how great some place is b/c it is diverse. To me, we are so busy trying to get with everyone else and are afraid unfortunately to just be by ourself, ack that there is nothing wrong with that and address the problems of AA, support our own businesses, etc. What is wrong with that? Cali is so diverse yet AA are struggling so much. I'm not convinced that diversity is so great. It's like the segregation, integration arg. I just don't know.
And another thing. What is so diverse about having a population that is mostly caucasian, latino and asian and AAs are only 9% of the population - and even that's just in Oakland and LA- literally. What's so diverse about that? When you travel the six hours between Oakland and LA, you may not see one AA face. What is so diverse about that? From my perspective, it's NO WONDER that these little AA girls in school in LA hate themselves and think that they are ugly. They have no real sense of anyone telling them that they are beautiful and no body at school even looks like them except for in the worst of the worst schools. Why would you want to send your child to school in an environment where they will be isolated and no one even looks like them? It's ludicrous to me...and it's no wonder they are afraid of me and other AAs. It's no wonder that they think that the symbol of beauty is the valley girl - b/c that's who they see in school b/c we are so out of touch with reality that we are sending out kids to schools where there aren't even anymore AA kids. These AA kids come to HBCUs and are amazed - b/c some of them have never even spent any time around me or other AAs...b/c there aren't any in the neighborhoods - unless you live in Inglewood or LA proper, Inglewood of which has one of the worst high schools in the NATION...yes, nation.
Cali has a lot of work to do from my perspective.
It has served it's purpose for me but now it is time to move on. While I am paying 1800 per month for a 2 bedroom apt, I could have a house and 2 others to rent out (literally) almost anywhere below the Mason Dixon line.
It's a beautiful and fun place and if you've got some money to spend, it's a fun time. You just gotta bring your man with you (lol) and ignore everyone else.
SC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugar08
I know that the South and the Midwest are getting most of the love here, but let me put in a plug for the Bay Area of CA... I grew up in California and went to school in D.C. (LOVED it there), and now I live in Central NJ.
But California has a sizable population of upwardly mobile black professionals in both L.A. and the Bay. I do prefer the Bay slightly.
As for Atlanta, I went there once in high school and hated it, went back in college and liked it... but I don't think I "get it," either. |