Dear goods:
Apparently I may be incorrect in my assumption about the east coast and lack of finding folx. I am on the west coast and with the exception of LA and the Bay, it is difficult to find us doing thangs out here, too. Why? I have yet to know.
But as the assistant graduate advisor for a city wide chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. it would appear to me at a largely caucasian/asian population the few black specks you can identitfy are really not trying to be a part of the larger picture in terms of participation in events.
The Afrikan Student Union at the school I teach, has a heck of a time getting the necessary working bodies needed to pull of a huge event such as a high school conference which recruits these kids. Other organizations on campus severely are affected, too. On top of that, because of prop 209, the number of African American college age kids attending a non LA/Bay area school is practically reduced to zero. Such as the University of California at San Diego--they only have no more than 100 blacks in a 10 mile radius of the school! So what kinds of lines of sight do you think you'll be able to see if you were to move out here? Then forget about the surrounding states because I hear it's worse! Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Idaho...
We are out there, but a little detective work will be required to find us. Then networking with be what will be your saving grace. Because there only so many Rocktoberfests I can attend without becoming rap music-deprived?
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