African American and Black Culture

End of the White Flight - Pt II

By Kamia Mwango on | From intheblack.today.com

Recent update

July 22nd, 2008 by Kamia

A recent Wall Street Journal article, The End of the White Flight (Conor Dougherty), cites that Black people have been moving out of cities and urban areas in droves. According to the article, the combination of Black people moving out of the city (into the suburbs) and White people staying in the cities has created a shift in the racial balance that previously existed. I can’t help but wonder what this indicates about the current Black community, and what consequences this has for the the future of the Black community.

First, let’s look at some trends that could be causing this migration of Black people from traditionally Black metropolitan areas:

Many Black people have achieved their goals of moving out of the cities in favor of the white picket fences of the suburbs.
The sense of a Black community has diminished to the point where it doesn’t matter where you live; there’s no connection to each other, anyway.
Many affluent Black people no longer stick around in the community and set up community organizations; they pack up the kids and move to a gated suburb to live in self-contained exsclusivity.
Younger Black people facing a struggling economy are moving back home with mom and dad, where their more established parents have homes in the suburbs.

Whatever the reasons may be, what does consequences will this recent trend have on the Black community? I know, for one, that I did not grow up in a predominantly Black area. I went to a private Baptist school in elementary school, and moved to a rural area after that. I had no concept of Black block parties, or RIP T-shirts, music videos, or Spring Bling. I did have a concept of “Blackness” as defined by my parents: community networking and affiliations, jazz clubs, and Black political activism. I think that more and more Black people are running from urbanism in an attempt to separate the urban lifestyle and definitions from Black culture itself. Urban culture has developed a great deal from the roots of Black culture once upon a time, but the concensus is changing. Some of us want to be set apart from what is viewed on BET. Some of us have an appreciation of culture without succumbing to the stereotype of the urban Black person. Having said that, some very basic Black institutions have been undergoing some changes as well. You know who I’m talking about- The Church. TD Jakes and Creflo Dollar are trying to relate across the board, as we become a culture that is no longer identified by our churches either. Not to say we don’t love our churches anymore, we do! It’s just that our church affiliations used to be the center and focal point in our community, and our lives just don’t revolve around it anymore.

All that said, where is our focal point? Where is the center and cornerstone of the Black community these days? How will we relate to one another? It can’t be that the media is our connectivity! I do not want the music videos and stereotypical TV icons to become what my children identify as Black culture. We overdosed on church, we no longer have tight-knit communities in established and traditionally Black areas. Where are we headed, folks? Hit me up if you know the next great rallying point for the African-American community.