Is Daily Heights only for white people?

Yeah, those assumptions are made quite often, but there are also some regulars that have previously stated their race and/or ethnicity.

so not true!

marie wrote: Related honest and serious question: What do you think of white people who say they don't want to live/move somewhere because there are no black people? I was part of a conversation the other day in which a white yuppie male said he really wanted to move to XYZ-city because it is inexpensive and has a good cultural scene, and then lamented "but there are no black people." Mind you he didn't say there are no hispanics, asians, etc.

In the spirit of the original question: are you black? If so, maybe he was just saying it to impress you.

linusvanpelt wrote: In the spirit of the original question: are you black? If so, maybe he was just saying it to impress you.

I'm the product of a black father and hispanic mother, and I do not look black, so I don't think this comment was meant to impress me.

Subject: Re: Is Daily Heights only for white people?

saintjohnsnear5th wrote: I've noticed that so many posts and replies seem to assume that the original poster is white. And their seems to be a general assumption that certain concerns (having too much money, living in Park Slope, having overprivileged kids) only effect whites and not blacks or Latinos.

There seems to be a general consensus that whites are overprivileged and therefore must feel guilty and that blacks and other non-whites must be preserved in order to make the neighborhoods authentic and quench the white guilt.

But it must be said, I know quite a few pretty broke, disadvantaged white folks in the neighborhood and conversely I know quite a few rather privileged local blacks...

That's an interesting, valid observation.

I cannot recall specific examples in which the poster assumes that the Park Slope audience is all white (maybe you can direct us to some?), but I can definitely relate.

Making quick assumptions about people online and off can be dangerous. The film masterpiece (joke), American Psycho, in which a rich, attractive, white man lures his victims to barbaric deaths is a perfect example of how relying on stereotypes can kill you.

Park Slope is filled with people from many different backgrounds and experiences. It'd be great if all Daily Slope posters refrained from using exclusory commentary and embraced us all!

Anonymous wrote: I guess people make that assumption because if you live in Park Slope or walk around it for any part of the day, you will see that about 98% of the residents are white.

Does anyone have the true statics as reflected in the census data?

Seeing black people in the neighborhood and black people being residents of the neighborhood are two different things.

As the statistics show above, only 8% of residents of 11215 are black. Sorry that I said 98% of residents were white, but the above statistics do show that there are very few black residents.

marie wrote: Related honest and serious question: What do you think of white people who say they don't want to live/move somewhere because there are no black people? I was part of a conversation the other day in which a white yuppie male said he really wanted to move to XYZ-city because it is inexpensive and has a good cultural scene, and then lamented "but there are no black people." Mind you he didn't say there are no hispanics, asians, etc.

i don't know about this comment in terms of a whole city, but in terms of a neighborhood within a city, it can make sense. for instance, the bridgeport area of chicago is one of the most famously segregated parts of a famously segregated city. in the 60's, when black people tried to move in, their houses were burned down, etc.

the bridgeport of today is pretty racially diverse, particularly for chicago -- there are many mexican and chinese residents, besides the traditional mix of irish/polish/italian. it's a decent neighborhood -- nicer than much of what surrounds it -- and the housing is cheap compared with similar places.

however, there are still almost no black people, which can be argued to point to the continuation of some very ugly racial politics. (all of the surrounding neighborhoods for miles and miles are majority black.) you get the feeling, walking around bridgeport now, that white flight may have made it necessary to accept some minorities, but that there are limits to the integration going on. i think a person could legitimately look at bridgeport and its apparent diversity, conclude that there is still some kind of racist crap that is excluding black people from the housing market, and decide against moving to a place that might welcome them, but has the creepy undercurrent of a place that does not welcome everyone.

Anonymous wrote: Seeing black people in the neighborhood and black people being residents of the neighborhood are two different things.

As the statistics show above, only 8% of residents of 11215 are black. Sorry that I said 98% of residents were white, but the above statistics do show that there are very few black residents.

Uhh, i think I apologized for that 98% remark already, time to let it go.

As for all the stats, about 100 people live on my upper slope park block, and I'd say 8 are of color (not differentiating between black/yellow etc).

saintjohnsnear5th wrote: [quote=Guest II]As for all the stats, about 100 people live on my upper slope park block, and I'd say 8 are of color (not differentiating between black/yellow etc).

Good for you. I think you'll agree that your block is not necessarily representative of the whole neighborhood. In my building there are 6 tenants; two are white, one is black, one is Filipino, one is biracial (white and black) and one is of Chinese background. All are pretty affluent with two of them being Harvard grads, one a Princeton grad and one a Cambridge University grad.

Who is talking about affluence? I thought we were talking about the racial breakdown of PS? And, in my experience living here for 20 years on a street right in Center Slope, I would have to say that your building is not representative.

Do you know how many of my neighbors in this building over the last 20 years have been black? None. Same goes for Hispanic. I have had 3 Asian neighbors over the years. And, this is just in my building where many people have moved in and out oh these many years.