Dare To Aks Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 7 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 7 months ago by
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I live in a nice, but not fancy or rich, suburb north of Detroit. My brother recently had some of his work buddies (they are black) over to watch the NCAA playoffs. Three of the five guys were from the ghettos (their word, not mine) of inner-city Detroit and mentioned that they were very nervous about coming from the ‘City’ to the ‘Burbs.’ Does this surprise anyone else?
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Name : CHP, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Metro-Detroit, State : MI Country : United States,I grew up in Detroit and live here now. I have also lived in the burbs. I am not surprised by your brother’s friends’ comments, but I think we need to keep things in perspective. What has been these men’s personal experiences in the suburbs? I think this is another situation that begs for us to take other factors into consideration. I believe in general that black men experience more negative encounters in the suburbs than black women. (We aren’t necessarily perceived as a threat. Not necessarily welcomed, but not intimidating.) How many white friends do these men have who live in the suburbs? This would take into account the comfort level due to familiarity with the area. Personally, because of the work I do (have done)in the outlying areas and because of where I was educated (90 percent white), I feel quite comfortable in the suburbs. Comfort level has a lot to do with exposure/experiences. My family and friends, some black and some white, live in these areas. And hasn’t someone mentioned elsewhere the similarities among socioeconomic groups? You didn’t say, but were your brother’s friends from the same income bracket?
Beyond the racial difference (did they actually say this is what made them feel uncomfortable?), maybe they were uncomfortable being in an area foreign to them economically. Lastly, maybe they simply dreaded the very possible reality of being stopped by cops just because they were black men in a predominantly white neighborhood.
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Name : annonymous, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 34, City : Detroit, State : MI Country : United States,I can totally understand where the brothers are coming from. I get an uneasy feeling in my car driving to and from work when I see a police officer. Knowing I have done nothing wrong. But just knowing that the police has the ‘POWER’ to pull me over at any given time for what ever reason he may want to say.
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Name : Ms-Lou, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, City : Southfield, State : MI Country : United States, Social class : Middle class,No it doesn’t. If you are the police number one prime target, you wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving the inner city, to go to a mostly white neighborhood. It’s alomost like asking for trouble. I can’t wait for the time when white poeple aren’t surprised by things like this.
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Name : Dawn-S, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, City : Greenville, State : NC Country : United States,I’m white myself – with a background that certainly would not be considered poor, but I think ‘rich’ would be seriously exaggerating too – and I personally do not like being in many suburbs myself. Many suburban neighborhoods seem to me to be monotonous, dreary places, with absolutely nothing interesting going on (excepting a recent fight I witnessed between two guys pushing lawnmowers), which convey to me a sense of rigidity in organization that sets me on edge – as opposed to inner-city areas, which are often as varied from block to block as from mailbox to mailbox. Guess I just don’t like monochromatics, and I don’t mean color of skin. 🙂
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Name : Confused32015, City : NYC, State : NY Country : United States,I am originally from the ‘burbs’ of WA state, and my husband is from ‘the streets’ of MN. He always makes fun of me for being so proper and listening to my John Mayer. I make fun of him for using more slang than actual words. We don’t really take it that seriously because we understand that where you come from is all you know and it’s interesting to learn about what’s on the other side of the fence. We should embrace the differences in us all and educate, not perpetuate the steryotype. Everyone should just make fun of each other and lighten up 🙂
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Name : Kimchee, Gender : F, Race : Blackorean, Religion : Christian, Age : 21, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Accountant, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,Realize that black men, especially, are very uncomfortable in the presence of whites. I remember one day seeing a group of African-Americans hanging out across the street from my house, and when I came out onto the street, they bolted quickly and cleared out.
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Name : Paul-A19551, City : Long Beach, State : CA Country : United States,This is not surprising to me. They probably are experiencing the same feelings you would if you, as a European American, were to go in to a predominantly African American ‘ghetto’.
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Name : Kim19695, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, City : SC, State : PA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,
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