Help Please. Where do professional young blacks live in Columbus,OH?
Howdy! Everyone answered your questions very well.
I just wanted to add that Columbus black community is spread out across the whole city with large populations on the East and North East sides of town. Unlike Atlanta where u have a cohesive black community supported by HBCU's (Morehouse,Spelman,AUC) and good ole boy networks, family ties, who's who etc, the black community here is more intergrated with the rest of the city. Its that "up north" thing u hear about.
I guess what im saying is when you move here u have to get that "black" thing out of your head and partake in everything the city has to offer. Trust me you will run into other like minded black folks quickly. It takes a lil getting used to because coming from a city like Atlanta Columbus will seem veeeerrrry...um... vanilla. The only black folks you will initially see are the whole struggle bus set walking down the street, and teenagers. BUT if you pay attention to how many bruthas and sista's you see at an event like the Jazz and Ribfest or just driving down a suburban artery somewhere you will begin to wonder "where do all these folks hang out?" Thing is, they are at the same places everyone else is. ESPECIALLY if you live on the East side/Far East side.
When conpared to cities like Atlanta and D.C. we do lack cohesive events and nightlife. This phenom just happened in the past 10-15 years but Im assuming its going to pick back up with more first generation Millinieals getting older and fed up with not having truly diverse spaces and cultural events in the city we call home. For example, that popular soulfood resturant that most of the bougie black set frequents for Sunday brunch that doubles as a nightclub/lounge at night with special events consistently? We dont have those resturants here. LOL We used to but you know that 2008 recession hit our community pretty bad. BUT we have several other brunch options around the city that you will enjoy and will by chance see or run into that aforementioned crowd. There are also rotating events at various locations around the city that you will enjoy. Theres also many black owned eateries and buisnesses but none of them concentrated in one area. Some areas have more than others but no one area has a large concentration of them.
There have beem countless people who will tell you that HATED Columbus because of this lack of cohesiveness in the black community but I always remind them that this is the MIDWEST where living is easy and raising a family is optimum. Columbus definitley represents that set of people from the great migration that sorta,kinda found a itty bitty tiny tiny peice of the promised land so the need to CONSTANTLY stick together became null at some point. When you get here you will completely understand what im talking about. I have my own qualms with that (im a HBCU graduate so i have service to my community EMBEDDED in my DNA) but I just wanted to give some kind of insight on the what,why's and where's of the black community here. Everyday we out here hustlin... we just do it from our Volvo's and cul-de-sac's instead of on the corner. If you know what I mean lol.
Stationplay, thank you very much for the insight! Your points were well taken. I so hear you. I am really excited about the move but there is no place like home. Yes, I have been very spoiled by the D.C., ATL, and Houston's vibe. I am big on celebrating anything cultural (Black History Month, Chinese New Year, St. Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo) so I am just big on embracing one's identity and the collective culture that gives way to that identity and giving back to those communities, its when you have this embrace that truly makes our country rich and unique. Again, thank you so much for your insight; it was much appreciated.
Not to mention newer black populations and their professionals: Somalis, Eritreans, and Jamaicans, for example. As a former local you'll notice the newer wave of black immigrants and for an outsider it's a bit surprising.