“What goes up must come down” is not exactly an axiom that normally gets tossed around in the science of population migration, but that looks like an apt gloss of the nation’s African American moving trends.
According to a new study, the South is fielding waves of incoming black individuals packing up from the North and West for new prospects, a kind of demographic gravity that backtracks the Great Migration of the post-WWII years.
The Wall Street Journal has an article (and nifty chart) on the study, which was culled from data mined in the 2010 census. The findings conclude that currently three quarters of black America resides in the South. Cleveland, it turns out, is among the cities that have lost the highest number of African Americans between 2000 and 2009.
This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2011.
I will try and stay on topic, the issue I think are jobs. Black people move to areas where jobs are abundant and we have a chance for prosperity. I have never been to Cleveland but I have heard its a tough city and that Blacks whether African or as I call myself “Stolen Africans who just happen to have been born in America” have never been welcome in Cleveland. The South is where majority of our roots are, where most of our extended families reside, so to me we are just making a treck back to our so called “Homeland”. Makes sense to me, I’m thinking about moving to Sugarland Texas myself.
LOL at the ignorance of the 1st commenter. Please tell me that was a joke to anger some of the people with brown skin. Ha! Nonentity.
I was born and raised in Youngstown and now I reside in Cleveland. I moved here after I graduated college in Charlotte, NC 2005. Every part of the article is true. I’m not sure about the numbers but it’s tough living here. I have a job making 11.50/hr…most people that live here think that’s an ok income, it’s not. I made more money in college working part time in Charlotte. Most of the jobs I’ve had here pay around what I’m making now and the folks who don’t have degrees make the same as I do. They don’t pay you well enough here as a college grad which is why I think the so called educated are moving south. You make more money and have a better chance of sending your kids to A1 schools. In Youngstown you can forget about it…I moved to Cleveland to be close to home but not too close. If you can make it in Cleveland you can make it anywhere…
I from cleveland..E73 &Hough to be exact, and although Im die hard Browns And cavs fan, love Bone thugs and all that..the city itself is a WRECK!! THIS ARTICLE IS TRUE! I left cleveland in 07 and since then its got 10times worst..the job market is HORRIBLE and the crjme is off the chain..and Im born and raiswd in the hood..its so depressing now, even when I visit I cant way to get back home to ATL..everybod I know either got shot, got shot at , or they just gor Robbed..or dead! R.I.P. JOHNY BOYD..everybody! Its sad…and the music scene is awful!
The law is not black friendly or jobs . Cleveland keep build stuff for white people and it very hostile if your black here. Cleveland is not black friendly they act like its the 60’s, white wont even speak to most of the time. Walk by and bump u and no sorry or anything mostly the older though but they are the ones with the power and jobs. Whites move to the suburb and ill not spend money in cleveland thats why the city is build funny
CLEVELAND WAS FULL OF JOBS AT ONE TIME,BUT AS COMPANIES MOVE ACROSS SEAS AND TO THE SOUTH IT’S HARD TO FIND WORK….CLEVELAND NEEDS TO RE -INVENT IT’S SELF BEFORE THERE IS NO MORE CLEVELAND…..
I really want to see the other results with this. For example, has the total population of people with college educations dropped, their race aside? This may not be that much of a race issue, but a money issue. As a college student myself, I know I’ll more than likely have to leave the state to find a good job after graduation.
@luckygohappy – Yes, Cleveland’s (and, really, Ohio’s) #1 export is people, race aside. We have more colleges than any other state in the Union, but not nearly enough jobs to keep the graduates in the state. Cleveland’s population as a whole is declining, and not just to the suburbs. However, I am not sure what the rate is by race. It is possible that, although we are losing people overall, African Americans are lost at a faster rate? I just don’t know.
I’m a current college student. The article is true however I have no plans to move after I graduate. The south is inviting but MY roots are in Cleveland. It doesn’t have any more crime than other large cities! My roots are here. Life and success are what you make of it. I know individuals who moved to the LA area in 09 and wound up moving to Arizona because of Cali’s economic crisis. There is so much potential here. The reason it struggles is because the leadership does not know how to market it. We could definitely rival Chicago, NY, Minn, etc. The city needs to promote innovative ideas, especially with women and minorities who are committed to bring business to this area. That’s our future.
Well, around WWII, Cleveland…along with alot of Northern cities were predominately White. Blacks and Latinos moved into these cities for jobs, because so many men had left during the war and they just stayed. Cleveland WAS a very industrial city with the steel mills, so they came here looking to fill the positions that very vacant at the time.
Cleveland eats it’s young at an alarming rate. Blacks are persecuted and prosecuted more easily than whites. The good ole boy network, in its uneducated state, doesn’t understand how Black people can outsmart and out earn them. They must be doing crime….right? Anything not understood is labeled as illegal instead of innovation. Southern states understand that innovation creates a progressive tax base. In Cleveland, there are few private sector sustainable jobs or industries to earn a livable wage. So what happens now? The local government places everyone on probation as a source of income because there are no income taxes being produced. We will no longer as Black men, cow tow to ignorance and “white privilege”. I have never been racist, but experienced racism in Cleveland almost every day of my life. I’ve been called the “N” word as both child and adult by the same mini-van driving, miserable, cubicle working, associate’s degree having, white people that will always love Cleveland and wonder why LeBron left. I look at Cleveland with the same sympathy that I do watching a dog lick his balls. He finds comfort in what he does, but doesn’t understand how stupid and disgusting it is to the rest of the world.
BWAHAHAAAHA! My wife heard this on Channel 19 commercial and said “Dont tell me they are finally going back to Africa?!” People stop feeling guilty for being white. Its not your fault!
Sure innov8 probly as easy for you to stroll through Marcus Garvey Park Madison Ave, E 120 to E 124 streets Manhattan on a Sunday morning as it is to block my post. But as you can see that doesn’t stop me. I spent 5 years in the military where we were all “green” So I have an Infantryman’s view of your so called Black persecution. No sympathy for anyone who can spout such sophisticated rants about never being a racist while at the same time having such an acute sense of understanding for “the same mini-van driving, miserable, cubicle working, associate’s degree having, white people” that maintain America’s socioeconomic elevator. Why? Because it makes me angry enough to work. Even though from the time I was in elementary I was taught to be ashamed for owning slaves that I never owned. That I can’t say your “n” word. Or walk to deliver a newspaper on your side of the street without being beaten for money I don’t have. Sure I envy your culture and love Notorious BIG because he said the word without shame. What is your problem anyway? You want to be white but God blessed you because he knew you couldn’t handle the pressure. SO AS I SAID BEFORE BEING DELETED, IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT GO BACK TO AFRICA!