Best Cities For Black People In...Part V: TENNESSEE

[murksiderock]

I'm starting an original series I'm calling, "Best Cities For Black People In...", beginning with my state of current residence and profiling all seven states I've lived in (Arkansas, California, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia), finishing with my state of birth...

There is no real methodology other than what I find important in my own black experience. I'll start by listing the black population percentage of the 20 largest cities in each state, and chronicle what I know about the black experience in said cities and state and what makes one place better or worse for us as a people...

I'm only one black man though, and I understand my desires and tastes differ from others, so I fully encourage every other person on this site to engage in this series with what you know about these states, cities, or any inquiries you have!

Links to Parts I thru IV below:

(North Carolina)

Best Cities for Black People In...Part I: NORTH CAROLINA

I'm starting an original series I'm calling, "Best Cities For Black People In...", beginning with my state of current residence and profiling all seven states I've lived in (Arkansas, California, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia), finishing with my state of birth... There...

www.thecoli.com

(Virginia)

Best Cities For Black People In...Part II: VIRGINIA

I'm starting an original series I'm calling, "Best Cities For Black People In...", beginning with my state of current residence and profiling all seven states I've lived in (Arkansas, California, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia), finishing with my state of birth... There...

www.thecoli.com

(New York)

Best Cities For Black People In...Part III: NEW YORK

I'm starting an original series I'm calling, "Best Cities For Black People In...", beginning with my state of current residence and profiling all seven states I've lived in (Arkansas, California, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia), finishing with my state of birth... There...

www.thecoli.com

(Georgia)

Best Cities For Black People In...Part IV: GEORGIA

I'm starting an original series I'm calling, "Best Cities For Black People In...", beginning with my state of current residence and profiling all seven states I've lived in (Arkansas, California, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia), finishing with my state of birth... There...

www.thecoli.com

 

[murksiderock]

Part V, 20 largest Tennessee cities and their black residency percentage:

Memphis 62.4%

Jackson 44.4%

Chattanooga 30.2%

Nashville 26.2%
Clarksville 23.5%
Bartlett 20.1%

Murfreesboro 19.2%
Columbia 17.8%
Knoxville 15.9%
Smyrna 15.9%

Gallatin 14.4%
Collierville 11.7%

Hendersonville 8.4%
Cleveland 7.8%
Mt Juliet 7.8%
Johnson City 6.8%
Spring Hill 6.2%
Franklin 5.3%

Kingsport 3.7%
Brentwood 3%

 

[murksiderock]

I spent a year in Memphis but have otherwise visited the city many, many times. I haven't been since my grandmother's funeral in June 2017, but I consider myself pretty familiar with the city...

I've also been to Knoxville, Jackson, and Nashville, and basically all the surrounding towns of Memphis. All the other Top 20 cities, I've never been to...

If you ask me, Memphis is not a great place for black people, but I can highlight some of its strengths...

Memphis is black as fukk, and with that comes black representation across the board. We need that, we need to see it, we all know there are many places I'm America where we are either underrepresented or misrepresented or not represented at all. Memphis has this in spades...

The city is so deeply culturally black its in virtually every facet of our experience there. It's the blackest city I've ever lived in period, with its own unique food and entertainment and slang abd everything. Memphians love Memphis more than any place I've ever been, I've never really heard Memphians shyt on Memphis, whereas in most places, you find natives who will criticize their city...

That unwillingness to really acknowledge Memphis' flaws is both a gift and a curse...

Everybody pretty much knows Memphis is one of the most dangerous large cities in the US, and in a city that's 62% black, Black Memphians are the ones impacted by that violence astronomically more than other Memphians. The poverty here is abjectly horrendous, there are areas of Memphis that are crumbling and burnt out and falling apart. It's terrible and it's sad. Memphis has a number of middle class and up areas for us, again this is a city over 62% black so that goes without saying, but you're never far from the hood in Memphis and there are more bad hoods than good ones...

Memphis is a blue collar city, which is great if you're in a blue collar industry. If you're white collar your options here are limited...

It gets fukking hot as fukk in the summer and the insects here are among the worst I've ever encountered. Big and nasty...

Public schools in Memphis are awful, and the higher education infrastructure isn't much better, it's not a city with a string education pipeline. And the city has been plagued for generations with corruption at the civic level, judicial level, school board, police, everywhere. Its a dog eat dog city from the streets to the office...

All that said, I have a love and affinity for Memphis that will never disappear. Memphians are maybe the toughest muhfukkas I've ever met, and I'm not talking physically, "beat your ass" tough, I mean emotionally tough, mentally resilient. This black ass city is still run at the very top by white ass racists and Memphians have found ways for many generations to carve out areas of success, its incredible if you hear some of the history. And it's a deeply historic city, Memphians are proud of their history good, bad, and ugly...

Memphis BBQ is the GOAT BBQ and their food in general is amazing, and the pride these people have in their city is captivating. There's a charm here that's hard to describe but I can't help but love it...

I don't think it's a great place to live black, Memphis' weaknesses are super weak and widespread and far outweigh its strengths for me, but that's me and others may disagree. But I love this city, it's a very, very special place. I'd never live here again and I can't tell you the next time I'm going to visit, there's too much emotion involved as my grandmother was a huge part of my life. But I'll always have love for Memphis and the time away won't change that...

 

[murksiderock]

In general I don't think Tennessee is a great state for black people, but I think Nashville is one of the greatest cities for us nationally. It's an amazing city with outsized entertainment options for its size...

Nashville is also alot more culturally black than most people realize, a whole lot of black history and black success there. I almost moved here on a whim 11 years ago and a small part wishes I would have. Nashville is basically a mash-up of Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh, with a slight dash of Memphis. A really culturally diverse and vibrant city...

I like Knoxville but our people here are going thru it, I definitely wouldn't characterize Knoxville as great for black people...

@rbksNgirbauds hop in and tell us about Chat Town, I've never been. @Easy-E can tell us more about Nashville in depth, any other Tennessee posters or people familiar with Tennessee tap in!

 

[Samori Toure]

Memphis is family. If you have family from West Tennessee then it would all make sense to you. There is a lot of history and very famous people from Memphis, but if you don't have family there or in Mississippi or in Arkansas then Memphis probably doesn't make a lot of sense for outsiders.

Nashville has more than just a dash of Memphis. Nashville has had an influx of out of State people moving in during recent decades, but historically people had moved a lot in between Nashville and Memphis. There are a lot of historical ties between those two cities, but Memphis never invested in it's infrastructure the way Nashville did. Memphis also doesn't promote itself the way the Nashville does even though Memphis has a more significant musical history than Nashville, which makes me think that Memphis and West Tennessee as a whole didn't want to lose contole of their region. Jackson is the midway point between the two cities.

Chattanooga is aight. Jackson is aight. Clarksville is aight.

Knoxville is straight trash. Period.

 

[rbksNgirbauds]

In general I don't think Tennessee is a great state for black people, but I think Nashville is one of the greatest cities for us nationally. It's an amazing city with outsized entertainment options for its size...

I almost moved here on a whim 11 years ago and a small part wishes I would have. Nashville is basically a mash-up of Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh, with a slight dash of Memphis. A really culturally diverse and vibrant city...

I like Knoxville but our people here are going thru it, I definitely wouldn't characterize Knoxville as great for black people...

@rbksNgirbauds hop in and tell us about Chat Town, I've never been. @Easy-E can tell us more about Nashville in depth, any other Tennessee posters or people familiar with Tennessee tap in!

Plz don't hold me to it mane, but if I remember I'll give my two cents on the topic more in depth a lil later today.

And bro you got a gift for scribing and journalism. I think you should tap into that professionally, if you already ain't. Just my opinion.

 

[Back&4th]

Memphis folks shyt on Memphis all the time breh, yeah is the largest metro with a high Black%
Corrupt leadership and the State Government neglect slowed down economic progress here.

Though from my perspective its on the come up, Ford EV plant, renovated airport/ convention center, new Art Museum, new development: One Beale Complex, Orleans Station, Snuff District, The Walk, Butler Row, 18 Main, PGA Tour, now The Rock is shooting his show here, some of P-Valley's cast and creators are from here, the music scene is on the national spotlight now.

Public schools bad tho, Whitehaven, WhiteStation, Central and Germantown top. Most upperclass folks send they kids to private schools like Lausanne, Christian Brothers or Briarcrest.

Nashville is nice, tho most people I kno that lived there, actually lived in Murfreesboro. Its full of transplants now, cost of living has soared, you can go on Google Maps and see the Gentrification. Beware working class; especially black folks, getting priced out.

I got a cousin that lives in Knox, which is UT city, he says its boring but the crime is low, mountains are beautiful, so he likes it.

I know noting about Chatt except people there love to hike and thats where Samuel L Jackson from.

 

[murksiderock]

Memphis folks shyt on Memphis all the time breh, yeah is the largest metro with a high Black%
Corrupt leadership and the State Government neglect slowed down economic progress here.

Though from my perspective its on the come up, Ford EV plant, renovated airport/ convention center, new Art Museum, new development: One Beale Complex, Orleans Station, Snuff District, The Walk, Butler Row, 18 Main, PGA Tour, now The Rock is shooting his show here, some of P-Valley's cast and creators are from here, the music scene is on the nationally spotlight now.

Public schools bad tho, Whitehaven, WhiteStation, Central and Germantown top. Most upperclass folks send they kids to private schools like Lausanne, Christian Brothers or Briarcrest.

Nashville is nice, tho most people I kno that lived there, actually lived in Murfreesboro. Its full of transplants now, cost of living has soared, you can go on Google Maps and see the Gentrification. Beware working class; especially black folks, getting priced out.

I got a cousin that lives in Knox, which is UT city, he says its boring but the crime is low, mountains are beautiful, so he likes it.

I know noting about Chatt except people there love to hike and thats where Samuel L Jackson from.

Knoxville ain't low on crime . I have a cousin there too, and personally I like Knoxville, bit it's rough for black people across the board. I wouldn't live there...

Memphis music has always been national, too...

I will say in my experience Memphians criticize Memphis far less than residents if other cities...

 

[bordeaux]

There really isn't much in Memphis besides factory jobs. My brothers and I had to move to Nashville before we really started thriving. You can go an entire day in Nashville without seeing another black person.

 

[Easy-E]

@Easy-E can tell us more about Nashville in depth, any other Tennessee posters or people familiar with Tennessee tap in!

I'm trapped around white folks and the Latino immigration is crazy (my apt building is 98% them)

I don't even know the good spots for black folks

I'm tryna link up and find better spots

 

[Easy-E]

There really isn't much in Memphis besides factory jobs. My brothers and I had to move to Nashville before we really started thriving. You can go an entire day in Nashville without seeing another black person.

I cant even find a sista on Tinder breh

Cac single mothers glalor

 

[GoAggieGo.]

Used to live right outside of Chatt, in North Georgia (Dalton). I spent more time in Chatt than I did Dalton, due to the black folks you could find in the city, as opposed to north Georgia. Downtown Chatt was cool. Loved walking the city. Being in the mountains was cool.

Been to both Knox and Nashville. Knox wasn’t really much to write home about. Some of the best partying I did was at UTenn during an engineering conference at the school. Hung out with some gals from Memphis. Cool as hell, smart, and real pretty. All the good things people say about Nashville is true. Great great city, with tons of culture; black culture. Last time I was there, had too much of that hot chicken. It was good, though. Partied with a few of the bunnies out there. Great time.

 

[Samori Toure]

I'm trapped around white folks and the Latino immigration is crazy (my apt building is 98% them)

I don't even know the good spots for black folks

I'm tryna link up and find better spots

North Nashville and East Nashville is where most of the Black population lives, but it is getting gentrified in those areas.

 

[murksiderock]

There really isn't much in Memphis besides factory jobs. My brothers and I had to move to Nashville before we really started thriving. You can go an entire day in Nashville without seeing another black person.

Nashville is over a quarter black, so if you can go a whole day without seeing another black person, is Nashville heavily segregated?

 

[Samori Toure]

Nashville is over a quarter black, so if you can go a whole day without seeing another black person, is Nashville heavily segregated?

No it is not. Nashville is thoroughly integrated. Black people live all over the city.