Young African-Amerian Male Relocating To Memphis...Your Perspective?

[Snake Plissken]

Originally Posted by ShaunJuan

Also, Just like Snake, you come off as the type of person who has never really been outside of the Mid-South and seen and experienced the differences between Memphis and other parts of the country that actually work like they are in the 21st Century. But as I said, that's on YOU. Keep on living in the Memphis area---especially one of the toy towns---and painting your own reality since you think everything is so rosy and wonderful here.

I've actually only lived here for about three years. My family is from New York, and I grew up there, St. Louis, went to college in Chicago, and then lived in South Africa for a year. And here I live in downtown Memphis, not Germantown or Collierville. So your ad hominem doesn't really work there.

Moreover, if you actually paid attention to what anyone says on this message board, you'd know that I am definitely not someone who thinks everything is "rosy and wonderful" in Memphis. Thankfully you seem to be a lot more negative than even me, so good thing I don't have to be 'that guy' anymore.

[MissMemphisBelle]

I agree that there are a lot of problems in Memphis. But there are a lot of good things, too. It's very easy to focus in on all the negatives and fail to see the positives.

I'm very concerned that someone reading this thread and some of the others on this site are going to think Memphis is a big hole that everyone just needs to stay away from.

It's not true at all.

It's easy to sit behind a computer screen and curse the darkness. What about lighting a candle? ShawnJuan, I think you've mentioned moving to Houston, but speaking as someone who's spent a lot of time there, trust me, Houston is not without its race problems, crime problems, class problems, etc. Also, the weather there is even MORE humid than Memphis's....

I'm coming back to Memphis because there are a lot of good things going on there that just seem to be ignored by a lot of people. Ok, the schools have problems. So do Atlanta's. So do Dallas's (where I live now). A lot of the same problems facing Memphis schools are also being faced in other metro areas. Wealthy people are pulling their kids out of Dallas schools, too. Shoot, 2 years ago, we had massive layoffs of teachers in Dallas because the superintendent effectively made an accounting error! And, did you happen to hear the story on NPR either yesterday or Friday about the huge problems in Kansas City, MO schools?

I, personally, plan to become more involved in my city when I get moved back. When I lived there before, I lived in the county; now I'll be in the city, in East Memphis. (By the way, where I lived before, near Shelby Drive/Hacks Cross/Germantown Road was predominately middle class African Americans. It was and still is a very nice area).

I'm looking forward to being back in Memphis and enjoying the excellent health care, the awesome Memphis Greenline, Shelby Farms, finishing up my graduate degree at the U of M, enjoying the Dixon Gallery, the Botanical Gardens, the Zoo, the reasonable traffic, the excellent restaurants, and that funky Memphis vibe.

[JMT]

Thread closed. Hopefully, some of you can learn to disagree and be civil at the same time.