If you're moving to Atlanta (or anywhere really)

I wrote this in response to a post on AOL Blackvoices and thought I'd add it to my site. The poster asked "where are the best areas in Atlanta?" After several posts that seemed to limit the city to a handful of neighborhoods I wrote:

I think it's important to define, for yourself (and family if applicable), what "best" means. Do you need 100% of the kids exceeding standards? Do you want social and ethnic diversity? Are you willing to drive X number of miles to work, church or to shop? Would you like neighbors who are friendly and interested in getting to know you? What do you need to feel safe? What can you afford? I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the point! It's very easy to define an area based on surface level things like test scores or how the residents look. But, I believe so much more should go into these decisions.

We recently moved here from the DC area. I attended school in Northern Virginia and my county's system was considered THE best in the nation. My mother moved there, from DC, because of the school system. So it's ingrained in me to think those numbers are a big deal. However, I was one of few (and in some cases the only) Black kids in my classes. I struggled with my identity b/c the non-Black kids thought I was the stereotypes they see on TV. My mom had to put in double duty to expose me to things relevant to my culture and history. My husband grew up in NC. His neighborhood was a middle-class majority Black neighborhood. His school was split down the middle (50% Black/White).

While ALL of the highschools, in my county, were listed in the top 200 (Newsweek HS ranks), his HS landed at 740 a few years back. But he is a very bright man and all of his friends are college educated and doing well for themselves. They all have a definitive confidence in who they are and their apparently "average" or in my eyes "poor" school system didn't hurt them. It's important to check into school test scores. But don't write an area off without analyzing the situation. If 75% of the kids meet standards at school A and 85% do at school B, what does that REALLY mean? It doesn't mean the first is a bad school! We're only talking about a 10% difference, and the schools have unique student bodies and number of students which affect those stats. Most teachers want to teach and most students want to learn. You will have issues at any school. It's up to you to determine which kind you can take and what may/may not hurt your child. But, perfection is not possible and it's dangerous to get too hung up on those numbers. You have to look at the overall picture. I wouldn't jump at the chance to live in Clayton County for various reasons. But I wouldn't assume North Atlanta or Gwinnett are the only good options either!!!

When planning to move here, we had many a debate on what we wanted for ourselves and our children. Above all, we wanted freedom to be ourselves. Several visits and conversations later, we realized some of the "good" counties/areas would not afford us that luxury. Some are full of lifetime GA residents who resent the influx of Black folks. Others have transplants that are overly focused on status and themselves. We wanted a place where we would see folks who look like us. It didn't have to be 100% Black, but we never wanted to be the only/token in the grocery store or at the school. We also wanted them to have exposure to other ethnicities and people who aren't living at the same level (socially/financially) as we are. For us, these things are important in order to build socially aware and connected children.

We went with an area in east Atlanta that is near the perimeter. When mentioning where we live, we get occasional looks from the bourgeois who have determined these areas, and the people who live there, to be unworthy and disposable. However, I love where we live. It is both ethnically and socially diverse. Our neighborhood is safe and my children are happy. The stores and restaurants reflect our tastes and not the mass produced stuff that corporate America sells us. But, when needed, I still have Wal-mart, Target and Applebees just around the corner. So I wrote this novel to say, there are no good/bad areas. It's depends on what you're looking for. There are great neighborhoods throughout Atlanta.