25% drop in African American population in Oakland

March 11, 2011

Oakland, whose thriving African American community for decades shaped black identity for the nation, lost nearly a quarter of its black population in the past decade, U.S. Census data shows.

Now, Oakland has nearly as many white people as it does African American. It also has nearly as many Latinos.

The exodus left the city with a net loss of 33,000 African American residents and made Oakland one of the few big California cities to decline in size. Oakland, which had the second largest overall population decline in the state, lost about 2 percent of its population, which now stands at 390,724. Only Santa Ana lost more residents.

African Americans have been moving in large numbers from urban areas to the suburbs and beyond for the past two decades in California. But the migration has particular significance in Oakland.

Oakland was where the Black Panther Party was founded, the place that produced iconic black politicians, athletes and entertainers. Hall of Fame athletes Joe Morgan, Bill Russell and Rickey Henderson all grew up in Oakland. So did entertainers like the R&B group the Pointer Sisters. Black congressional leaders Ron Dellums and Barbara Lee are both from Oakland.

Oakland's black community "brought African American identity into the mainstream, instead of the margins," said Ishmael Reed, author of "Blues City: a Walk in Oakland" and a longtime resident. "I just hate to see the decline."

Black people remain the single largest ethnic group at 27.3 percent of the population, just slightly greater than the white and Hispanic populations, which are 25.9 and 25.4 percent of the population respectively. Asians account for 16.7 percent. In 1980, black people accounted for 46 percent of the city.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/10/MNO91I8F86.DTL

 

As the article goes on to state, the black population of California has been on a steady decline since 1980. When I was a child, I remember Los Angeles feeling "blacker" than what it currently is; we even had a black mayor (Tom Bradley) for twenty years.

More than anything, I believe that the culprit behind the shrinking black population in our coastal cities is cheaper real estate elsewhere (inland counties and Nevada) and the desire of some to reconnect with the Southern roots that most American blacks have.

 

At my last house 4 houses on our culdesac were families that moved from Cali.

Then at my school, junior year there were a ton of people coming from California.