One of the first questions I asked when heading to the Pacific NW was "where are the black people?" While I wasn't expecting the wonderful black folks of Seattle to fall into my lap, I was determined to get plugged into the black and blogging community to keep my social life (and sanity) in one piece. I reached out to anyone and everyone I knew in real life, or online, to see if they had contacts in Seattle. As of now I've been here 4 months and am still searching for my place.Yesterday journalist Tonya Mosley began her #BlackInSeattle series on KUOW (the only radio station I listen to in Seattle). While most people shared similar sentiments that it was challenging connecting with the black community in Seattle (with a black population of 7% it's easy to see why), there were a few that sang its praises. The issue at hand - - Seattle is great for natives, but with large companies like Boeing, Microsoft and Amazon bringing in more and more transplants, it's becoming hard to ignore how seemingly nonexistent the black community is here.
I will probably film a YouTube video about this so I can capture my rant on film lol, but I think my major gripe is that since I work in a traditionally white industry (advertising), it's very hard to be in that environment 9 to 5, and leave work only to be faced with the same reality. Mind you I've worked in advertising in different states across the country. Yes, I get it... I work in a majority white industry. That's another corporate rant... but life in Seattle would be a little sweeter if I could plug into a community of people that could relate. I'm not looking to recreate chocolate city lol, but being new to Seattle I wish there was an established something I could tap into.
On a lighter, more positive note... I was very excited about the twitter discussions and actually found some dope bloggers and other Seattle folks! Here's to hoping it was a push in the more social direction.
If you're black in Seattle, leave comment. Let's hang out! lol...
