Mateel Forever II

Saturday, April 14th Mateel Forever 2

A fundraiser for the Summer Arts & Music Festival at Benbow Lake (June 2 & 3, 2007) 2pm to 1am
A mini Summer Arts festival featuring:

• Bayonics
• David Jacobs-Strain
• Lansdale Station (with Ruben Diaz)
• Axe w/880 South
• Lost Coast Marimbas
• Steel Toed Slippers
• Dragon Heart Tang Soo Do
• Humboldt Capoeira
• Lakshmi’s Daughters
• Malicki Diallo Bah
• All Shook Up Belly Dance
• Shae Freelove
• Raymond Thoya
• The Elliots
• A’Ok The Clown
• The Bindis & more!!!

Black Flight and conversion of the Bay Area into Simi Fernando Valley north

The SF Chronicle discusses the exodus of black residents from San Francisco. I’ve noticed it. When I started law school in 1990, the Fillmore and Western Edition were considered “black neighborhoods.” 3 out of 4 faces on Divisidero south of Geary were black. Now you’re hard pressed to find a black face, even in the soul food restaraunts of the neighborhood which have gone from black staple to white chic. I saw exactly three black faces on my last drive through.

San Francisco’s black population has dropped from 96,000 — or 13.4 percent of the city — in 1970 to an estimated 47,000 in 2005, about 6.5 percent of city residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. African Americans make up about 12.1 percent of the nation’s population overall.

“The decline is phenomenal,” said Hans Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California.

San Francisco is not alone. From 1995 to 2000, Oakland and neighborhoods of Los Angeles lost tens of thousands of black residents. Not one West Coast city made a list of the nation’s top cities for African Americans compiled last year by Black Enterprise magazine based on income potential, the cost of living, proximity to employers and housing costs. Most are in the South and most — coincidentally or not — have black mayors.

As I’ve discussed before, I think the unique character of Bay Area culture is dying. The latest casualty is the Castro. I suspect the neighborhood will be reduced to a tourist theme, much like Chinatown or Fisherman’s Wharf.