While hanging out at a popular coffee shop in Oak Cliff, a place where a cup of flavored joe will set you back three bucks, I realized that most of the middle-class African-Americans there didn't call Dallas home.
They lived in the southern suburbs of DeSoto, Duncanville, Lancaster and Cedar Hill.
For some, the coffee shop was a morning oasis on their way to work; for others, it was a midday refuge while they attended to business in the city.
I recall that recent scene because Black Enterprise magazine, in its July issue, ranked Dallas No. 3 among the 10 best cities for African-Americans to live and work.
Big D trails only Atlanta and Washington, D.C., two cities that traditionally have scored well on black-progress report cards.
African-Americans, and Hispanics, too, for that matter, have clearly taken some big steps forward in recent years. But does Dallas deserve to be ranked so high on the list?
| Continue Dallas Morning News columnist James Ragland's registration-required column "Dallas: A great place for blacks?"
posted in articles on July 25, 2004 8:07 PM | t (0)
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