The readers have spoken, and they’ve named Atlanta America’s blackest city!
In our utterly unscientific but completely black-ass poll that capped our monthlong series in which we challenged writers to explain why their city deserved the title of blackest city in America, Atlanta collected slightly more than 21 percent of the votes (the second highest vote-getter was Detroit, with 13.29 percent).
It should come as no surprise that Atlanta—the city that was the stand-in for Wakanda, the place where real housewives are bad and boujee, the metropolis that inspired the hit TV show named after it—won the top prize. As Forbes notes, Atlanta ranks No. 1 for places where black folks are excelling economically. It has the most black-owned businesses per capita of any major city, and 20 percent of black workers are their own boss, the highest rate in the nation.
Or as Michael Harriot wrote in his essay:
Atlanta is New York City without the smell of urine and having to sell a kidney to rent a broom closet-sized apartment. It’s Chicago without the arctic breeze and having to coordinate the way you cock your hat depending on the neighborhood you’re in. It’s L.A. without the superficial pretense, the wildfires, the mudslides, the droughts and the earth beneath your feet occasionally deciding to krump dance.
… Atlanta is the culture.
So congratulations, Atlanta. Stay black.