Oblivious: Black people love Pittsburgh, too, but can’t help but wonder how much Pittsburgh loves them; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/19/14

Damon Young, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Oblivious: Black people love Pittsburgh, too, but can’t help but wonder how much Pittsburgh loves them:

For black Pittsburghers, though, an annoying bit of ambivalence has a tendency to attach itself to this civic pride. Even as we boast about living in America’s “Most Livable” or “Most Welcoming” city, we question whether it is truly livable for and welcoming to us. This is largely due to the fact that Pittsburgh’s relationship with its Yinzers of color has always been, for lack of a better term, complex. When you read “Pittsburgh is a wonderful city that doesn’t even see the mirror,” you can’t help but continue “ … and it doesn’t see its black people, either.”...What do I mean by “oblivious”? Well, let me put it this way: Between contributing writers and editors, there were (at least) a dozen different eyes that had a hand in creating this list. Apparently none of them thought to say “Um, guys. Not to be a stickler or anything, but out of all the black people in Pittsburgh, don’t you think it’s a little odd that the lone black person we named happens to be a basketball player? Feels kinda, um, stereotypical or something, doesn’t it?” I’m no idealist. I don’t expect some technicolor post-racial utopia here. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I don’t even want that. But, when it comes to recognizing the contributions of a demographic that comprises 26 percent of Pittsburgh’s population — a demographic that wants to love the city as much as the city loves itself — I do want one thing. An effort.