Is this post racially insensitive?

[memphis]

I'm more disturbed by Scott's walls being Jesus-land.

^^^^^
Not really insensitive, though the Odd Couple dynamic has to be hilarious. If roomie acts ghetto, how is one to express this without saying it? Or are we supposed to just pretend like we don't notice for fear of offending the white people on Atlas Forum?

[memphis]

I really hate the term 'inner city." Nobody would use it to describe residents of Central Gardens in Memphis or the Central West End in St Louis because *surprise*, these neighborhoods are full of well to do white people despite being very old neighborhoods that are near the urban core. Instead, the term gets applied to places like Ferguson and Hickory Hill, which are very much suburbs and further out, just because most people there are black. I prefer the term ghetto. It's one word instead of two, the meaning is clear and there's less of a patronizing tone. Yes, it's a bit offensive, but no more so than "inner city." Frankly, there's no way to describe the sort of behavior we're talking about without being a little bit offensive. That's life sometimes.

[memphis]

Inner City in the sense of urban geography does not refer to the city centre but to a ring - the classical shape, though less common than it used to be - of deprived neighbourhoods around the city centre. It replaced (and is arguably a euphemism for) the older term 'slum'. There isn't really an English term for deprived suburb, but there is a French one and we might as well use it: banlieue.

And that's why I said near the urban core. Most American big city downtowns (as we call them, not sure if that term is used in the UK) are perfectly safe and, in addition to hosting the traditional officespace, are full of trendy, supercool types living in expensive lofts next to wine bars and small plate restaurants. Even in Memphis, the least supercool city in America. Outside of stray homeless people, of course poors don't live downtown. They often work there in restaurant kitchens and hotels though.

[memphis]

Inner City in the sense of urban geography does not refer to the city centre but to a ring - the classical shape, though less common than it used to be - of deprived neighbourhoods around the city centre. It replaced (and is arguably a euphemism for) the older term 'slum'. There isn't really an English term for deprived suburb, but there is a French one and we might as well use it: banlieue.

And that's why I said near the urban core. Most American big city downtowns (as we call them, not sure if that term is used in the UK) are perfectly safe and, in addition to hosting the traditional officespace, are full of trendy, supercool types living in expensive lofts next to wine bars and small plate restaurants. Even in Memphis, the least supercool city in America. Outside of stray homeless people, of course poors don't live downtown. They often work there in restaurant kitchens and hotels though.

You have Graceland and Beale Street; you're far more supercool than, say, Fresno or Jacksonville.

Ok, we might be a little cooler than Fresno or Jacksonville, but to be fair, Fresno has killer proximity to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, for which I would trade all the cool in the universe. However, the Memphis supercool crowd woudn't be caught dead at tourist traps like Graceland and Beale Street. That'd be like a New Yorker going to party at Times Square. As it happens, Graceland is in one of those "inner city" that's not really inner city neighborhoods we were just talking about. Perfect example of Al's banlieue. Unless it's for work or making the token visit to the King's house to satisfy visiting relatives, local whites won't go within miles of Graceland. And there's no reason to.   To the extent we have them, the cool crowd goes to South Main, not far from Beale, in Downtown, or to either Overton Square or Cooper-Young, in Midtown. If you ever want to visit and blend in with the local crowd, there's your tip. I feel like most cities have the tourist fun district and the local fun district, which is kind of a shame. It seems a little silly to travel many miles just to visit a readymade Disneyworld tourist district. Bourbon Street, Fisherman's Wharf, etc

[memphis]

He's from the same hood I hail from! Charleston represent!

Where do the locals hang out in Charleston? As tourist neighborhoods go, South of Broad is beautiful, but I suspect the crowd there is mostly out of towners.