More Black families are choosing this Sacramento suburb. ‘We want to be pioneers’

Boomer Bennett was looking to move out of Los Angeles during the coronavirus pandemic. He felt crowded in the city, as if everyone was stacked on top of each other. With four children, Bennett wanted more space and more opportunities for professional growth.

He spent some time in Citrus Heights in 2016, giving him a feel for what Northern California had to offer: space, shorter commutes and friendly neighbors.

But instead of making a move to Sacramento, Bennett chose Rocklin in 2021.

Rocklin was different, he said.

It offered great schools, large parks, and neighborly vibes for his children, 8, 6, 1, and 3 months. He felt a sense of community, and he liked that the city wasn’t growing as rapidly as Roseville, Sacramento and other cities seemed to be.

Their move made them part of a wave of Black families moving to the Sacramento suburb. Black families are still a minority in Placer County, comprising 2% of the population, but the 2020 Census showed a quickly rising number of African American households in several cities.

The number of Black residents rose by 48% in Rocklin. Roseville saw an even higher percentage at 64%, in Lincoln, the number rose by 39%; in Granite Bay, the number rose by 34%.

Bennett understands the draw.

He said while there is a stark difference in demographics between Los Angeles and Placer County, he said his family didn’t have serious concerns about moving to a predominantly white community.

“We always tell our children to look for a community that respects you, and look for a community that you can also respect,” he said.

Historically, the foothills and surrounding areas were a diverse area–housing Black, white, Asian and Latino men who mined for gold along the American River. Some foothill communities were founded by Black pioneers who settled there in the mid-1800s.

Today, about 405,000 people live in Placer County. Of those, about 272,500, or 67%, identify as white.

More than 35% of Roseville and Rocklin residents identify as non-white, and both are home to 8% more residents who identify as non-white than other Placer County cities, according to the U.S. Census. Nearly 65% of Rocklin’s population of 71,000 identifies as white, and 1.6% are Black.

Those demographics are challenging for some households.

Several Black families from Placer County have felt discriminated against as they settled into the community, including hearing racial slurs directed at them.

“You learn fast that you’re not welcome,” said Kristen Spence, who moved from Southern California to Lincoln in 2007. “I can’t wrap my head around it.”

Families look for quiet place to live

Several Black families said they moved to Placer County to escape a busy and bustling city life. Placer County cities like Rocklin, Lincoln and Loomis offered a mix of suburban and rural communities that were quieter and less dense.

For some residents, lower crime statistics and COVID-19 policies also drew them further north.

Jaafar Nope and his wife lived in downtown Sacramento until they moved to Loomis in 2021. Sacramento’s strict mask mandates frustrated the couple, and they grew concerned about petty crime around their home.

Placer County officials took a different path in the pandemic, taking a lighter approach to enforcing state public health rules.

“We were tired of how dirty the city had become with trash and abandoned cars.” Nope said.

Nope is now raising his 7-month-old daughter in Loomis, a city of 6,800 residents.

“We wanted to move to a smaller town where we felt safe, clean, and could enjoy ourselves and be happy coming home,” he said.

Some Black families struggle to find inclusion

But some families who have lived in Placer County for more than a decade recount struggles of inclusion and acceptance.

Spence moved to Lincoln from Southern California 15 years ago for work.

Initially, Spence, her husband–who is white–and their three children, were finalizing plans to move to Roseville. But Spence said they felt Roseville wasn’t diverse enough at the time, and Lincoln had a sizable Latino population. Spence said in the early 2000s, she can only remember a handful of Black residents around her.

Since then, both city populations boomed.

“It does help to see people that look like you in your community,” Spence said. “However, there is still a lot of discomfort due to the way we were treated when we arrived.”

But Spence said the growing Black community hasn’t necessarily reduced the number of times her family has been discriminated against. Spence said she has been called the n-word on several occasions.

‘Burden on Black people’

It’s common for some Black families to struggle in finding their place in largely white communities, said Elijah Anderson, a professor of sociology and African American studies at Yale University. He has written books about Black people in predominantly white communities.

His extensive research shows that white people tend to avoid Black communities and neighborhoods–suggesting “white flight” out of urban areas. However, Black people often feel they must tread carefully in white communities, Anderson states.

“That puts the burden on Black people to behave in a way that must be acceptable to other people,” Anderson said.

Oftentimes a single incident can cause people to separate along racial lines, Anderson said, like after two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks in 2018, or when a white woman called the police on a Black New York City birdwatcher in 2020.

Online conversations (Nextdoor, Facebook), media analysis, and politics can agitate the peaceful, harmonious community that Anderson refers to as a “canopy” in his book titled The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. Growing and diverse cities in California cities are no different.

Spence can relate to Anderson’s research. She’s noticed hateful comments online.

“Unfortunately with the increase of diversity, the voice of hatred has grown louder,” Spence said of those who have made targeted comments toward her in Lincoln. “There is a community that is not happy about this change, and has also continued to make it uncomfortable to be here.”

Seeing potential in Placer County

But Bennett said comments and racial slurs can happen in any part of the state.

“I’m from South Central Los Angeles, and my kids were already being called names that you would think they would be called in a white community, because of the generational era,” Bennett said. “If they are called racial slurs, they have been called that by individuals who look like them and individuals who don’t look like them.”

For Bennett, the growth potential keeps him optimistic.

“What place has good potential for the next five to 20 years? When I look at Placer County, I see the influence that Black individuals can have here,” he said. “We want to be pioneers who bring that demographic here. There already is a community here, but eventually we will have more Black communities moving and Placer County will check off on that list.”

This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 5:00 AM.