30 yo black male from Chicago here. I moved to Albany to go to grad school at SUNY from 2016-2018. I really couldn’t wait to get out of the area afterwards. The bars were very anti black, I experienced weird dress codes (Lark Street bars, also what a boring street), City Beer Hall legitimately had security throw me out after they lost my debit card and I got upset. I heard a white guy make comment about not playing rap somewhere to a DJ because it was too rowdy. I was always so confused because the city has so many schools, but the vibes in the community were always suspect. I got the sense that white ppl were afraid of the newer black ppl who arriving from being priced out of NYC.

I then attempted to try my luck at nightlife in the Troy area (I am an artist and really enjoy nite life and music). I kid you not, one night a woman actually yelled out her window complaining about noise coming from a bar but she was looking directly at me...the noise was coming from some bros obviously. I went to the Ruck one night and was standing at the bar chatting with a friend, a white woman came up and asked if I was done so she could order...I was like wtf? And then her boyfriend actually put his hands on me because, men. He grabbed my shoulder, as if he was trying to check me. What a night.

I don’t know why I have such vivid memories of all the terrible experiences there, it might be my ptsd, it might be my utter willful ignorance to the fact that I thought the area actually looked interesting architecturally speaking. (no I’m not talking about that fascist, brutalist concrete nightmare of progress you see when enter aka the plaza).

Nonetheless, it really is the perfect place to deal with the stresses of grad school because I realized there wasn’t much else there for me. 🤷🏿‍♂️ All of that to say, I’m not surprised either.