I grew up in Detroit. While we never considered our neighborhood to be a bad one, we also never spent time reading crime statistics. We were kids and we never felt like we were in danger. There was that one time that our car was stolen out of our backyard. There was that one time that one kid got shot. But, all of that is a blur for me now. That all happened back in the 80’s. I remember that my mom wouldn’t let us wear gold jewelry (even the fake stuff that they sold by the inch down on Grand River) because she didn’t want us to get shot or held up. It was obviously loving concern. But, we never felt like we were in mortal danger. These are all memories that I had to dig deep to find. I don’t think about those experiences often. On the contrary, I think about growing up in a neighborhood that had a block club and block parties. I think about a neighborhood wherein all of the homeowners had been there for 20+ years before I was in Kindergarten. I think about any adult having the right to lay hands if I acted out of pocket. No, I didn’t live in a bad neighborhood. I lived in a neighborhood that exchanged Christmas gifts from one house to the next. I remember wearing that goddamned elf hat and walking presents to the neighbors. It’s funny how one’s outlook determines the quality of the neighborhood. When I tell people that I’m from Detroit, there is almost always an audible groan. Don’t pity Detroit based on some shit that you’ve read in the paper. Live in Detroit, experience it for yourself and then form/share your opinion on the city. I loved my neighborhood.
After living in a few major cities, I still hear people use the phrases good neighborhood and bad neighborhood. I used to ask people what they meant by that. It turns out that no two answers matched. So, I stopped asking. Then, I realized that people often used the aforementioned phrases during the aftermath of some event. “This is supposed to be a good neighborhood! I can’t believe that you got held up!” or “This is a bad neighborhood, you’d better be careful.” Using such phrases is an expression of a false sense of security. I moved to the Bay Area in 2010. I’ve lived in Oakland the entire time. With all of the cities that I’ve visited in my life, I’ve noticed a division between cities separated by a bridge. I’ve seen it happen between Kirkland and Seattle, North and South Dublin, and between San Francisco and Oakland. I can understand the sports fans being in perpetual disagreement. But, many* San Franciscans speak about Oakland as if it’s somehow less than San Francisco. “Why would you live there?” some of them ask. “Oakland is so ghetto.” I once heard someone say. While I will concede that language is a perpetually evolving part of our lives, the definition of ghetto is “(n) 1. a part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups. 2. an isolated or segregated group or area.” So, when people refer to something as being ghetto (using the word like an adjective) it’s important for them to realize the subtext of their message. [I’ll let you come to your own conclusion on that one.]
It’s time that we change the conversation about Oakland. When I walk around this city, I see young black men talking to younger black men about goals and ambitions for the future. The conversations are much deeper than “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I see father’s spending time with their kids. I see two parents (be they step or birth parents, I know not) spending time with their kids. I see elderly black men playing chess peacefully and discussing their favorite books. I see volunteers running with children to keep them active as a part of Running for a Better Oakland. I see a homeless population that may accept gifts from the concerned but, they never harass or manipulate me. [There’s a woman that sits outside of the Montgomery St BART station in San Francisco’s financial district during rush hour. She reads stories obnoxiously loud to what seems to be her daughter and talks on her cell phone during reading breaks. Her sign requests money while referencing the daughter and it all feels like a manipulative stage show. I digress.] I see the Oakland Police Dept working to reduce violent crimes. Oakland isn’t perfect. No major city is perfect. My experience may be very different from those of you reading this post. It’s funny how one’s outlook determines the quality of the neighborhood. Many crimes happen here. But, why is that all that people talk about?
It’s time to change the conversation about Oakland. Here are some things that I’m going to ask you to notice. When watching the Bay Area news, notice how any report of crime in San Francisco will only be referenced by neighborhood. “Tonight, shit went wrong and people got fucked up in the Mission…” They’ll never say that a violent crime happened in San Francisco. The anchors will only reference the neighborhood. On the other side of the bay, “Tonight, shit went wrong and people got fucked up in Oakland!” Hmph. That’s funny. Oakland has neighborhoods with their own names and distinct history. Yet, Bay Area news reports often lump all of Oakland (30 square miles larger than San Francisco) into the same category. Do you mean to tell me that the crime statistics in Pill Hill are on par with the San Antonio District? (If you live in Oakland and you don’t know where either of those neighborhoods can be found you should do some homework.) While I have no proof as to why this happens, my theory is that the city of San Francisco doesn’t want to hurt tourism. So, they may reference the Tenderloin without making the entire city sound like a bad neighborhood. Despite Oakland’s rich history and cultural diversity I don’t know of many tourists that come from far off lands to visit. Perhaps they would if we changed the conversation about Oakland.
Here’s something else I want you to notice. How many of your friends are unwilling to cross the bridge heading eastbound? I was flirting with a woman and I gave her a flyer to my show. She gave me a look of incredulity and said, “*scoff* I’m not going to a show in Oakland!” I took the flyer back and deleted her number from my phone. If you have friends that act as if coming to Oakland (from San Francisco) is a 100 mile trek, you need some new friends.
Some of you may have heard me talk (in person) about Basic Urban Awareness (BUA). BUA is a by-product of being raised in the hood (hood, not ghetto). About three times a month I hear a story about someone moving to Oakland, lacking BUA, doing some stupid shit, and then cursing the entire city of Oakland under their breath as they file a police report. Before you pay hundreds of dollars for noise canceling, over ear headphones, think about how vulnerable it makes you to walk down the street deaf to all sounds (and often staring at your phone). If you get punched and your shit taken, is that Oakland’s fault or did you paint a target on your back? Before you answer, you should talk to some cops in statistically low crime cities. Would such a crime happen in Vancouver? Yep, so much so that they had a PSA reminding people to stay alert. Would someone ever hold up a restaurant after closing and force the staff into the freezer at gunpoint in La Jolla, CA? Yep, that happened. Did anyone blame La Jolla when it happened? I doubt it. It’s a good neighborhood, right? Here’s a recent favorite, “When I came out, my window was broken… my bag containing my work laptop, my Bose headphones, and passport were stolen.” The person went on to write… “Well, this is Oakland.” Don’t blame Oakland because you did some stupid shit! Why would you have such valuable items (visible) in your car… ever? Because you were running into Safeway for just a minute? It takes less than 15 seconds to commit that crime! A word on car break-ins. It’s not about the value of what can be seen, it’s about the perceived value. You can put a backpack filled with whipped cream in your car. Tinted windows be damned, someone looking for a target will use a flashlight looking for something of perceived value (i.e. what could be in the bag) and smash the window to find it’s worth nothing later on. People always comment on how clean my car is when they enter. BUA! I give no thief reason to perceive value on the other side of my intact window. They leave empty cars alone (unless they’re just dicks that choose to break windows).
I hope that you have four (or more) takeaways from this post. 1.) Don’t blame an entire city if you made yourself a target. Crime happens all over the world. You can’t predict when/how/where it will happen based on crime statistics. Don’t be a dumbass. Embrace BUA! Good/Bad neighborhoods are fallacies based on your perception and statistics. Even in a neighborhood with the highest murder rate per capita, someone fell in love. 2.) Oakland has a lot of positive things going on. I encourage you to use the hashtag #UpliftOakland when you post about positive things around this city. You can do the same with #UpliftDetroit or any other beleaguered city that gets a biased report. 3.) What are you doing to make a change if you have such a negative opinion of Oakland? Don’t don a pair of tights and go out to fight crime. But, perhaps you could volunteer and mentor the youth to help break the cycle? You could also hold yourself accountable. If you leave gold in your car, it didn’t get stolen, you may as well have given it away. 4.) I’m not trying to “sell you” on Oakland. Oakland has a thriving real estate market and many people are moving here. Traffic gets thicker every month. I don’t care if you move to Oakland or visit. For the sake of my commute and sanity, it’s better that you don’t. I just want to change the conversation about a city that I’ve called home for the past five years. I love my neighborhood. What neighborhood is that?
*-A note about generalizations. Generalization is defined as: “a general statement or concept obtained by inference from specific cases.” This means that if what I’m saying doesn’t apply to you (San Franciscans), I’m not talking to you.