Living in DC
If you haven't noticed, I am a DC resident. I still have to get my tags changed and insurance changed over, but you can find me on 8th St and Alabama in Congress Heights. I'm closer to work and in a good proximity to the social life I wanted. This time I don't have to drive 40 minutes to an hour to get there.
Since moving I've been doing some thinking. To be honest, it's probably got more to do with the fact that my car got broken into the first night I stayed at my new place. Maybe 3 blogs ago, it might appear that I went on a spiritual rant about it to be honest I had to think about the incident differently. You're reading posts from a guy that got his car stolen, was out of work for close to a year, and then when I was working I realized how the world is run by stupid people and you can't trust anyone. I'm in a different place but the incident just confirmed all the negative things I believed about the world.
Either way, the incident got me thinking. Some people may get upset about this but I think for me it's good to allow my mind to move from thought to thought without restriction or reservation. This is what has been going through my head.
I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood--straight down Alabama Ave SE towards the Congress Heights Metro station. Honestly, there is nothing to look at and you won't catch me out there past sundown. As I walk around I consider my neighborhood and the fact that I'm not used to hearing so many police sirens go off or rush past my street in a 24 hour period. I'm not used to hearing ambulances go off. I look around my block and outside the gate things are just depressing. To see houses falling a part and yards not taken care of, abandoned buildings, streets that haven't been kept up. This is only what I see.
Being in a place like this isn't new to me because my parents grew up poor. They mention it in conversation and I can tell the stark difference between my life at home and how my grandparents live when I go visit. Those facts had me thinking even more. I'm not from areas like the one I live in now. Yes I can handle the obstacles and the people but more from a viewpoint as someone that wants to change the environment for the better and bring in more people like me. I'm not from a poverty stricken area. With poverty comes higher crime rates. I'm not naive and I'm aware that when you have nothing, you have to do what you have to do to survive. Morality tends to be less of a priority when it comes to staying alive. I completely understand that.
I'm from the suburbs and there are many opportunities and resources I have been afforded. I don't take it for grated and I don't think I'm better than anyone. Since getting my car broken into, I've been overcome with an overwhelming sense that I can't trust anyone. What's even crazier is that I feel this way against my own people. It's like an unspoken internal racism. Now I'm thinking back to myself. Is there something that I hate about me that I don't think I'm black enough. As though black identity were trivial in the first place.
I had this same conversation with my roommate, who is also black and from a similar upbringing. He spoke to me about how he feels like we are in a forgotten area. Some of the standard conveniences like banks, and stores, aren't in our area. Convenience is the least of our problems. What it all came back to was how the area we are in is abandoned. The nation's capital, the very place where laws and history gets made, is the very place where many dreams have been deferred because of economic circumstance and social class. Truth be told both of our concerns come back to class and less from race. Like my roommate, my parents come from a large family that grew up in poverty--my parents made it out and I am a by product of what they labored for. I grew up sheltered and placed in a position where if I needed something the only thing that kept me from having it was my pride and determination to be independent. Never had I lacked anything based on the sheer fact that it was unavailable.
For now I'm going to be smart. I won't park on certain streets. I bought a low jack for my car. I try to get to my house before a certain time of night. For now I'm going to hold off on visitors. I say hi to everyone I cross paths with on the off chance that someone might use my lack of acknowledgment to steal from me. I hope you sense my sarcasm because to be honest, it really doesn't take all that much. I got my car broken into that's it. They got me and all I can say is "Touche!" The jerk only got a car charger and some pocket change. Funny how a break in can have me thinking this much. The one thing I won't do is live in fear. I'm getting used to this place. Pretty soon it will be a part of me and have more of a positive impact on my character. Truth be told, whatever compassion I did have has gone out the window for now. I guess the moral of the story is here is that I'm learning how to adjust to the environment and not loose myself. These things can happen anywhere.
Since moving I've been doing some thinking. To be honest, it's probably got more to do with the fact that my car got broken into the first night I stayed at my new place. Maybe 3 blogs ago, it might appear that I went on a spiritual rant about it to be honest I had to think about the incident differently. You're reading posts from a guy that got his car stolen, was out of work for close to a year, and then when I was working I realized how the world is run by stupid people and you can't trust anyone. I'm in a different place but the incident just confirmed all the negative things I believed about the world.
Either way, the incident got me thinking. Some people may get upset about this but I think for me it's good to allow my mind to move from thought to thought without restriction or reservation. This is what has been going through my head.
I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood--straight down Alabama Ave SE towards the Congress Heights Metro station. Honestly, there is nothing to look at and you won't catch me out there past sundown. As I walk around I consider my neighborhood and the fact that I'm not used to hearing so many police sirens go off or rush past my street in a 24 hour period. I'm not used to hearing ambulances go off. I look around my block and outside the gate things are just depressing. To see houses falling a part and yards not taken care of, abandoned buildings, streets that haven't been kept up. This is only what I see.
Being in a place like this isn't new to me because my parents grew up poor. They mention it in conversation and I can tell the stark difference between my life at home and how my grandparents live when I go visit. Those facts had me thinking even more. I'm not from areas like the one I live in now. Yes I can handle the obstacles and the people but more from a viewpoint as someone that wants to change the environment for the better and bring in more people like me. I'm not from a poverty stricken area. With poverty comes higher crime rates. I'm not naive and I'm aware that when you have nothing, you have to do what you have to do to survive. Morality tends to be less of a priority when it comes to staying alive. I completely understand that.
I'm from the suburbs and there are many opportunities and resources I have been afforded. I don't take it for grated and I don't think I'm better than anyone. Since getting my car broken into, I've been overcome with an overwhelming sense that I can't trust anyone. What's even crazier is that I feel this way against my own people. It's like an unspoken internal racism. Now I'm thinking back to myself. Is there something that I hate about me that I don't think I'm black enough. As though black identity were trivial in the first place.
I had this same conversation with my roommate, who is also black and from a similar upbringing. He spoke to me about how he feels like we are in a forgotten area. Some of the standard conveniences like banks, and stores, aren't in our area. Convenience is the least of our problems. What it all came back to was how the area we are in is abandoned. The nation's capital, the very place where laws and history gets made, is the very place where many dreams have been deferred because of economic circumstance and social class. Truth be told both of our concerns come back to class and less from race. Like my roommate, my parents come from a large family that grew up in poverty--my parents made it out and I am a by product of what they labored for. I grew up sheltered and placed in a position where if I needed something the only thing that kept me from having it was my pride and determination to be independent. Never had I lacked anything based on the sheer fact that it was unavailable.
For now I'm going to be smart. I won't park on certain streets. I bought a low jack for my car. I try to get to my house before a certain time of night. For now I'm going to hold off on visitors. I say hi to everyone I cross paths with on the off chance that someone might use my lack of acknowledgment to steal from me. I hope you sense my sarcasm because to be honest, it really doesn't take all that much. I got my car broken into that's it. They got me and all I can say is "Touche!" The jerk only got a car charger and some pocket change. Funny how a break in can have me thinking this much. The one thing I won't do is live in fear. I'm getting used to this place. Pretty soon it will be a part of me and have more of a positive impact on my character. Truth be told, whatever compassion I did have has gone out the window for now. I guess the moral of the story is here is that I'm learning how to adjust to the environment and not loose myself. These things can happen anywhere.
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