I am doing a response to Aleah’s post about Oakland.
She writes:
“When I first read Luis's response post I thought Alex Noble had posted this, but in fact it was Alex Tang who lives in Oakland. What the hell Alex, are you stupid. If you didn't notice this Oakland is not as violent as people portray it to be.Honestly. I live in West Oakland where there are shootings every know and again, but I've been living there for five going on six years after moving from Berkeley and I've never been Shot at.”
I happen to live in Alameda, but I still can see the frustration that people who live in Oakland have. Just because things happen, doesn’t mean that it will happen to you. This is of course connecting to what she said about there being shootings on occasion, but her never actually being shot at. No matter where you live people will assume things about you and your community based only on where you come from. I admit that I do this sometimes. Sometimes seriously, and sometimes as a joke. I am sure that people in Oakland have plenty of stereotypes about people living in Alameda. The main problem with these stereotypes is that they make people scared on things they are not used to. Living in Alameda, I might sometimes be scared to go to Oakland because I feel that something bad will happen. But if people never go there, it will become isolated, not allowing conditions to get better, only continue to get worse within their community. The majority of Oakland is safe; it just has a much higher crime rate then many other places. What defines how dangerous a city is, is how it compares to other places. If people from a perfect planet were to visit Alameda, they would view it as Dangerous because that is how it compares to where they come from. Honestly the amount of people killed there is nothing compared to the total population. Everyone I know from Oakland is turning out fine. I know just as many people from Alameda that are struggling as people from Oakland. This of course is just me and I know far more people from Alameda then Oakland, but the point is that crime is not limited to one place, it is just well known in one place.
Way to cut through the stereotypes and look at multiple sides of an issue.
ReplyDeleteI myself have been writing about Oakland a few times recently and singing its praises despite the problems. But it's tough to love a city like Oakland...because the problems we DO have (despite being overblown in many people's minds) are tough ones and not to be taken lightly. Sometimes I'm afraid that my own attitude toward my home city is a bit TOO positive. Yes I love it, but I'm not trying to turn a blind eye either. Hope this makes sense.