Plantagenet wrote:I've also lived in ghettos because the rent was cheap and I wasn't making much money --- both in an east coast urban setting and in a major west coast city. But I never was under any illusion that I "fit in." Both ghettos were high crime areas. I got on my bike and rode to the University in the morning, and at night I'd come home and bring the bike inside the house and lock all the doors and windows. A guy was mugged and murdered just a couple of blocks from apartment in the east coast city while I was living there, and my next door neighbor was raped in the west coast city. She came to my house for help afterward, and I waited with her until the police came. I moved out soon after that.
Well I have plenty of stories from the 31 years spent in my former (basically) ghetto neighborhood.
But for every scary or harsh story, I have scores of good ones. (Should be hundreds, but my memory fades).
We had murders. Bullets flying sometimes. The occasional large gang (obvious gang uniforms) carrying clubs (scared the crap out of me the first time I saw such a gang walk by me until I was sure they were ignoring me).
So should everyone with any money quickly run far away from any neighborhood like that? Just leave all the problems of racial tension and misperception to someone else to deal with?
I didn't want to do that. Besides, it's still my opinion that as far as much of the social perception between races went that I'd observed, things had improved markedly in the past few decades, despite things being far from ideal.
...
I did finally leave, but that was because the maintenance in my building was becoming nonexistent under the new owner. Someone needed to live in my recently deceased parents' house, or I had to sell it. I decided I'd done my "shift" after 31 years there.
I don't believe in religious ideas like an afterlife. If there were one, I might get my ass repeatedly kicked for being stupid, being careless, being scared, lazy, etc. But I honestly don't think being "racist" would be on my list of crimes. OTOH, maybe I'll get some more kicks for daring to believe that.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.