[sudo-discuss] my experiences with "crime" in oakland [part 1 of ?]

[rhodey]

Oh yes, it is worth noting that I'm a white male in his early 20s.

-- 
-- rhodey ˙ ͜ʟ˙

On 11/18/2013 07:12 PM, Sonja Trauss wrote:
> this reminds me of a comment I overheard on the bus when I lived in st
> louis:
> "I'm getting that government money man, fuck street money, it ain't even
> worth it."
> 
> ps are you a boy or a girl?
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 6:55 PM, rhodey <rhodey at anhonesteffort.org
> <mailto:rhodey at anhonesteffort.org>> wrote:
> 
>     Receiving and contemplating the perspectives of others is one of my
>     favorite ways to burn metaphorical CPU cycles. The level of respect I
>     show for differing perspectives is something I hope to never be
>     content with, that is to say I believe it's an endless process and I'm
>     still working on it. I have a tendency to keep my head stuck in
>     projects and have realized is that I've been holding out on sharing
>     many of my most valued perspectives, more specifically my experiences.
>     It is my hope that through sharing experiences we can better
>     understand how to conduct ourselves within Sudo Room and how we Sudo
>     Room can better conduct ourselves within our local community.
> 
>     I arrived in the "bay area" May 1st by way of some airport in New
>     England, in search of hackers, activists and uncomfortable
>     experiences. After subletting an apartment in the mission for all of a
>     month I moved to West Oakland. Since arriving in Oakland I've been
>     robbed three times, to me each experience has been indescribably
>     educational in its own way. However, my first crime related experience
>     in Oakland was not a crime at all.
> 
>     There is a corner store within ~6 minutes walking distance from my
>     apartment by West Oakland BART called Happy Times. To me it is usually
>     a liquor store, but this day I felt like working through the night so
>     I bought 2 large redbull energy drinks. Walking home holding the
>     redbull as best I could in one hand I passed two African-American
>     youths, one female, one male and both no older than 17. We passed each
>     other and at this time I was about 20" from home then from behind me I
>     heard "hey man, can I get a redbull?".
> 
>     I turned around to face the two of them with a bit of a guilty smile
>     on my face, after all who the fuck really needs 32oz of redbull?
>     Caffeine, other energy drinks, productivity and I all get along
>     swimmingly, all the better if I can help someone else get things done.
>     "Sure" I said, followed by "make good use of it" in an attempt to make
>     the situation more casual. I walked up and handed him the redbull, his
>     face lit up, he went nuts.
> 
>     **and I quote** "Oh man! Asking is so much better than stealing!"
> 
>     The smile stayed on his face as he continued celebrating, exclaiming
>     all possible iterations of the above statement as I stood their
>     dumbfounded. This continued for minutes until we parted ways, up the
>     stairs and into the house I could still hear him talking with his
>     friend.
> 
>     This was certainly not the first time he'd been told of this
>     sentiment, but after ~17 years of living it was the first time he had
>     ever believed it. There are at least 3 other experiences I would like
>     to share in time, but for now I'll leave it at this.
> 
>     --
>     -- rhodey ˙ ͜ʟ˙
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> 
>