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

[David Barthwell]

To all the people sharing fun stories and uplifting anecdotes about
encountering black people in Oakland:  Let's not forget that there are
actually some on this list.  In fact, I'm one of them!


On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 7:36 PM, rhodey <rhodey at anhonesteffort.org> wrote:

> 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˙
> >     _______________________________________________
> >     sudo-discuss mailing list
> >     sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org <mailto:
> sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org>
> >     http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
> >
> >
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