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

[rhodey]

I am sincerely sorry that I've made you uncomfortable. It was my
intention to share an experience that better helped me understand
motivations for crime, not an experience with other ethnic groups.

Retrospectively I'd rather not have answered the last question because
it wrongly places focus elsewhere.

-- 
-- rhodey ˙ ͜ʟ˙

On 11/18/2013 07:50 PM, David Barthwell wrote:
> 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
> <mailto: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>
>     > <mailto: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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