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

Sonja Trauss sonja.trauss at gmail.com
Mon Nov 18 20:17:41 PST 2013 

no way man! your age/ race / gender is super relevant I think for how at
risk you are for being hassled, and in what way.
I think gender is the most important. Super crazy people and females will
rob ladies, but crazy people, females AND healthy, red-blooded American
bullies will rob boys. I would bet $70 that the three times you were
robbed, if I had walked by that corner instead of you, your robbers would
have said "hey girl, can I go w chu"? to me and I would not have been
robbed.

I also think it gets less fun to rob men as they get older.

David - you're black, do you have any info on the relative safety from
mugging of black women and men?
I would expect the same dynamic to play out - it's not that fun to rob
women, it's not as cool of a story. What about the relative safety of black
and white men? I think white men and women imagine they would be safer in a
black neighbourhood if they were black, but I don't believe that. I'm
pretty sure the main victims of black criminals are other black people.




On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 7:59 PM, rhodey <rhodey at anhonesteffort.org> wrote:

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