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

[Liz Henry]

I like to share fun anecdotes about how I was just hanging out on the
Internet on a public mailing list then met some pretty racist white
people who have done plenty of crimes in their lives, but no one goes
around assuming stuff about them and treating them like they're
criminals. It's super uplifting!

- lizzard

On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 7:50 PM, David Barthwell
<david at vergegraphics.com> 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> 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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>
>
>
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-- 
Liz Henry
lizhenry at gmail.com

"Electric ladies will you sleep or will you preach?" -- Janelle Monae

"Without models, it's hard to work; without a context, difficult to
evaluate; without peers, nearly impossible to speak." -- Joanna Russ