What my community has taught me: street smarts

A thing that stands out in my identity is that I don’t hold back; I’ll confront someone if they disrespect me and I’ll put the trash in its place, real quick. Also I say what’s on my mind, I never hold back and don’t let anyone front on me. Therefore I am a finesser, I’ll finesse anything and anyone on the block. The reason for being who I am is the community that I live in.

There’s a lot of stories I can say that happened in my community, but most of them are all the same with someone always trying to hurt you or someone trying to rob you. In my years of high school, I had a lot of situations where I could’ve been robbed or killed but like me and others that I know, we know how to control the situation. For instance, talking it out or if that doesn’t work, you’ll have to give them a “Ronda Rousey” beat down.

My community impacted a part of my life, it showed me that it’s dangerous to walk at night and you always have to be on your toes, don’t let them catch you lacking on the streets. It also showed me that money talks and that nonsense walks.

Some suggestions I would tell the city planners is that they should think about what’s best for the community and not what looks good in it. They should let the people who live in that community design how the community will look. There’s always white people always changing the outlook of the community, trying to make the community more modern but I think they let the community stay as it is. The community should stay old because of all of its history.