I used to very reluctant to tell people where I grew up out of fear that they would label, judge and dismiss me. As I have grown older, the exact opposite view has occupied my consciousness. I now want people to know that I was raised in Compton, so that they have a different paradigm in which to operate. Not all people from a so called "ghetto" are stupid, drug addicted, gang members.
But in my most recent visit home... The following images are what greeted me. I thought to myself
"What the hell is going on here. This cannot be real" A grown woman chasing young boys down the street in her underwear. Cursing them. Beating them. In her front yard for the whole neighborhood to witness.
I was saddened because she blew the stereotype out of the window. Shattered it to pieces and rebuilt it in a worse way. Here I am ... doing exactly what I feared other people would do to me..
judge. Dismiss. Label.
So what do I do as another woman who lives on the street imaged here? I can't help her. Intervene and make her life better. I simply must do the best that I can to set a different example so people know that 1 person can never represent a whole group...
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