Response to Luis' Post

         This is a quote I found in Luis Alba’s blog which I immediately caught my attention:

I love Oakland, but I also like Alameda. Alameda is a nice place to chill and be safe. Even though I like Alameda, there are some things I dislike.

        I have lived in Oakland for nearly all my life, and it’s pretty cool. Nothing bad has happened in my neighborhood, well except a teenager got shot, but other than that it’s been nice. The schools are great; it’s the students that really mess it up. Even in middle school there were already boys who were in a gang and throwing up signs, it was annoying. Other parts of Oakland are really scary though. When I walk on the streets I can usually tell who’s in a gang, who’s on drugs, and who is simply someone you shouldn’t talk to. It’s usually in the way they walk, dress, and look at things. It makes me feel intimidated whenever I’m outside with friends, I don’t feel any of this in Alameda. Another thing I find interesting is that in Oakland it’s extremely rare whenever I see a white person. And the few white people I know that live in Oakland are ghetto. I’m not trying to say anything bad about any ethnic group; it’s just something that makes me think about where I live and what others might assume of me. For instance, today I saw a white woman driving a car with her white son. I was so shocked! I had to stop myself from asking her if I can take a picture of her driving on the trashy streets of Oakland. It was a glorious moment for both me and the Oakland community, and I wonder if others were thinking the same. I just couldn’t believe it, I am still traumatized from what I had to observe. So now I ask myself, why is it so rare for there to be a white person living in Oakland? What does this mean for all the Latinos and African Americans who live in Oakland? Because that’s all I see in Oakland – Mexicans and African Americans. On the other hand, Alameda is filled with so many Asians and White people, why is this so? I also notice that the streets in Oakland look as dangerous as they are especially in West Oakland. Oakland is packed with all the drug dealers, the prostitutes, and the criminals, but what about Alameda? Maybe there is chaos in some parts of Alameda, but I don’t know, I don’t live there. I guess I just think it’s strange how there’s far more Mexicans in Oakland than there is white people.