Watching my suburban white neighborhood turn into the ghetto

[iShotTupac123]

I've lived in the same neighborhood my whole life, so 18 years.

10 years old::: While I was growing up (let's say 10 years old) the neighborhood nobody in my neighborhood even smoked weed. Houses were real cheap so there were alot of colledge kids. They would invite me into their houses and make me icecream and all that. There were also alot of families aswell, and only one kid in the whole neighborhood burned and everyone looked at him as an adict and he ended up getting narced out and arrested. I wasn't one of those 10 year olds with their heads up their ass so I would know if someone was cheifin.

12 years old::: About half of the 13-15 year old kids in my neighborhood suddenly wanted next to nothing to do with me. This was the first generation in my neighborhood of stoners. Not potheads, they weren't smokin everyday. You could honestly say these kids SMOKED weed though.

14 years old::: This is when I start smokin. All the 15-17 year old kids are smokin every day now and they introduced me to it. This is also the BIG turning point for my neighborhood becoming complete crap. We got our first neighborhood drug dealer. Go to his house any time day or night and he's got the greeny green. Along with the drug dealer came a neighborhood gang. They called themselves "The Regulators" they were complete crap, most of them didn't even own a gun. I didn't know any better so I joined up as a "mini regulator" simply beceause I wanted to hang out with the older kids. Regaurdless of all the crap the cops were oblivious as to what was going on and you could literally walk down the street smoking a bowl.

16 years old::: Two of the older gang members got shot to death by some bloods and the gang broke up. The kids who are my age are now true fullblood stoners. The neighborhood drug dealer starts dealing coke and the 17-19 year old kids are getting into it. Ontop of that a second dealer moves in who pushes just about everything known to mankind. He's starting to get a couple people into crack and harder drugs like that, but thankfully most are smart enough to keep away. Some of the kids my age and older find out that selling drugs is an easy way to get money and they start pushin for the two big dealers.

18 years old::: One of the younger ones gets caught on the beach with an ounce of weed and narks on the original bigtime dealer. Ontop of that someone forced some 13 year old retarded kid to smoke and he went crazy, bringing more heat on the hood. For the first time in the 18 years I've lived in this neighborhood the block is hot. And I mean HOT! Ghost cars and everything. Prettymuch everyone in the neighborhood is doing some sort of drug. About half the kids between ages 16-20 are doing low level dealing and not being discreet about it at all.

My neighborhood has turned into THAT neighborhood. Everybody has THAT neighborhood somewhere in their city where when all your dealers are dry your boys say "let's head down to _____ just holler at people and somebodys gunna have shit for sale". Then atleast one of your boys are too scared cuz they have heard some crazy bullshit story about how the neighborhood is dangerous.

I'm not sure I want to know what my hoods gunna be like in 10 years, but at the same time I don't wanna move. I've grown up in this neighborhood and ever since I was old enough to speak I always said "when I move, I'm gunna be goin right down the street". I wanna play basketball like the old days. Now whenever I chill with the kids I grew up with it's completely different. All they wanna do is "get fucked up" "call hoes" ect. They don't want to be normal people anymore and I can safely say more than half the kids I grew up with are now pistol packin drugdealers.

[PhazeTwo]

I think it's getting that way pretty much everywhere mate to be honest, although perhaps not that "extreme".

Sad but true.

[Sir.TokeAlot]

yea, i know exactly how you feel...... ive been watching fake gangsters run through and some fucking toys tagging up the spots. i feel you, and i hate it......

[Reggin]

Reading this story makes me reflect on life in general. For some reason the process of one's life seems to go down the shitter like this. I could have the best day in the world - be blown as hell, cruising down to get a root beer in the summer, and I look around and all I see is destruction, hate, and a bad, bad, fate for the rest of the world. It hurts, man. It hurts.

[blackdahlia515]

to be a dick, YOUR name is "ishottupac", i know its a joke and shit i actually think its funny. but thats fucked up for a neighborhood to end up that way i have seen it happen

[willydog]

Great story, I'd be moving before I got caught up in the shit. There still are nice neighborhoods out there in America. If they'd just legalize weed, so much of that crap would disappear. Keep your chin up, we still have some good stoners around.

[TokingToker]

Same thing happend here, not to be racist, but alot of black people moved here and ever since theres been gangs, shootings, robbery all of that.

[lonelyhashbrown]

I don't quite think your town just started to change like that. I bet ya its been like that for a while you just didn't realize back then.

[ImWithWhatever]

haha yeah man i know what u mean

at like age 14 in my town nobody wanted nething to do with weed or alcohol
and like sophomore year in high school everyone was like a skater or a guido haha
junior year everyone was like a fucking gangsta, everyone "sells" and theyre all maddddddd big partiers of course but these kids r crazy
they all talk mad shit but will not back it up unless they have 30 people with them

[peacetoker90]

Raised G, now hippy. I grew up in a white boy gangsta palace, crip till i bleed blue, grew up, now the streets are nothing, everyones inside doing meth. at least when weed was around, people didnt die in their houses, they were out crusing the street, living a life that could be prosperous. It sucks when places die out, now I just cheeif on my reefer.

[haveacigar]

same thing happened in my hood. one of my buddies in my old gang got robbed for a blunt. gun to his head robbed for a blunt... and this kid was going to get smoked out was the dumbass thing about it... he just thought he was a bad ass. well later that night the gang got together and we talked about what had happened. mostly everbody was down for kicking this guys ass right away. i was all for it too except it was my cousin. so i drove them to my cousins house but i stayed in the car.

i seen some fucked up shit for real but the hoods just as bad today as it was yesterday.

[IGotTheCottons]

Same thing happened to my neighborhood... Used to be a real nice place to live, but has since gone way down hill... I've been held up at gun-point twice (once was right around the corner from my house), and I've had good friends murdered... The gangs are moving in (and not the wannabe's, the REAL gangs like the bloods and crips) - and I want to move out. I used to not want to move from here, but it's getting too bad. One good thing about livin here... You can walk down the street, or sit out front of your crib, smokin blunts, and no one cares

[What'sThatSmell]

This is why I live in Canada.

[Stylez1877]

I find it hard to believe Canada does not have a lower class. Such neighborhoods become as they are because of need for money. Cheap houses bring economically low class individuals. Always in need of money, selling drugs is a quick and easy way to obtain money.

If you are really 'concerned' about your neighborhood, perhaps a proactive approach is neccesary. One person can not change a neighborhood, but approaching your government on the state of affairs, threatening to take a chunk of votes away, is how you get change. Would obviously need support and backing from your community, and they would also need to want change.

[smokingjoe68]

yes, look into organizing and contributing to some type of neighborhood crime watch. inaction will just leave things to chance. if you want change you have to work for it.

the only real sad part to this thread I see so far is that some seem to be attributing their problems to people of another race. this is not realistic. it is a dangerous, stereo-typical, thought process practiced in ignorance.