How Do You Prepare For A World So Ugly?

    
             The Fillmore District in San Francisco is where I grew up. Where I'm from there's an everyday struggle to prove yourself and not to become a statistic like everybody else in the neighborhood. Its very hard to break the mold and develop positive traits and to become a leader with your own mind and set of goals that differs from the rest of your community. Most teenagers I grew up with developed early habits of using foul language, using or selling drugs, and disrespecting women and not understanding the concept of respect. Early teen pregnancies were a trend in my community. Violence slowly but surely monopolized the community. I lost many family to senseless violence and it had life changing aftermath. Most people in my neighborhood followed suit and became a product of their environment which is difficult to get away from considering that's all they are exposed to. I was always back and forth between homes because my mom and dad were divorced and had joint custody of me. I always thought of this as a negative situation that my parents weren't together and that I had to commute from house to house. Recently I've realized that it was truly a blessing because I was not influenced as much by this negativity considering my time over in Fillmore was cut in half. I was also blessed with a extremely supportive family and strong father that kept me out of trouble and taught me not to be a follower but a leader. My family kept me away from negativity in the community by creating a loving, entertaining household that I loved to be apart of.
         Experience, family and gentrification has made me who I am today. My definition of gentrification is when wealthy non-minorities move into an apartment in a poor neighborhood and improve the apartment and fix it up. By doing such they raise the value of the house, which makes local authorities raise the property taxes and rent prices also increase. Eventually long time residents are unable to afford the rent and are forced to move to another area where apartments are more affordable. My neighborhood slowly became gentrified which made it a better environment for me temporarily until my family could no longer afford the rent and I was forced to move to a worse area of San Francisco called Hunters Point. I was put in a trap with a very slim chance to overcome and make something of my life even tho it seemed like things were getting better but they ultimately got worse. I felt like I was playing a game of monopoly and as I reluctantly rolled the dice, I realized that the only option available was to "Go to jail" or to "file for bankruptcy". The way the Bay view community is set up compared to a wealthier community I was destined for failure. Factories filled with toxic waste are placed in the vicinity, producing pollution and causing health problems to the local residents in Hunters Points . Liquor stores on every corner gives my community more access and exposure to alcohol. Everybody around me is strung out on drugs and having a negative influence on our youth. Gang affiliation increased and crime rates sky rocketed. The type of neighborhood that has no community involvement because of crime which makes everybody anti-social and frightened to leave there house. We have all the necessary tools to be killed or to kill ourselves.
        Gentrification was ultimately a good thing for me because it gave me an epiphany of where society was going. It helped me open my eyes and see that the city is slowly gentrifying every district and forcing minorities to move to another city and replacing them with wealthy residents and more expensive houses. This is making the city look more attractive to tourist and future wealthy residents and increasing the overall value of San Francisco. It made me realize that if I don't spring into action now I am going to continue being pushed into traps where i am forced into a negative predicament. I will either get pushed out of housing because i cant afford it, lose my life or become a product of my environment. It pushed me into a neighborhood that gave me a vision and helped me look around and learn. I sat back and watched my community and saw everything I did not want to become. It made me think of ways to get out of this situation and that becoming a product of my environment will ruin me.