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I'm getting tired of people asking if it's safe for them in Oakland. There is no such thing as safety.
The only reason people act like they're afraid of Oakland is racism. Crimes happen everywhere in the world, but for some reason to this day when people of color commit crimes their racial groups are profiled as dangerous. We all know white people commit crimes too (all throughout history) but they have never been labeled as dangerous people to live around. Predominantly white cities never get labeled as dangerous cities, their crimes are always isolated.
Don't get me wrong for pointing out these common racial inconsistencies - I didn't create them, but I do observe them. I have zero problems with any racial group (regardless of what the person who robbed me, put graffiti on the walls, or took my liberties away looks like), and I think most Oakland/Bay Area natives feel the same - that's another reason this places rocks most other densely packed areas. I do however have problems with stereotypes and the scared people who perpetuate them.
Oakland is a world class city, and it always has been. People just weren't willing to say so before the gentrification started taking place all over the city. Now that more people feel safer coming here (thanks to the rapidly changing demographics and new development buildings), Oakland is 'getting a make over!'
"Oakland is up and coming!" "Oakland has a a lot of potential - it just needs some fixing up!" These types of statements annoy me as I've always loved this city and felt it was worthy of praise. I'm not even so sure most of the new changes to this city are really a good thing - I'd rather Oakland stay the way it was than just become another tourist city.
If you find Oakland too scary to live in or even visit, then don't! People who have such intense stigmas with entire groups of people that they have to ask on forums if they'll be 'safe' around them will most likely only make this great city of ours worse anyway. We don't need gentrification. We don't need the masses suddenly feeling safe in Oakland (thanks to Brad Pitt movies and other new Oakland hype), moving here just to fill up the areas you feel safest in (Lake Merritt-Rockridge-Uptown, etc - essentially helping to further a divide in the city), just to spend all your time in SF anyway! If you want to be in SF then move there! If you can't afford it, then move some place else, it's simple.
Bottom line, safety is an illusion, it's just a feeling we get from familiarity. Oakland is no more dangerous than any other large city, regardless of what propagated media sells. Furthermore, Oakland is not a cheap alternative to SF - nor is it a suburb of SF (yes I have been asked if it was). This is a wonderful city all her own, and I hope she stays that way. Thanks for reading. /rant
I'm so sick of people asking if it's safe for them in Oakland. There is no such thing as safety.
The only reason people act like they're afraid of Oakland is racism. Crimes happen everywhere in the world, but for some reason to this day when people of color commit crimes their racial groups are profiled as dangerous. We all know white people commit crimes too (all throughout history, some of the most heinous crimes on man!) but they have never been labeled as dangerous people to live around. Predominantly white cities never get labeled as dangerous cities, their crimes are always isolated.
Don't get me wrong for pointing out these common inconsistencies - I didn't create them, but I do observe them. I have zero problems with any racial group (regardless of what the person who robbed me, put graffiti on the walls, or took my liberties away looks like), and I think most Oakland/Bay Area natives are the same - that's another reason this places rocks most other densely packed areas. I do however have problems with stereotypes and the scared people who perpetuate them.
Oakland is a world class city, and it always has been. People just weren't willing to say so before the gentrification started taking place all over the city. Now that more people feel safer coming here (funny how new buildings and white faces do that to us), Oakland is 'getting a make over!'
"Oakland is up and coming!" "Oakland has a a lot of potential - it just needs some fixing up!" The types of statements are offensive to me, as I've always loved this city and felt it was worthy of praise. I'm not even so sure most of these new changes to the city are really good for it - I'd rather Oakland stay the way it was than just become another tourist city.
If you find Oakland too scary to visit or live in, then don't! People who have such intense stigmas with people who look/talk/act a certain way that they have to ask people if they'll be 'safe' around them will most likely only make this great city of ours worse anyway. We don't need any gentrification, and we don't need any fixing up. We don't need the masses suddenly feeling safe (thanks to Brad Pitt movies and other new Oakland hype), moving here just to fill up the areas you feel safest in (Lake Merritt-Rockridge-Uptown, etc - essentially helping to further a divide in the city), just to spend all your time in SF anyway! If you want to be in SF then move there! If you can't afford it, then go some place else! It's simple. Safety is an illusion, and Oakland is no more dangerous than any other city.
Bottom line, safety is an illusion, it's just a feeling we get from familiarity. Oakland is no more dangerous than any other large city, regardless of what propagated media sells. Furthermore, Oakland is not a cheap alternative to SF - nor is it a suburb of SF (yes I have been asked if it was). This is a wonderful city all her own, and I hope she stays that way. Thanks for reading. /rant
While I agree that a lot of the unexplained hatred towards Oakland is just ignorant, thinly-veiled racism, the crime isn't something to brush over. Screw what racists think, I'm talking about the fact that you can't walk down International or Bancroft or Foothill or San Pablo or Adeline or other streets in Oakland late at night or early in the morning without being on the radar of the small segment of Oakland that is committing most of the crimes. Does it not bother you when you hear about a 13 year old kid getting gunned down on Foothill Blvd for no reason? Or about a man getting assaulted in Downtown for merely protecting his son and ends up dying for it? Crime does happen in every city, but I'll be damned if I want to hear or read about senseless violence in mine every couple of weeks.
That being said, I 100% agree with you that the only reason that Oakland is on the national radar now is because it became whiter. The same thing happened in Brooklyn, DC, etc. It is offensive, but that's the country we live in...
That doesn't mean I think that all or even the majority of the white people currently moving to Oakland are secretly scared ****less of the city... a lot of them are coming here because it's diverse and because of what it offers. And there's a lot more to the changing demography of Oakland than gentrification (although it plays a large role)...
I grew up in San Jose and when I went to CSU Hayward (East Bay) and lived in the student apartments. It was very different out there. Those guys were from Oakland and they were not very nice. Everything was unorganized. It did not look like they came to the university to study.
I have driven in Oakland and did not feel safe at all.
I grew up in San Jose and when I went to CSU Hayward (East Bay) and lived in the student apartments. It was very different out there. Those guys were from Oakland and they were not very nice. Everything was unorganized. It did not look like they came to the university to study. I have driven in Oakland and did not feel safe at all.
While I agree that a lot of the unexplained hatred towards Oakland is just ignorant, thinly-veiled racism, the crime isn't something to brush over. Screw what racists think, I'm talking about the fact that you can't walk down International or Bancroft or Foothill or San Pablo or Adeline or other streets in Oakland late at night or early in the morning without being on the radar of the small segment of Oakland that is committing most of the crimes. Does it not bother you when you hear about a 13 year old kid getting gunned down on Foothill Blvd for no reason? Or about a man getting assaulted in Downtown for merely protecting his son and ends up dying for it? Crime does happen in every city, but I'll be damned if I want to hear or read about senseless violence in mine every couple of weeks. because it's diverse and because of what it offers. And there's a lot more to the changing demography of Oakland than gentrification (although it plays a large role)...
Of course hearing about violent crimes bother me, but that's why I avoid negative news. Those aren't Oakland crimes, those are violent crimes, and they do happen everywhere. The thing is most of us don't witness these crimes on a regular, we hear about them through media. Media controls how much of that information we get and how often. You don't hear about all the crimes going on in all cities, but we all hear about Oakland crime. I recently met people from Germany who said they heard a lot about crime in Oakland through their media (and that was pre Occupy Oakland), wth? There is a reason for that.
Oakland has been played up as a violent city since the days of the Black Panthers, I'm sure I don't need to go into the intentional reasons behind that. For decades most anything people heard about this city (including people within the city) has been about the crime rates, the gangs, the drugs, and so on. But to live here you realize that most all of that stuff is very isolated. I've been a lot of places and witnessed random acts of violence in public gatherings and around towns, but not so much here.
Oakland is actually one of the most chill cities I can think of, and yet it's been called one of the most dangerous cities in the US. That's just plain propaganda because this city is huge and most of the dense areas here have very little violent crime compared to many other cities in the US.
Of course hearing about violent crimes bother me, but that's why I avoid negative news. Those aren't Oakland crimes, those are violent crimes, and they do happen everywhere. The thing is most of us don't witness these crimes on a regular, we hear about them through media. Media controls how much of that information we get and how often. You don't hear about all the crimes going on in all cities, but we all hear about Oakland crime. I recently met people from Germany who said they heard a lot about crime in Oakland through their media (and that was pre Occupy Oakland), wth? There is a reason for that.
Oakland has been played up as a violent city since the days of the Black Panthers, I'm sure I don't need to go into the intentional reasons behind that. For decades most anything people heard about this city (including people within the city) has been about the crime rates, the gangs, the drugs, and so on. But to live here you realize that most all of that stuff is very isolated. I've been a lot of places and witnessed random acts of violence in public gatherings and around towns, but not so much here.
Oakland is actually one of the most chill cities I can think of, and yet it's been called one of the most dangerous cities in the US. That's just plain propaganda because this city is huge and most of the dense areas here have very little violent crime compared to many other cities in the US.
You're preaching to the choir right now... all I'm saying is that the crime shouldn't be downplayed because racists and the media over-hype and sensationalize it.
You're preaching to the choir right now... all I'm saying is that the crime shouldn't be downplayed because racists and the media over-hype and sensationalize it.
I'm not downplaying the crime, but I do think the crime has been played up for years. All I'm saying is no where is really safe. Also, my post wasn't supposed to reveal anything new to Oaklanders (hence 'preaching to the choir') it was a rant on folks outside Oakland asking if it's safe enough for them to come here.
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