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A friend of mine and I were talking about how we had lived in the Washington DC area for quite a while now and had never been to the so called bad sides of town. All my out of town relatives tell me they hear that DC is crime city and so very dangerous. But in my little world working near Dupont Circle and staying near the Washington Mall and Northwest DC I have never experienced what they were talking about, DC seemed very safe to me.
So off we went and drove to the worst side of town. Southeast DC in Anacostia and other nearby areas. I found the whole area shocking. So many people just standing around and killing time and when we stopped at the stop light people did stare at us three white women sitting in a car in an all black neighborhood. But we survived and did not think it seems as rough as the tough sides of Philly or Baltimore. But will never return.
What are your observations of Anacostia and nearby neighborhoods?
I don't understand the concept of ghetto tourism. Most of these people are just trying to live their lives and you're looking at them like they're exhibits in a zoo. It shouldn't be shocking that there are a lot of people just standing around in a place where unemployment is so high.
I love posts like this...Hey all, I want to talk about MY experiences in Dupont...You know, my friends and family have talked about how yuppy Dupont Circle was and they also mentioned how Homosexual it was as well. I have never experienced this for myself so I wanted to see for myself
So me and my black friends just piled up into a car and took a ride! We saw so many gay people holding hands, it was shocking to say the least. It's like they were walking around and hanging out like human beings. Then we went to Kramers Books and Starbucks. The only conversations you heard was about people's jobs on capitol hill and how stressful it was. I then noticed dozens of unemployed young white people with posters protesting the unfair treatment against Whales. Oh they loved spending mommy and daddy's paycheck on their overpriced Dupont Apartments while sticking it to "Da Man". They were all dressed in thrift store clothes, playing guitar in the middle of Dupont. They were a sight to behold. Finally we had a quick meal at Five Guys down the street from the Scientology Building and discussed our findings. WE WERE LUCKY TO HAVE SURVIVED and not get raped by a bunch of lesbians or gay bears clad in leather!!
I don't find it quite as gay and yuppy as some parts of San Francisco or NYC but we will never return. Nope, not even to help the few homeless people who needed a handout, or the nonprofits who call it home, or to help the people fighting for real causes downtown. We just think they are all yuppy, gay, and majority of them might have AIDS. But we just LOVED living on the wild side!
Yeah I've driven through there once, maybe twice. I was going to a community service thing at Anacostia Park, 'twas the day before Obama's inauguration (and also I believe MLK Day, and Obama denoted that particular day as like a 'call to service' day or something... it was fun). It definitely 'looked' like the bad part of town but it really didn't look as bad as I expected. Didn't have any problems whatsoever.
I can't say I've ever had much reason to go there though. I think I went to the Frederick Douglass house in elementary school once, that's about it. From what I've heard and read on some River East blogs though there are a lot of areas that are actually really pretty. If there could just be more businesses (legitimate ones, not more check cashing/payday loan places) I think it would help the residents of the area a lot.
So off we went and drove to the worst side of town. Southeast DC in Anacostia and other nearby areas. I found the whole area shocking. So many people just standing around and killing time and when we stopped at the stop light people did stare at us three white women sitting in a car in an all black neighborhood. But we survived and did not think it seems as rough as the tough sides of Philly or Baltimore. But will never return.
This is so stooopid. I'm sure the people in SE are sitting wondering, when will a dumbazz white guy and stupid azz white women drive through, so we can rob them. I mean, that's what they're looking for, right. We should rob him and rape the women or rob the women and rape him. Either way, crime is crime.
Crime is in different sections of this city. No different than any other large metro-area. Stop watching and believing everything you see on the news, dude.
Some would say, everyone living in Dupont are gay. Is that the truth??
Geez strong reaction by alot of people. I think it's kind of okay that three of the many, many people that talk about big and bad Anacostia actually took the initiative to challenge preconceived notions and to see what this area of DC is all about.
I don't think they went to Anacostia "zoo" to dehumanize anyone and I don't really see a difference between going to Anacostia and watching people and all the people that sit at dupont/logan/thomas/etc circle and/or at bars and "people watch".
My job takes me to different parts of the city and I've spent some time in the so called bad sections of SE. Yeah, at first it's uncomfortable because it's not what you're used to but I think you're more paranoid than you need to be. A few things that I do remember though - a McDonald's with its own security guard and seeing some teens that I'm pretty sure were dealing in front of a corner market a block away from an elementary school. I wonder how much different things are between the daytime and nighttime. I mean, some cab drivers avoid heading down the bad parts of SE during the night.
Ward One has more crime than Ward 8. Have you ever driven through Adams Morgan or Petworth or Mt. Pleasant?
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