What Is The Ghetto? Does Seattle Have a Ghetto? (Tacoma: crime, neighborhood)

[RotseCherut]

Originally Posted by branh0913

No, blacks in Seattle are "fake" because they try to act tough. It's enough to intimidate a bunch of white yuppie/hipster Seattlites, but anyone coming from a real city can shut that down really quick. I remember my first week in Seattle, I was at the notorious 4th and Pine. Or whatever it's called. I think in the crowd I stepped on some black guy shoe. He was like "excuse me brah". and I turned around and ask "Are you talking to me" and walked towards him. I walked towards him because I really didn't understand him, but he just said "never mind" and walked away FAST.

After that, I knew how "hard" Seattle really was. Just a bunch of fake ganster wannabes trying to act like they're from California, but don't really want problems with someone they can't intimidate.

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I will say the toughest people aren't the liberal weanies you meet in the city. The scariest and toughest people I have seen living in Oregon, Idaho and Washington are some of the rugged rednecks, bikers and lower/middle-class blue-collar people in the rural areas and smaller towns.

Actually, I am more afraid of some of the biker gangs where I live then I am of the "gangbangers" in Tacoma.

[RotseCherut]

Originally Posted by victorianpunk

America sure does, it's only you don't see the truly awful, third world parts of America on the news. Why? Because they're all in hard to get to rural areas. Talk to people who have been to parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and the Dakotas and you'll think they're describing Bangladesh.

Inside America's Poorest County: Photos : Discovery News

Have you ever been to a third world country? Just curious? I highly doubt anybody anywhere in Kentucky lives in the type of poverty that I saw in Uganda. I know there are poor people, but Americans who do not have running water or electricity, live in mud houses and wear the same ripped up clothing for years is very rare. Seeing people starving and horribly malnourished was also common throughout the places I visited in East Africa. Many people had to grow their own food to survive and they couldn't grow much with the little plots of land around their mud house. In Uganda, this was actually more common than not and a majority of the people live that way.

I lived on the ORegon Coast for 4 years, where there was many poor hillbillies, some living in shacks. However, these people still would drive cars (dilapidated, but would run), they had newer clothing, decent firearms and access to electricity via power generators.

[victorianpunk]

Originally Posted by branh0913

No, blacks in Seattle are "fake" because they try to act tough. It's enough to intimidate a bunch of white yuppie/hipster Seattlites, but anyone coming from a real city can shut that down really quick. I remember my first week in Seattle, I was at the notorious 4th and Pine. Or whatever it's called. I think in the crowd I stepped on some black guy shoe. He was like "excuse me brah". and I turned around and ask "Are you talking to me" and walked towards him. I walked towards him because I really didn't understand him, but he just said "never mind" and walked away FAST.

After that, I knew how "hard" Seattle really was. Just a bunch of fake ganster wannabes trying to act like they're from California, but don't really want problems with someone they can't intimidate.

I agree. You know how you can tell the Seattle "thugs" aren't that hardcore? They argue. I was on third and Pike late one night and some "thugs" were arguing and getting in each others faces for a good three minutes...if that was Newark, the shouting would have lasted all of thirty seconds until someone throw a punch or pulled out a gun.

The riff raff around here may enjoy the occasional fisticuffs, but things like driveby shootings and killing rival gangsters execution style near the airport, all hallmarks of places like Newark and Detroit, simply don't happen here.

EDIT: Are you saying Greenlake and West Seattle are good areas. Where are all the corporations out there? Seems you're doing better if you're on the East Side. Black people in Seattle don't have any money. At least not the long money they have out East.

Those are fantastic neighborhoods. They don't have corporations because they are residential. Blacks in Seattle are generally doing better than blacks on the East Coast and certainly better than they are in the midwest. Most of the blacks I run into our professional and well integrated.

[victorianpunk]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Have you ever been to a third world country? Just curious? I highly doubt anybody anywhere in Kentucky lives in the type of poverty that I saw in Uganda. I know there are poor people, but Americans who do not have running water or electricity, live in mud houses and wear the same ripped up clothing for years is very rare. In Uganda, this was actually more common than not and a majority of the people live that way.

I've been to West Virginia...there are places there where no one has running water, electricity, and the people live in houses with broken tin roofs. I had a friend from Cameroon who drove through North Dakota on a cross country trip. She said she was shocked by how bad it was, just as bad as some places back in Africa.

"Buffalo County, S.D., is the nation's poorest county. The 2000 census says Buffalo County has more poor children than any other county in the nation. The latest round of census numbers show us how many homes don't have kitchens, plumbing and telephones. In Buffalo County the number of homes without those basic services is increasing."
MPR: South Dakota has nation's poorest county

I lived on the ORegon Coast for 4 years, where there was many poor hillbillies, some living in shacks. However, these people still would drive cars (dilapidated, but would run), they had newer clothing, decent firearms and access to electricity via power generators.

There are still parts of America worse than that. Granted, America is still better off than any third world country...but this is the richest country on Earth, no one should live in a house with no running water.

It is telling that while America still have people living in shacks and mansions a few dozen miles up the road, no one in Norway, Denmark or Finland goes without food, clothing, shelter, free healthcare and free education. But that's another story...

[victorianpunk]

Actually, I just found a video about what "ghetto Seattle people" are like:


We Code Hard.mp4 - YouTube

[RotseCherut]

Here is one of many pictures I took on my first trip to Africa going through a village near Iganga, Uganda


Oh, and here is a picture of the church where I gave a speech to the local villagers:


Go ahead and find me pictures of American people who live in anything close to these conditions.. Good luck. Even the people in those pictures of Appalachia you posted are obviously way wealthier than many people I saw in Africa. They have cars, trailers with electricity and water , furniture, pots and pans. Even owning pots and pans was considered quite a luxury to many villagers I met.

BTW.. you don't have to worry that they don't recycle plastic water bottles in Africa, because the people will actually pay you money for them. Nothing is wasted.

Originally Posted by victorianpunk

I've been to West Virginia...there are places there where no one has running water, electricity, and the people live in houses with broken tin roofs. I had a friend from Cameroon who drove through North Dakota on a cross country trip. She said she was shocked by how bad it was, just as bad as some places back in Africa.

Well, I find that some Africans who live in the USA come from very wealthy and elite families and don't bother to see the poverty in their own country or will try to not admit it. I was amazed by how many wealthy Africans I would meet who would tell me how wealthy is there country and how poverty does not exist. Its true, because in very poor places there exists two extremes: the Very Rich and the Very Poor. I never saw so many Mercedes Benz's on the streets, as I saw in Kampala, Uganda or Accra, Ghana. That is because anybody who has money to own a car, has a lot of money.

[west seattle gal]

You would be surprised, but yes, there are Americans and illegal immigrants living in extreme poverty. Appalachia is one example. I even knew an elderly guy once who lived in a shack in the middle of Durham, NC with no running water or electricity. He cooked over open fire.

[branh0913]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

You would be surprised, but yes, there are Americans and illegal immigrants living in extreme poverty. Appalachia is one example. I even knew an elderly guy once who lived in a shack in the middle of Durham, NC with no running water or electricity. He cooked over open fire.

Have you ever even been to these places? I noticed people on the West Coast have a big opinion about other parts of the country, but never been anything West of Vegas.

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by branh0913

Have you ever even been to these places? I noticed people on the West Coast have a big opinion about other parts of the country, but never been anything West of Vegas.

People on the East Coast that have never been west of the Mississippi can have some very interesting opinions about the West Coast as well.

[glass_of_merlot]

NO! Seattle is ghetto free.