Barrio Libre

Tonight we had our Dojo meeting about Barrio Libre, which is an initiative that a group us are doing here in the mission. The intent is to help strengthen the neighborhood by highlighting the good that is going on and informing people how they might help usher in more health. Mainly by providing phone numbers for police, graffiti cleanup, trash cleanup, picking up trash and putting up memorials at all the shooting scenes from within the last year.

Tonight after our walk around the neighborhood Lisa and Amy came in to tell us about a couple conversations they had, one with a neighbor, the other with a women who helps run Precita Eyes. They both revolved around violence in the neighborhood and how it seems that it is a group of 10-12 year old kids beating people up and even shooting people. 10-12 year olds. 10-12 year olds. Crazy, heart breaking. The pattern seems to be they shoot people who try to correct their behavior or tell them what to do. The environment they grew up that helped nuture such tendencies - tragic. Reminds me of a movie named "Juice" that starred Tupac and dealt with the issue guns and the "juice" that comes along with handling and using one when living on the streets.

After our meeting tonight I did some processing and I got some words to a sense I've been having lately. I've posted a couple times how moving to the mission was like moving home in the sense that I grew up in a very similar neighborhood except not nearly as hip.

I've noticed that because I grew in that type of environment I have some instinctive patterns of behavior. Ways of carrying yourself when walking around, how you engage in conversation if at all, and how you handle your initial interactions with people. Which is why when I great people it's usually non-chalant, a little disengaged. If something is going down you don't get involved because more often than not it will come back to. When you greet people on the street it's with a flick of the head, and you don't make much eye contact. I've seen fights breakout because "improper" eye contact was made. The line was always "what the f*_* you staring at b#@!" and bam. So there's this weird struggle going on inside b/c when you grow up around it the pervalent attitude is "ya that's just what's it's like to live here, not much you can do" So you just try to stay out of trouble and go on with life. Even your associations matter, I remember when Mario and I were walking around one time and almost got stabbed because some friends of ours had beef with the friends of these two guys. All people we had never met.

Really though there is work to be done but it needs to be careful and eagerness needs to be matched with patience and wisdom.

I'm finding that especially true now b/c I didn't grow up in the mission, I may have grown up in a similar setting but that doesn't mean shit. Where I grew up I had street credit simply b/c I grew up there and knew a lot of people. Not the case anymore so I'm in the middle of working on what the best way to gain street cred is.


Strange how life circles round, I'm becoming more cognitive of instincts I didn't realize were there. Maybe I really am ghetto.

Exciting Times.