How My Ghetto Changed My Life

My whole life changed drastically when I moved from the suburbs to the “hood” or “ghetto”. My appearance , the way I talked, and behavior changed a lot from what I used to talk like or dress like. I had moved from my mom’s house to my grandmother’s house which was in a very rough neighborhood filled with gang activity and police. When I moved in to my grandmother’s neighborhood I could definitely see the changes from my previous neighborhood the streets were dirty trash everywhere and wherever you went you felt like people were watching your every move. I saw patrol cars riding up and down the street ten minutes and it was not a quiet neighborhood it seemed like everyone was playing music through a speaker all at the same time.

One morning

I ate breakfast and me and my grandmother walked to the school since it was only 8 minutes away. I went to my homeroom and the teacher introduced me to the class and while I walked to take a seat I could hear the kids snickering and laughing. I took a seat and 30 minutes into the class it didn’t feel like I was learning anything everytime the teacher would talk it seemed like the kids would talk two times louder she tried to make them quiet down and pay attention but nobody listened. Finally class finished and it was lunch time during lunch I made a new friend who name was Isaiah during that time I had never seen a person with dreads in real life so that really fascinated me. Isaiah started calling me white-washed because of the way I talked, I spoke really proper so I guess that’s why. Isaiah spoke really weird to me because he used a lot of slang and curse words , I was always taught to be polite when I spoke but I saw a lot of different kids who spoke similar to Isaiah. After school was finished I walked home by myself since I knew to route back home. While I was walking I felt like I was being followed by someone and when I turned around I saw a black sedan getting closer and closer to me. The windows were heavily tinted so it was hard to see who was in the car. The car pulled to the side of me and rolled the window down the guy looked at me and said “Where you from blood?” I knew when he said “blood” he was referring to something gang related. I replied “I don’t gang bang” and he said “ I ain’t ask you that n**ga” I then replied “I’m sorry” and he said “I better not see you wearing that s**t again blood or imma beat yo a*s”, and then the car drove off. I had been wearing a blue jacket that day and turns out they really do care about colors I had thought that was just some myth. I quickly went home and took of the jacket I was scared because I