My Hometown of Sacramento

Sacramento is not where I originated from, but it indeed is the city I call home. I grew up in Sacramento ever since I was a baby. After being raised in a dangerous part of Sacramento, I assumed that the rest of the world was unsafe as well. I genuinely believed that living in danger must be the norm everyone else. I did not realize until I was a teenager that the rest of world was not exactly like this. There were actually parts of Sacramento that have nicely groomed, green lawns and children in elementary school who can safely play outside. When I was an adolescent, I honestly believed that Sacramento was the worst place you can live in.

My parents moved to the southern portion of Sacramento when I was just one-year old. Living here was uneventful yet frightening at the same time. Looking back at old photographs, we lived in a grey-blue duplex with barred windows and tattered, wooden fences. I often saw people walking to commute on bus. Many parents walked their children to the nearby elementary school. Sometimes, men would blast loud, obnoxious music as they walked down the sidewalk with their portable stereo and cars, which turned their bass to the highest notch, would blast their music loud enough to set off car alarms. Sirens woke numerous people in the neighborhood throughout most nights, and seeing red and blue lights flashing through the blinds of the bedroom window was not unusual. The smell of tobacco and dead, decomposing animals lingered in the air. Streets were littered with cigarette buds, road kill, and food wrappers. Majority of front yards had dead grass and weeds sprouting in all directions possible. Houses here were many shades of dull, pale colors. Majority of those in my neighborhood owned old cars that we...

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...ïve and believed that Sacramento was an isolated town with malicious people, who would do no good but hurt others. There were not criminals everywhere I went. It felt like a ton of weight was lifted off my shoulders.

As I grew older and became a teenager, I experienced different areas of Sacramento that I never been to before. I became more educated about the city and the people who lived here. I made friends in middle and high school from all over Sacramento. I came to the conclusion that it was a giant city with many diverse groups of people. There were not only criminals but genuinely kind, ordinary people as well, who are the majority that resided in the city. As a child, I was ignorant and was forced to be quarantined in a home, believing that danger was lurking right outside my front door. But in actuality, Sacramento is not as corrupt as I once thought was.