Behind the Fence

At this time last summer my family moved across our town to an apartment complex. There are three complexes around where I live to the right and behind one. Months have passed and more recently I have noticed the complexes that surround us are more dangerous than the one I reside in. I have tried to figure out how one complex that is only separated by a wooden, broken down fence can be worse than another and after long thought and looking at the complex's every day for awhile I have come down to one conclusion…Rent.


The people are the same. We have a heavy black population to the complex behind the complex I live in and the complex to my right. We have Mexicans (me included). We have whites. We are our own little melting pot on this block. So how can one complex be better than another in the ways of crime?

A few months back a man was murdered behind that old fence my parent’s park their car in front of everyday. Two weeks ago a group of kids started throwing rocks at my own mother and her car when she came home from work.

Around my complex we see plenty of dumb decisions, but never to the capacity of my right or behind. Why? They are all owned by the same people. The complex is run by two older women. The only logical explanation I could come up with is rent. The rent at each of these complexes is cheaper than our complex. A desperate family or a neglected family is definitely more likely to be involved in criminal activity than a financially safe one (usually) and color of the skin is not restricted. Black, Tan, White; it doesn't matter here. The poorer you are the more desperate you get, the richer you are the more likely you’re a target. Why do a lot of poor people end up in jail? A lot of people ask because a rich man stealing has nothing to gain. He’s already rich, why steal?

Rules, laws; all of them are meant to protect the wealthy. A poor man isn't likely to steal from another poor man or even poorer man. If there’s a whole group of poor houses and there’s a three story house on that same block, who's more likely to get robbed? You'd probably get a fatter paycheck from the rich man, wouldn't you agree? So I believe whole heartily that the only reason our attitude and our activities and practices are different from each complex is simply because rent is cheaper than the other.

Each being poorer than the next, each more desperate and in need of survival, and that’s what it all comes down to. It's not a certain race. It's not a certain people. It's economic status. And, yes, it does have to do with the environment. I believe heavily in the environment a child or person is raised. I'm not rich. I've flirted with poverty all my life. I am in poverty with my family. But I have never robbed or stolen. Why? Because my Parents and my other Family members guided me that it was wrong. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen in every household. People will do anything to survive. It can be anyone so, before you believe or hear the next time some misinformed moron say that Black men or immigrants are more likely to steal than a white man, just remember in each of my complexes I live.

In there’s many white men as poor as dirt like a Mexican or Black and don’t ever be told that he is less likely to steal in his economic state than they are.

End