18 Nov
2013
18 Nov
'13
10:54 p.m.
How many Oaktown homies [sorry if that phrase bugs
anyone, I got it
from someone who used it to refer to themselves and their friends]
have ever gotten within a mile of Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park? (home
of a bunch of well-known VC firms)
If you have to excuse your choice of vocabulary it is probably best to
chose again. Now please excuse me while I crawl back into my digital
world of definite, actionable semantics.
--
-- rhodey ˙ ͜ʟ˙
On 11/18/2013 09:54 PM, GtwoG PublicOhOne wrote:
To cut right to the chase here:
What does it take to run a gang? The same skills it takes to run a
small business. Buying "product" wholesale and selling it retail,
keeping track of inventory, hiring and firing, bookkeeping, management,
marketing, and dealing with the "competition."
I'd bet the price of a house, that easily half of the gang-bangers in
Oakland are kids with serious entrepreneurial smarts who are locked out
and shut out of legitimate business activity by way of:
Racism: the obvious one.
Classism: never underestimate this one.
Illiteracy: call it by name, and fix the schools.
So: what does someone do with a serious talent if they're denied every
opportunity to use it legitimately? They use it wherever they can.
"Product" is "product." Sales are sales. Externalities are
externalities, plus or minus washing the blood off the street.
How many Oaktown homies [sorry if that phrase bugs anyone, I got it from
someone who used it to refer to themselves and their friends] have ever
gotten within a mile of Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park? (home of a bunch
of well-known VC firms)
What do you think the VCers would say if a half dozen Oaktown homies
showed up in their waiting room one morning?
Maybe it's time to find out.
Challenge #1: Raise a million bucks for a local microenterprise
development fund. Set up a microenterprise incubator. Find and fund
kids who no VCer would touch. Go into the schools and make it known.
Sign up at-risk kids early, before they switch off inside and opt into
crime-world. That means starting in middle-school, possibly elementary
school. Tutor them if needed to get their literacy skills up to par.
Hook them up with small business mentors and encourage them to teach
others in turn.
Challenge #2: Start a local currency that works like Ithaca Hours
(labor-based valuation). One of the strongest correlates of poverty
(hence crime) is the absence of turnover of dollars in a local economy.
In Marin County a dollar changes hands on average 33 times before it
exits the county. In East Oakland, a dollar changes hands on average
TWICE before it exits the community. Forget the "pirate" bullshit: the
purpose of local currency isn't to duck The Man, it's to strengthen the
local economy by encouraging circulation of money locally. Do what works.
Next installment:
How to set up a microenterprise lending system and start a bank.
Yeah I'm as serious as a heart attack about this.
-G.
=====
On 13-11-18-Mon 8:35 PM, Sonja Trauss wrote:
oh.
Guaranteed basic income, that does NOT increase if you have children.
You receive it starting at, say, 22. No earlier.
There are org.s that are working on advocating for it. I guess I
should start volunteering more.
On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 8:30 PM, rhodey <rhodey(a)anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>> wrote:
There is a class of discussions I feel comfortable having on a public
mailing list and a class of discussions I feel more comfortable having
in person. While I agree that race and age are relevant factors in
being
the target of crime, the target discussion is not a discussion I'm
interested in having or intended to spur.
What I'm more interested in exploring is the preventative measures
that
can be taken to decrease crime at the society level and how Sudo Room
can lend a hand.
--
-- rhodey ˙ ͜ʟ˙
On 11/18/2013 08:17 PM, Sonja Trauss wrote:
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org <mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>>
>
uncomfortable
Oakland
Times. To
me
than 17.
We
parted
experiences
I
no way man! your age/ race / gender is super
relevant I think
for how at
risk you are for being hassled, and in what way.
I think gender is the most important. Super crazy people and females
will rob ladies, but crazy people, females AND healthy, red-blooded
American bullies will rob boys. I would bet $70 that the three
times you
were robbed, if I had walked by that corner
instead of you, your
robbers
would have said "hey girl, can I go w
chu"? to me and I would
not have
been robbed.
I also think it gets less fun to rob men as they get older.
David - you're black, do you have any info on the relative
safety from
mugging of black women and men?
I would expect the same dynamic to play out - it's not that fun
to rob
women, it's not as cool of a story. What
about the relative
safety of
black and white men? I think white men and women
imagine they
would be
safer in a black neighbourhood if they were
black, but I don't
believe
that. I'm pretty sure the main victims of
black criminals are other
black people.
On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 7:59 PM, rhodey
<rhodey(a)anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>>> wrote:
I am sincerely sorry that I've made you uncomfortable. It was my
intention to share an experience that better helped me
understand
motivations for crime, not an experience with
other ethnic
groups.
Retrospectively I'd rather not have answered the last
question
because
it wrongly places focus elsewhere.
--
-- rhodey ˙ ͜ʟ˙
On 11/18/2013 07:50 PM, David Barthwell wrote:
> To all the people sharing fun stories and uplifting
anecdotes about
> encountering black people in Oakland:
Let's not forget
that there are
> actually some on this list. In fact,
I'm one of them!
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 7:36 PM, rhodey
<rhodey(a)anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>>
> <mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>>>> wrote:
>
> Oh yes, it is worth noting that I'm a white male in
his early
20s.
>
> --
> -- rhodey ˙ ͜ʟ˙
>
> On 11/18/2013 07:12 PM, Sonja Trauss wrote:
> > this reminds me of a comment I overheard on the bus
when I
lived in st
> > louis:
> > "I'm getting that government money man, fuck street
money, it
ain't even
> worth it."
>
> ps are you a boy or a girl?
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 6:55 PM, rhodey
<rhodey(a)anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>>>
> >
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>>
> <mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org
<mailto:rhodey@anhonesteffort.org>>>>> wrote:
> >
> > Receiving and contemplating the perspectives of
others
is one
> of my
> > favorite ways to burn metaphorical CPU cycles.
The level
of
> respect I
> > show for differing perspectives is something I
hope to
never be
> > content with, that is to say I believe it's an
endless
process
> and I'm
> > still working on it. I have a tendency to keep
my head
stuck in
> > projects and have realized is that I've been
holding
out on
> sharing
> > many of my most valued perspectives, more
specifically
my
> experiences.
> > It is my hope that through sharing experiences
we can
better
> > understand how to conduct
ourselves within Sudo
Room and how
we
Sudo
> Room can better conduct ourselves within our local
community.
>
> I arrived in the "bay area" May 1st by way of some
airport in New
> > England, in search of hackers, activists and >
experiences. After subletting an apartment in the
mission for
> all of a
> > month I moved to West Oakland. Since arriving in I've been
crime
related
> robbed three times, to me each
experience has been
indescribably
> > educational in its own way. However, my first
experience
> in Oakland was not a crime at all.
>
> There is a corner store within ~6 minutes walking
distance from
my
> > apartment by West Oakland BART called Happy it is
> usually
> > a liquor store, but this day I felt like working
through
the
night
so
> I bought 2 large redbull energy drinks. Walking home
holding the
> redbull as best I could in one hand
I passed two
African-American
> > youths, one female, one male and both no older > passed each
> > other and at this time I was about 20" from home
then from
> behind me I
> > heard "hey man, can I get a redbull?".
> >
> > I turned around to face the two of them with a
bit of a
guilty
> smile
> > on my face, after all who the fuck really needs
32oz of
redbull?
> > Caffeine, other energy drinks, productivity and
I all
get along
> > swimmingly, all the better if I can help someone
else
get
> things done.
> > "Sure" I said, followed by "make good use of
it"
in an
attempt
> to make
> > the situation more casual. I walked up and
handed him
the
> redbull, his
> > face lit up, he went nuts.
> >
> > **and I quote** "Oh man! Asking is so much
better
than
stealing!"
> >
> > The smile stayed on his face as he continued
celebrating,
exclaiming
> all possible iterations of the above statement as I
stood their
> > dumbfounded. This continued for minutes until we ways,
> up the
> > stairs and into the house I could still hear him
talking
with his
> > friend.
> >
> > This was certainly not the first time he'd been
told
of this
>
sentiment, but after ~17 years of living it was the
first time
> he had
> > ever believed it. There are at least 3 other > would like
> > to share in time, but for now I'll leave it at this.
> >
> > --
> > -- rhodey ˙ ͜ʟ˙
> > _______________________________________________
> > sudo-discuss mailing list
> > sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>>
>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>>>
>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>>
>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>>>>
> >
http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> sudo-discuss mailing list
> sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>>>
_______________________________________________
sudo-discuss mailing list
sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
<mailto:sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>>
_______________________________________________
sudo-discuss mailing list
sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org
http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss