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Meaning he didn't rap his way to my f***** neighborhood, he sold crack cocaine to get to my neighborhood. - Lil Wayne.
Growing up, I always found it interesting that my family would move out of neighborhoods when what my mom considered too many people who looked like us moved in. I was always in white neighborhoods, going to white schools, and playing with white kids. When I became a teenager, I finally found the strength to ask my parents why we did this. I was told because when too many black people live in a neighborhood, the government stops caring about that neighborhood, crime skyrockets, and the infrastructure of the entire neighborhood collapses. I thought this was a tad-bit extreme, but as I got older, I realized she was right. She wasn't running from her people, she was ensuring that I did not grow up in an area where police brutality would run rampant.
Jay-Z Made in America emphasized this thought when he said that he had to move out of the hood to give back to the hood. Unfortunately, growing up in the hood does not present the best opportunities for young children. For example, a mother who sends her child to school far from the area in which they live is well-aware that the school district where they reside does not foster a great educational environment.
It is unfortunate that the areas that need the most help are often the areas that are left with little resources and little assistance in the way of social economic movement. It's almost as if the government is saying "you'll figure it out" even though time and time again there is a lack of "figuring it out."
important observations Kelsey. I so agree with you AND your mother. It is well documented that predominantly black neighborhoods do not get the same types of services that white neighborhoods get. you highlight an important connection between the JAY-Z book and Wilerson's book about The Great Migration - see her discussion about Ida Mae's neighborhood and the real reasons why property values decline.