Concrete Jungle
   Why is it a war zone outside my door? I live in the Sunnydale projects and there are nights when you can hear gun shots left and right. I have seen shootings take place and have been the victim of one. I was curious about how many of them would be on the news or in the paper. I never saw anything on the news, but when I went online I found a few in the SF Examiner. When I was reading I noticed most of the people in the shootings are very young, in their early and mid twenties and the shootings often take place in a very small area. I don’t get why people go around shooting other people. 
   One of the articles I was reading got me a little scared. There was a shooting that got one person shot, and about two hours later there was another shooting on the same block. These people have no fear, and don’t care about who gets hit. The police said the shootings could have been local gang retaliation, but the facts are unclear. I have heard that in many of the shootings that it has to do with gangs, but how do the police really know this? Can what they say be trusted?  Either way,  a death for a death is not a fair trade especially if you are going to just look for some random person to shoot.
    I have a friend who is a white guy from Arizona and  when he stays with me sometimes I can tell in his body language that he feels unsafe. One day we both noticed that there were lots of police patrolling the area. He asked me if I feel safe with more police. I said no. That was when I realized that I didn’t feel safe with or without the police, not just for me, but also for my family and friends-for my daughter most of all.  Also, I feel like I have limitations on what I can do. I don’t feel safe taking my daughter outside to play, I feel like we can’t go outside due to the thought of a drive by shooting. For example, taking my daughter outside to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July was out of the question. I didn’t even stay at home that day because gun shots sound a lot like fireworks and  there are some people that shoot their guns into the air so it's hard to tell the difference.  It is hard to try and feel safe, the only place I feel a little safe is at home, but then I become a prisoner inside of  my own home. That isn't freedom, and still bullets can come through the walls and windows.
  Looking for a way out of here is hard. I understand why people do some of the things they do. It’s survival for the most part, but many innocent people get hurt for no reason. Violence makes home sweet home an ugly place. 


How can we make home a sweet home not for us, but for the children for there innocence?