Most Dangerous City in America

[Martin Hash]

Most Med students sleepwalk a couple years in a nondescript hospital in a nondescript city with really no inclination or opportunity for adventure, but my wife, Gwynne, a longtime nurse, and I made it a point to go to hospitals & places that had grit. We've actually experienced the real Third World: been chased out of villages by campaign violence, stalked by rebels, prevented rapes, and witnessed the aftermath of civil wars: nothing the U.S. has to offer is scarier than that. Consequently, I did stints in Harlem, The Bronx, South Miami, and East Oakland; some of the crown jewels of inner-city hospitals.

I don't know what we expected? Most folks certainly would have balked after a riot or refused to live in a prostitution motel, but for us it was just color. However, of all the places I'm never going back to, East Oakland, California is one of them. I did a year stint at Highland Hospital, infamous for its association with Fruitvale Station where a Black man who was handcuffed and laying on his stomach was shot in the back by a cop. If you lived there, you'd understand that wasn't so out-of-the-ordinary because Oakland is rated one of the “Most Dangerous Cities in America” by FBI data analysis. In 2010 it was #6 but it's been moving up the list, and was #2 when we moved there, fighting it out with Detroit for the top spot in some lists. Even the police in Oakland are dangerous, called “the most corrupt” in 2000 and are currently under federal oversight.

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The motel we had been staying at was closed by the Health department so we moved to the one across the street, both owned & operated by recent immigrants from India, but they had Mexican Illegals cleaning the rooms. There were signs that said “No Prostitution” but you could rent the rooms by the hour, and all with mismatched side-of-the-road furniture. There were only two rooms that had bathtubs but no stoppers. The garbage cans still had a “Best Western” printed on them from the 1960s, and the dumpster-divers were so regular we knew them by sign. (One of them we even waved to occasionally.) The was loud yelling almost every night, banging on the walls, & lots of phony sex wailing.

Highlander Motel 800px.jpg

I would walk to work at all hours, and none of the people I worked with could believe it because normally you couldn't go out after dark or the indigents would harass you incessantly. There was a McDonald's & Taco Bell on the way. A couple times a guy came rushing into Taco Bell, grabbed handfuls of hot sauce packets & ran out, then he came in for another handful. One particularly resourceful pan-handler would scrunch behind a small wall outcropping just in front of where cars had to wait in the drive-through, then pop out and demand change while the driver was paying. We could see him working the suckers from a side window, and that was always the seat I wanted: that guy was a maestro of extortion. None of the other fast-food places had their condiments out in the open like that. In fact, drinks, ice, straws & napkins had to be requested, and the bathroom required a token. A prominent sign stated, “Guests allowed ONLY 10 minutes in the dining area.”

One night while lounging in our room & watching fuzzy TV after a long shift, a trailer came on for a show called “Most Dangerous City in America” & Oakland was it! In fact, the video was of a car driving by with gangbangers firing shotguns out the window & I recognized that was the street in front of our motel; in fact I think I could see it in the background through the gunfire. (And maybe we were in it?)

[skankhunt42]

Very interesting story. My Mom is from the Back of the Yards in Chicago. When she lived there it was nothing like it is now. What it is now isn't too far off from what you describe in this story. Sad.

[Okeefenokee]

Hunt for suspects in Facebook Live sexual assault intensifies after boy, 14, charged

Deenihan said the girl was "lured" to a residence by one of the attackers, who did not allow her to leave. As many as six males took part in the assault, police have said. She was found two days later walking down the street near her home.

One of the suspects broadcast the assault on Facebook Live, and authorities have said that as many as 40 people saw it. None called police, an abstention that enraged Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.

The attack was at least the fourth Chicago crime caught on Facebook Live since the end of October.

After one of the previous attacks, in which a mentally disabled man was tormented and tortured by a group of people, the company said it does not allow people "to celebrate or glorify crimes" on its network. Facebook took down the video of the girl's assault after being notified by police.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... story.html