Flatbush hope!

In the comments this person that goes by the name of “the real ditmas voice” said that “We are the most diverse community in America, many African Americans, Jews, Asians and mixed races have bought into our coop and into the coops in the “hood”………throwing out accusations that have NO merit is detrimental to all people of the neighborhood, and the possibility of bringing new hope the "Hood".”

I was going to let that go until he/she said “bringing new hope the hood”. So I have good news and bad news for my condescending white liberal friend. I have no evidence that the real ditmas voice is a white liberal but I suspect that she is.I'll take it easy on her because she seems to have good intentions. But you know what they say about good intentions. I can be wrong and I’ve been wrong before. But I digress. First: the bad news. I’m going to rip you a new one. The good news: You’re going to be a better person for it ;). I don’t need anyone to live next to me to give me any new hope. I’m an individual. I blaze my own trail. I’m my own person. No one can mold me. I mold myself. I’m responsible for my own being and no one else. I’ve lived in Flatbush since I was as young as I can remember. Hope is having a solid unbreakable inner strength to keep going on no matter how bad it gets. Hope is having my friends older sister being shot by drug dealers in my own block and having to deal with that as a boy. Wondering why it had to happen. I did not need the Ditmas voice and her mix culture to give me hope. Hope is being a 12 year old boy having drug dealers on every corner of your block and worrying that you might get in the cross fires of a shoot out. Hope is waking up every day as a young boy in Junior High School, dodging crack dealers and refusing to ever end up like them. Hope is having the courage to move on after your schoolmate was burnt alive for refusing to smoke crack. I had despicable people hanging around me growing up. I vowed never to be like them. No matter who my neighbors are. Those people are no longer around. They've been gone since the 90's. It's not the yuppies or hipsters that changed flatbush. It's those of us who grew up here and refused to be pawns for the drug lords and the criminal justice system. I'm still here. I stayed through thick and thin. So do my neighbors have an effect on me? That’s a resounding no. I could care less how diverse flatbush is. It’s all a ruse. The only thing that should matter is that people have a right to move in wherever they want to without being discriminated on behalf of or against by sleazy brokers and real estate agents. I’ve checked out advertisements. There are signs that these scummy brokers have gotten their paws on flatbush. Everything is "apartment is next to Cortelyou road and vox pop." It's basically racial steering of whites. Discriminate against coloreds. Wash, rinse and collect your fee. It's funny that a self proclaim leftist coffee shop like vox pop is being used as a tool of oppression and corporate greed. If you would even think of discriminated against me, I would sue you so fast that you won’t even know what hit you. I've stood up against tougher things. That has no effect on me. So you can have your restaurants, your coffee shops and your crappy overpriced organic food. But never make the mistake that somehow you’re going to make my life better or give me new hope.