#brewster projects

[trinidadpames]

It's crazy how fast things can change. 

Detroit, MI

2013

[instantkarmo]

[el-cholo]

I took an adventure today to the Infamous Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects in Detroit. Check it out!

[atrianglewalksintoacamera-blog]

snuck a visit to Douglas towers before they get the wrecking ball. 

[sit-in]

Dustin Bluavet - Kickflip Backlip

Go Skateboarding Day 2013

[dresgame]

Identity : Bullies or Thugs? Nop they are thugs.

1983 my sixth grade year and final year at Hampton Elementery was a turning point for my school, my street, and my city. In school I was noticing more fights, more bullying In fact, Joseph Banks stole my lunch money. He was representitive of a growing number of kids at Hampton who were acting like the older guys on Warrington and the guys in the projects. This thug thing was sprwading like a cold. One of the most notrious individuals of this group of Black kids who came from well to do families in the well to do University district and but choose to be a thug was Sam Cannon.

Yet Sam was not just a thug he was a violent criminal and it seemed like he raised the bar on being a thug. It was rumorred that him and the other bad Cannon kids were all the proud children of Dr. cannon. Sam was not only street smart he was book smart too. He got great grades. In fact, one of the few encounters I had with Sam was when he randomly came up to me and said "I'll kick your ass if I get a better report card than you." I didnt even know this guy. What is this guy a smart thug?  

http://mdocweb.state.mi.us/OTIS2/otis2profile.aspx?mdocNumber=208773

The above link is to Sam.  I truly believe our society let him down. I truly believe that Sam could have done something wonderful with his life.  My 5th grade teacher Mrs. Felton once said to me "Sam is smarter than you." I really believe that he was. I been blessed to do so much with my life and I hate that someone smarter than me has to sit behind bars. I know that there are so many Black men in prison or dead in part because of a flawed view of what a Black man is or should be. I'm going to change this perception for brothers like Sam and for myself. Stay strong Sam.

On Warrington we were getting more and more visiters from different streets who would come to play basketball with us or street football. All of these visters were Black and had the same thugish lifestyle that Frankie and Rodney were adopting.

During this time Detoit was constantly being awarded the title of Murder Capital of the US. The YBI (see below) were recruiting kids to sell drugs. My old home, the Brewster's, were regarded as the worst Detroit had to offer and my new home the University District was regarded as the best Detroit had to offer. The University looked affluent and well to do but its fountaition of sucess and saftey was being irroded and replaced with failure and thuggery. Detroit was turning into the projects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Boys_Inc.

[dresgame]

This picture represents the typical house in the University District. Although I lived in the University district I did not live in a house this size. (See the house my mom and I rented below)

Homes like the one above we’re not like the homes on my block.  The homes on my block and the block south of mine consisted of duplexes. I had to walk pass these mini mansions going to school.

The Brewsters had only two types of homes. You could live in a duplex like my mom and I or in the towers. In my new neighborhood you could live in a very nice duplex or an awesome mini mansion.

We were still in Detroit but in a different world.

I had tons of fun with all of my friends. The excitement that I found there consisted of playing games out side until the street lights came on. I never saw a police car, or a knife fight, or heard gun fire. People there were generally nice and friendly with a very easy disposition. In the projects people were very guarded, there were lots of mean people and people you felt fearful of.

As I child I could not comprehend the difference but the atmosphere in the University District and the Projects were very different. And although I never complained about life in the Brewsters (because it was all I knew ) life was so much better in the university district. 

[dresgame]

Identity : They were so I am

There were all kinds of people in my new nieghborhood. Black, White, Jewish and Asians. In fact, I quickly became friend with a Peruvien kid named Richie who lived directly across the street. Richie and I would become best friends. Richie lived next door to Frankie and his sister Denise. They lived two doors down from Rodney. I lived next door to the Daniels a White Jesuit family. The Daniels included mom dad two sisters and Chris their little brother. These were the primary characters that I interacted with on my block. Richie and I were in the 3rd grade together and went to Hampton Elementary school which was located on my street about a half mile away.

Frankie, Rodney and Denise were a few years older and they went to Hampton as well. The Daniels girls were older than me but younger than Frankie and Chris was a 1st grader. The Daniels kids went to the Jesuit school around the corner where Mr. Daniels taught. That’s a quick intro to the Warrington Street crew.

(above is a picture of my new home in the university district)