ABSTRACT
A s a child, I was raised in several apartment complexes located in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. The suburbs are less “diverse” than the city. Many Chicagoans feel like suburban kids have it easy because we didn’t grow up around gangs or in heavily populated areas. We are also assumed to be one of two evils, either we are more naive than our inner city counterparts, or we are financially privileged and take advantage of our parents’ hard work. I hate those assumptions. I grew up in four apartment complexes surrounded by families that had been kicked out of the housing projects in the south and west sides of Chicago. Although these apartment complexes are located in one of the richest counties in the United States, they house poor, single mothers of several racial and ethnic backgrounds and their latchkey kids. These apartments also house gangbangers, drug dealers, sexual predators, and families trying to work their way up from lower-to-middle socioeconomic classes. I lived among these people. I am one of these people. I share some of the same stories as these people.
