Streetology

“If you completely ran out of money today, what would you do? For food? To find a job? Tell me, what would you do?”

Cesaire Kennedy, an East Oakland resident who recently became homeless, asked me that question. I’ve thought about this before actually. What I would do if I suddenly ran out of money and had no support group to fall back on. I suppose it’s kind of a morbid thought, but in any case I have come up with a couple of money-making ideas that could get me by from day to day —at least in the beginning— if I ever was in that situation. In deep East Oakland, it seems almost like everyone thinks and lives life this way: one day at a time.

Usually when you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up, their response shows some kind of long term commitment, like going to college or getting some kind of training. But here, in the deep East, so many teens and children told me they don’t really see the point in investing in their futures. The constant threat of death that lingers over them makes them seek instant gratification. Money in their pockets now, because tomorrow is uncertain. It’s heartbreaking in many ways, but so empowering in others.

You can sense the entrepreneurial spirit and rugged individualism that motivates the residents here. Even children as young as 6 and 7 possess this intense drive to make money, on their own, and relying on nothing but ingenuity. Some call this hustling. Here it’s called having “streetology.”

When three 11-year-old kids stood outside of a Valero gas station on Macarthur Blvd to fundraise, they went far beyond a typical lemonade stand. They gave well-rehearsed speeches and prepared a fairly legitimate looking donation sheet. They were asking gas station customers to donate money for their basketball uniforms. But it turns out, it was actually just a scam. A scam organized by these elementary school-aged children. I agree it’s mischievous, but when you look past that, these kids demonstrated something greater: initiative. They were poised, not at all shy, and very good public speakers. They invested time into their money-making scheme. They were clever — the image of an “11-year-old used-car salesman” came to mind.

It seems so many residents possess this same drive and resourcefulness when it comes to working. Of course the work ethic is different though. There are very few businesses here, but many of the young residents said they don’t even want to work a formal job. And there are many different reasons why. For one, you can make a day’s worth of money by standing on a street corner for just a few hours, selling drugs. And the drug market in Oakland is very unique. It isn’t this highly organized operation. Most dealers are pretty much on their own, with the exception of the occasional “lookout.” The drug trade is another example of the incredibly individualistic mindset of the streets.

Other deep East residents told me they choose not to work formal jobs because employers make them feel like they aren’t good enough — because of the way they dress and speak. They say they feel like they are forced to compromise their personalities and behavior too much.

“You just want to be yourself no matter what,” resident Daniel Smith told me. “And [employers] really, they want you to act like white people. You know act like prim and proper and speak well and be very polite and you know talk about golf with the customer please, which somebody has told me. And it’s like, no, that’s not me. I want to talk about cars or something.”

Personally, this doesn’t really make sense. It seems like we all have to compromise, in the workplace and in life. Even a street worker has to negotiate and act a certain way to make a sale. But I do understand how having your character constantly judged and criticized by an employer could make you want to leave and not go back. And even in those times when I don’t understand, I know that I don’t need to. I haven’t been faced with the same disadvantages as many of the residents here. We don’t need to understand that mentality. We just need to understand that this mentality was something we somehow helped create.