COMMUNITY

You Fear The Hood Because of Racist Stereotypes. That Was The Plan

If you fear the hood, then you fear the people who live there. And that means you believe some harmful things about them.

AI-generated photo of a Black woman wearing gold hoop earrings | created by author using CANVA

When you fear something, you want to get as much space between you and it as humanly possible. If it's a giant spider, like the tarantula-looking one I found underneath the vanity cabinet during my twenties, run for the hills. The same can be said about any other animal that may bite you or cause harm. But what happens when we develop a fear of other people simply because of the color of their skin, the community they live in, or their access to money? Then, we'll hold fast to prejudice and attempt to justify our perspective with stereotypes.

We can see this play out in the way people often talk about "the hood," as if it's a scene from a horror film instead of a community where many Black people live, work, attend school, and play. You know, the way wealthy White men like Donald Trump say the word "Chi・ca ・go" like a curse word as if he's rebuking the city by reciting its name with such vitriol. Folks like him are so quick to talk about the rate of violent crime in black communities but not the correlation between crime and poverty or the intentional effort to deprive these communities of resources that could mitigate both social problems.

Generations of housing segregation, racial redlining, and locking Black folks out of equitable opportunities created the hood, a chronically impoverished community. So, by inspiring Americans to fear the hood, folks like Donald Trump are trying to encourage people who live in the country or suburbs to turn a blind eye to the chronic deprivation of resources, the over-policing, and the overall oppressive conditions Black people living in the hood experience. If they can mislead you into believing that people in the hood are inherently lazy, violent, irresponsible, and amoral, they can convince you that any neglect or harm you see them endure is justified. That's why this whole conversation about some people living in fear of the hood is so concerning — it's further evidence that racist talking points are cemented into our cultural mainframe.