Yesterday I was talking with a couple students about "bad" neighborhoods in Chicago. The first one they mentioned was Cabrini Green. One girl said that she lives near the area and it used to be really bad but now has changed in the last year. Both students were talking about what changes had occured in that area and the affects it was having on people. I started to explain to them the concept of gentrification and how that was what Cabrini Green had basically undergone. From that discussion one of them mentioned how they were thinking of building a Target in the area and how it would be a big deal for the gangs in other areas. She said that kids from other neighborhoods would be all over the groups in the Cabrini area because they would be thought of badly because of living where a Target is.
It was a really interesting converstation about gang relations and why people who are in gangs are so dedicated to their neighborhood and what traditions they have always believed in or who they have always hated. My student couldn't say that there was any specific reason they hated each other, just that they always had.
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