I’ve lived on the 7400 block of Holly Street in East Oakland since November. I went in knowing that on the outskirts of my block were drugs and the bi-products of those drugs. Fiends, dealers, and riff raff.

My quiet street is just four long blocks away from where the police officers were shot this weekend.

I’m not surprised that it happened, but the crime was so gruesome -- shooting officers right in the face -- that it gives me a jolt. In theory, these types of things have been happening in the neighborhood for a long time.

A week after I moved in, my house was broken into. I assumed it was a couple of kids because all they took were my shoes and hats! That was the first time I’ve ever been robbed. Oddly enough that’s how I got to meet my next door neighbor Mimi a sweet old lady who’s lived there for God knows how long. She told me she’d keep an eye on my house from now on. She also mentioned she keeps a loaded handgun in her house “just in case.”

My street is full of nice people like Mimi. There are families with kids and some old people. Lawns are taken care of. Garbage is taken out on Monday.

I know it’s a dangerous area but it’s a hood like any other in America. It’s not like you’re afraid for your life all the time, like there are zoo animals loose or there’s a rabid dog somewhere gnarling his teeth. It’s not that kind of fear. It’s another kind. You have to keep your eyes open. You can’t be unaware of your surroundings. And you just can’t be out past a certain time unless you are really from that neighborhood. If no one knows you, then you are a target and a potential victim.

When you live in a dangerous place, everyone is a potential criminal. No one can tell the difference. Police are like a gang or the mafia. They are family and when one dies, they take that personally. I’m worried about what the ripple effects will be. I’m too busy to hang out on the streets of East Oakland, but I know a lot of young people who do. What will happen to them when the innocent are mixed with the guilty?