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> She described how bewildering it had been to accompany a friend downtown, near the tourist-friendly Inner Harbor, one night a few months earlier. “The lightin

> She described how bewildering it had been to accompany a friend downtown, near the tourist-friendly Inner Harbor, one night a few months earlier. “The lighting was so bright. People had scooters. They had bikes. They had babies in strollers. And I said: ‘What city is this? This is not Baltimore City.’ Because if you go up to Martin Luther King Boulevard” — the demarcation between downtown and the west side — “we’re all bolted in our homes, we’re locked down.” She paused for a moment to deliver her point. “All any of us want is equal protection,” she said. This rings pretty true to me. The past few months I've taken walks around the Inner Harbor, Fells Point, and Federal Hill in the mornings, and it has never felt unsafe. When I've ventured into other parts of the city it's like I've entered a different world. Also, as an aside, you can get a feel for how safe various areas of the city are by checking out the Baltimore Homicides Map: https://homicides.news.baltimoresun.com/ https://homicides.news.baltimoresun.com/

twodayslate 8y ago
Could this be due to the inequalities or demographic differences between the different neighborhoods? https://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-graphic-mapping-inequalities-in-baltimores-neighborhoods-20150504-htmlstory.html https://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-graphic-mapping-inequalitie... http://graphics.wsj.com/baltimore-demographics/ http://graphics.wsj.com/baltimore-demographics/
- gk1 8y ago
  Yes, of course. In Baltimore there's an area called "the white 'L'", and another area called "the black butterfly," describing how the demographics are shaped throughout the city.
- roenxi 8y ago
  Inequality has to a symptom of something deeper. It is simply unreasonable to think that my neighbor being 100x as wealthy as me could inspire me to a life of crime. Inequality is just as much a symptom of health as it is sickness in the system - everyone is equal if there is no wealth and everybody is eating dirt. If "inequality" is a euphemism for social stratification it should be called as such, or a pithy word found. Not being able to access wealth through hard work is a huge problem.
southphillyman 8y ago
This is my experience. I have been there several times but never to the "real Baltimore", only the Inner Harbor and Fells Point. It's crazy how a city can keep small pockets of the city clean and local crime away from tourist areas.
peterwwillis 8y ago
This is called "The White L" and "The Black Butterfly", and it's kind of ridiculous how accurate it is. Anything surrounding Charles St by a few blocks is prosperous and safe, extending into and around Fed Hill, and going east on Pratt St. Frequently-running free buses, light rail, lots of police presence, tourism, a vibrant array of small businesses, and everyone you see is white. Go outside of those narrow corridors and suddenly it's all liquor stores, boarded up houses, chronically late for-pay buses, and everyone you see is black. If it were the deep south we'd say it was a shocking display of segregation. https://www.citypaper.com/bcpnews-two-baltimores-the-white-l-vs-the-black-butterfly-20160628-htmlstory.html https://www.citypaper.com/bcpnews-two-baltimores-the-white-l... https://www.colorlines.com/articles/read-brilliant-breakdown-baltimores-segregation https://www.colorlines.com/articles/read-brilliant-breakdown... http://thebaltimorechop.com/2015/04/05/on-the-myth-of-baltimore-as-a-cheap-place-to-live/ http://thebaltimorechop.com/2015/04/05/on-the-myth-of-baltim...
bsanr 8y ago
I grew up in suburban Maryland, and school trips to Balitmore - to visit the National Aquarium and such - were frequent. We'd go to Orioles and Ravens games and walk 20 minutes from parking without incident. The first time I was ever "cut loose" to roam around without adult supervision was during a trip to the Inner Harbor in 8th grade, and then every year after that, in high school, we would get to spend a day there with visiting Japanese exchange students. There was also an annual anime convention that I'd attend with friends, and again, we'd roam around the area without trouble. It wasn't actually until college, when serialized prestige TV began to be a "thing" and The Wire started to bleed into the the broader cultural atmosphere, that I had any comprehension that Baltimore was supposed to be a dangerous place. There is a razor sharp divide, even if it's not delineated by a train track.
bildung 8y ago
> https://homicides.news.baltimoresun.com/ https://homicides.news.baltimoresun.com/ Oh wow, Baltimore (600k inhabitants) has about the same homicide rate per year as the whole of Germany (83M inhabitants)...

twodayslate 8y ago

Could this be due to the inequalities or demographic differences between the different neighborhoods? https://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-graphic-mapping-inequalities-in-baltimores-neighborhoods-20150504-htmlstory.html https://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-graphic-mapping-inequalitie... http://graphics.wsj.com/baltimore-demographics/ http://graphics.wsj.com/baltimore-demographics/

gk1 8y ago
Yes, of course. In Baltimore there's an area called "the white 'L'", and another area called "the black butterfly," describing how the demographics are shaped throughout the city.
roenxi 8y ago
Inequality has to a symptom of something deeper. It is simply unreasonable to think that my neighbor being 100x as wealthy as me could inspire me to a life of crime. Inequality is just as much a symptom of health as it is sickness in the system - everyone is equal if there is no wealth and everybody is eating dirt. If "inequality" is a euphemism for social stratification it should be called as such, or a pithy word found. Not being able to access wealth through hard work is a huge problem.

southphillyman 8y ago

This is my experience. I have been there several times but never to the "real Baltimore", only the Inner Harbor and Fells Point. It's crazy how a city can keep small pockets of the city clean and local crime away from tourist areas.

peterwwillis 8y ago

This is called "The White L" and "The Black Butterfly", and it's kind of ridiculous how accurate it is. Anything surrounding Charles St by a few blocks is prosperous and safe, extending into and around Fed Hill, and going east on Pratt St. Frequently-running free buses, light rail, lots of police presence, tourism, a vibrant array of small businesses, and everyone you see is white. Go outside of those narrow corridors and suddenly it's all liquor stores, boarded up houses, chronically late for-pay buses, and everyone you see is black. If it were the deep south we'd say it was a shocking display of segregation. https://www.citypaper.com/bcpnews-two-baltimores-the-white-l-vs-the-black-butterfly-20160628-htmlstory.html https://www.citypaper.com/bcpnews-two-baltimores-the-white-l... https://www.colorlines.com/articles/read-brilliant-breakdown-baltimores-segregation https://www.colorlines.com/articles/read-brilliant-breakdown... http://thebaltimorechop.com/2015/04/05/on-the-myth-of-baltimore-as-a-cheap-place-to-live/ http://thebaltimorechop.com/2015/04/05/on-the-myth-of-baltim...

bsanr 8y ago

I grew up in suburban Maryland, and school trips to Balitmore - to visit the National Aquarium and such - were frequent. We'd go to Orioles and Ravens games and walk 20 minutes from parking without incident. The first time I was ever "cut loose" to roam around without adult supervision was during a trip to the Inner Harbor in 8th grade, and then every year after that, in high school, we would get to spend a day there with visiting Japanese exchange students. There was also an annual anime convention that I'd attend with friends, and again, we'd roam around the area without trouble. It wasn't actually until college, when serialized prestige TV began to be a "thing" and The Wire started to bleed into the the broader cultural atmosphere, that I had any comprehension that Baltimore was supposed to be a dangerous place. There is a razor sharp divide, even if it's not delineated by a train track.

bildung 8y ago

> https://homicides.news.baltimoresun.com/ https://homicides.news.baltimoresun.com/ Oh wow, Baltimore (600k inhabitants) has about the same homicide rate per year as the whole of Germany (83M inhabitants)...