[American-born-Nigerian male, in tech, in SF] First, once again HN has impressed me with its overall positive reception of this article. Anyways, that East Ba

[American-born-Nigerian male, in tech, in SF] First, once again HN has impressed me with its overall positive reception of this article. Anyways, that East Bay comment rings so very true for me. So many times people ask me "Do you feel safe in East Bay? You're in Pittsburg? Aren't you scared?" This was extremely common with my at&t coworkers in San Ramon, California. I've been there for like 10 years; nothing has ever happened. Not even minor. Eventually, I started to take note of the people who were asking me those questions and I realized why they might be uncomfortable with East Bay. They probably had no experience with it and only heard things word of mouth from their circle of coworkers & friends.... which usually don't have a minority in 'em. One evening one of them, a lady, even admitted to me that: "You know, you're the only black person most of us really know." There are a bunch of examples of generalizing a whole area as dangerous when only really specific sections are of concern. Usually because the people doing the generalizing have no direct experience with the place, or maybe just one bad experience from one time they were there... or they just keep hearing stuff on the news that loves reporting negative stuff. Mexico, Oakland, Africa, ...etc... As for the workplace-vibe thing, I suspect being a first gen American-Nigerian gives me a different perspective than an African-American. I don't think I'm in the same situation or feel the same things as the author, but I do understand what she's saying.