Not a product but an opposite

My neighborhood is the exact opposite of gentrification: ghettofication. I used to live in a neighborhood where kids from down the street played at each other’s homes, played basketball, traded baseball cards, had “spend-a-nights” and parents bought other kids ice cream. Currently I live in a place where all I wish to do is stay in my house and only come outside only for things really important or to leave to another city. My neighborhood is a complete difference from five to ten years ago. My mother bought our home to be able to move out of lower income environments and to get away from ignorance and obnoxious people, yet we are back engaged. Violence is a factor that is played out and is a concern on a daily basis. America alone is a violent place; after all we do have a higher murder by gun rate than any other country. Countries such as Canada are so safe that families usually don’t even feel the need to lock their doors during the day and occasionally at night. In my neighborhood, there’s only one public high school for everyone in the city. I don’t think I have ever been more scared of gun threats or feared being jumped ever in my life. This is especially significant because I have also lived in places where at least one or two people die a week. I feel that I am who I am despite the neighborhood I live in because of my mother and grandmother. My mother has always tried her absolute best to keep me from gang violence and has over-sheltered me. I do not know too many single parents that would drive their child a 50 minutes to another county every single day just for them to go to school. I mind you that she worked in the opposite direction about 30 minutes. She also drove to pick me up and take me home safely for three years every single day.