Phase Two

After leaving Kozminski, my family and I moved about 20 minutes away to "the hundreds". The hundred's was a range of blocks starting with the 100 streets spanning all the way to 199th.  There I went to a school named O.T Bright from 1st-4th grade, once again a predominately black school. What made my neighborhood so unique was that it consisted of so many different groups. 2 dominate gangs: GD's on the block to my right and Vice Lords on the block to my left; a police station about three blocks away, a park across the street from my house, and my school 5 blocks away. With such a diverse community came chaos, especially within the school system. O.T Bright was already a school that struggled financially. The classrooms each had at least 35 kids per teacher, the schools gave out suspensions like hall passes, and our school never had the necessary materials to support students (textbooks, counselors, financial assistance for transportation, etc). When you factored in all the gang activity and violence to a school that is already struggling academically, it becomes dangerous. Students fought other students, teachers, security guards, you name it. There were so many gun threats that even kindergarteners knew the lockdown drill.