Bayview's Bad rep

Located in the extreme southeastern part of San Francisco, Ca. Bayview/ Hunterspoint clearly holds a reputation of having bored youth, bad crimes, bad neighborhood, just plain bad everything.
The 5.516 square miles radius over the main route of Third Street houses many families of color, and other minorities. But, don't let the city's color fool you. Bayview Hunterspoint in the recent years is also home to some White people, which ultimately can be surprising.

When I first chose the BV/HP district to cover, I remember people saying, "Oh my gosh. aren't you scared? That is a bad neighborhood!" I think that I heard so many negative comments of how bad the place is, I started to get scared and re-consider my options. Luckily the reporter in me kicked in right away! I loved a good challenge, and I thought to my self, what better neighborhood to cover than BV/HP? It was clear that people hold a negative assumption of the district, so I thought why not see for myself what the commotions and bad talks are all about.

Ah.. but that wasn't the only factor that discouraged me at first- there was the popular comment that, "People aren't going to want to speak with you. Plus most of them are ghetto, black people are rude!" Surprisingly, and thank goodness, I haven't approached such a person who does not want to talk to me or was 'ghetto' looking or acted 'ghetto'. Besides, what is ghetto anyway? What makes a person ghetto?

The people (that's right, the residents of BV/HP are PEOPLE. not violent, ghetto juveniles) there are quite friendly, and easy to approach. They love to talk (sometimes too much than what I need) about their life, experiences etc. Sure, some of them are scary to look at, at first but after you get to know the people within the neighborhood and set your pride and stereotypes aside- it is without a doubt that Bayview is just as similar as the other districts in the city of San Francisco. Sure, they have problems, and issues. Kids and youth get into trouble, crimes happen but what neighborhood is perfect anyway?

I think that the assumption and the rep of Bayview being bad ultimately comes from the people having fear of the people of color. I must admit, that I myself thought (at first, especially after driving down Third Street and Shafter Ave.) that it was a black neighborhood- but it's not. The place is diverse, full of culture and thriving. In fact, people here are beautiful, bold, and not just black but also White, Mexican and Asian. So the next time you drive down this neighborhood, you may want to add some color in your presumption. Not all black is bad, and not all of Bayview/ Hunterspoint is bad.