My perspective about my neighborhood!!!

I live in a small neighborhood known as Dream homes. I find it ironic that it has this name because the homes in this neighborhood are nothing to a person’s dream house. They are almost the complete opposite. I have lived in this neighborhood almost my whole life, since I was one year old to be exact. This neighborhood is notorious for gang affiliations and crimes. In the past few years there have been many murders that have taken place there. This neighborhood is so terrible that the county had to place a lawsuit against all its known gang members. This lawsuit would ban many things such as wearing gang related clothing, the usage of gang signs, graffiti and etc. living in a neighborhood like this has not been a pleasant experience. The worst memory that I have is watching my brothers best friend get killed by some of the gang members. Watching something like this was the worst scene that I have ever witnessed but I stop and think that this is reality. I know that if my mom had the choice to move out of this neighborhood, she would do it in a heartbeat. The only thing that stops her from doing so is she cannot afford to live anywhere else. She knows that this is not the best place to raise her children. Some say that living in places like this is how children become associated with gangs. I must say that I can agree to that to a certain extent because it does play a large role in it but a person has the choice of whether or not he or she wants to be a part of it.
When I get older and have children, I wish not to raise my children in a neighborhood like the one I was raised when I was a child. Although living in a neighborhood like that was awful it opened my eyes and made me realize that that was not the kind of environment that I wanted to live. I hope to raise my children in a safe environment. Although crime is almost impossible to avoid, I will try to do my best and find a neighborhood where the crime rate is not that high. I would not want my children to witness the kinds of things that I have gone through because experiences like those are the ones that stay with you forever.