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So I was walking down Elizabeth Ave in Elizabeth today around 9am. I was on my way to the Liberty Center to pick up some needed items for church from the building. As I was approaching the door for which I have a key to enter the Liberty I happened to pass another person on the sidewalk. He was walking towards me, talking to himself I thought. As we passed by each other we made eye contact. He kinda looked me up and down. And then he spoke.

“What’s crackin?” he asked me. I then noticed the blue dew-rag atop his head. And I noticed that the shirt I was wearing was of red in color. And so I put it all together, in split second timing mind you, and realized what was going down. I looked back at my fellow sidewalk traveller, turned away, and went inside the Liberty.

For the uninitiated, here is what was happening. And, of course, this is using the lens of the worldviews and values of the urban subcultures of the city of Elizabeth, NJ. Things may be different in your town. Clearly, the signs of the colors of our clothing point to a possible gang-related misunderstanding. This could be simple coincidence, though. Many people wear clothing of red or blue color every day. But the word, “crackin,” it is a Crip word. And the way he used it, while looking at me in my red shirt, it is clear he was challenging me to see what I would do. It was evident that he thought I was a Blood, and, were I in fact a Blood - I am not - the word “crackin” would have been seen as an insult and challenge to hand-to-hand gang warfare combat.

Anyway, being that I am not involved in a gang - indeed, according to some disillusioned politicians it would be impossible for me to be involved since “Elizabeth has no gangs” - I did not want to end up in a scuffle so early in the morning when I had so much ahead in my schedule. Plus I had just washed my pants and did not want to dirty them so quickly from the dryer.

Nothing came of it in the end. After I came outside, gear in hand, my would-be new friend was gone and I was alone on the Ave. And this was how my day began today.

On this day…

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