I've spent plenty of time working in Compton, Watts tower.
I didn't need my gun. But I would still suggest carrying one.
Man... Compton ain't bad. Especially now. It's majority Mexicanos now.
I grew up just over the hill (Dominguez Hills) in Carson (Victoria Park) there near Avalon Blvd and 186th. (by what is now the CSUDH campus and the Olympic Velodrome.) Ugh man... wasn't always the most fun place to grow up at bein' a White kid... Same kinda neighborhood as in Ice Cube's Friday movie... only a little more mixed then that. OMG, especially when Alex Hailey's ROOTs TV Mini-series debuted... Remember Kunta-Kinte? OMFG man... you have know idea how much that damn show whipped-up the anger in those mofos. I experienced soo much Gawd Damn racism and violence at their hands back then. Which is why it pisses me off BIG TIME when I hear little snibbler beyotches in this day and age all trying to pop-off with that race-card victimization BS. I'm all over here like Naw Screw You Jack!, Bump that noise! I know DAMN well what life is like when the Racist boot is on the other foot! You can't tell me nothin'! It's like 20 times worse! Naw man... anybody who plays that card will get no sympathy from me on that isht. All over here hatin' on lil 8yo/9yo me livin' right damn there with em in the same damn hood! Neyba Please! Like I'm your problem? Psssh... SMDH
You learn a DAMN LOT growin' up in a place like that! You learn how to read peoples body language real damn good. You get highly skilled at knowing if these mofos you see walkin' your direction are thinkin' of EFF'n with you or not.
Tell you somethin' else too... you will NEVER FORGET the first time somebody pulls a gun on your ass and tries to run you for your sh*t like the keys to your car.
Oh man... as kids if you lucked out and got a new bike for Christmas? Soon your parents got wise and wouldn't let you take it to the park for like 2-3 months after Christmas because they know mofos would steal 'em like clockwork. Got so sick and tired of that noise you learn to right-away spray-up your brand new bike w/ rattle-can primer-grey so it wouldn't look shiny/new anymore so they'd look at the other kids bikes instead.
And if you decided you wanted to be adventurous and go to the Carson Mall to hit up the Arcade or the Toy Store? You learned to put some money in this sock... some in that sock... some in this pocket... some in that pocket.. some in this back pocket.... some in that back pocket... so if some group of older mofos tried to run you for your money you'd play all boohoo sad face and take out what's in your one pocket and fake cry about it so they don't try to shake you down for the rest of it.
I'll sum it up like this... my two best friends on the block?... the mexican kid nextdoor and the white-trash bad-seed kid several houses down...I come to find out years later as a young adult my nextdoor got all cholo'd out... and apparently shot the other dude in a dispute over some drug dealing there were doing with one another something to do with sellin'... now ones dead and the other is a lifer in Federal Pen.
Glad we got out of there at like 11yo. New place wasn't much better. But at least it was a little better. Then just had a buncha Samoans to deal with that had chips on their shoulders and bad attitudes.
And you know how it is. It's just those people in that particular situation. You grow up and start to experience the rest of this great big world out there and then you realize that you just happened to be unfortunate enough to grow up next to people from other races and cultures that didn't have the right mindset and lacked the education, knowledge and wisdom to break the cycle and make something of themselves. Once you've grown up and met a great many people from all walks of life... then you just realize how sad it is when you run into that class of people that are that closed minded and indoctrinated with that kinda hate-filled identity politics makin' them think that everyone who doesn't look like them is out to get them or hold them back or whatever.
So yeah... carry that gun man. 'Cause everybody gets older man. You ain't always gonna be that bad mofo you once were. Better to realize and accept that fact sooner rather than later, and adjust accordingly.