“I Own This Corner” Winter 1997/1998

By now, I had become more observant of the activities in my neighborhood. I spent more time outside, talking with neighbors, setting on my porch, and asking people to give me a little respect, by not conducting their activities on my property. The results were mixed. Some of my neighbors told me that people would stand in my yard and even set on my front porch steps while I was away from the house. The amount of trash sometimes left on the ground supported their claims.

Naturally, the cold weather always puts a slight damper on the activities here. But I am still constantly surprised at the occasional person willing to stand in the rain, snow or cold to make the sale. If not for the fact that what they’re doing is illegal, and for the trash they leave behind, this kind of strong commitment to their business would actually be quite admirable. Anyway, I’ve come to realize that the spring activities are usually a pretty good indicator of how the rest of the year will be go. Noticing how early in the season they start up again, how many of them come out early, and if there are a lot of new faces in the crowd, all helps me to brace for what will follow.

This spring (my third here) did not begin well. One night, I heard shouting outside. I looked out the window to see Gordon standing on the sidewalk and shouting “This is my block. I built it, and nobody’s gonna take it from me. All you mother fuckers need to stay inside tonight.” He was pacing back and forth and appeared to be very high. I think his message was intended mainly for the other dealers who were encroaching on “his” territory, but he also said “I don’t wanna see no white people, I don’t wanna see no cops. This is my corner.”

I thought about calling the police. I also thought about going out to talk with him and see what would happen. But to be honest, at that moment my fascination was stronger than either my fear or anger. It was surreal, like watching something from a movie come to life. I just watched for about ten to fifteen minutes while he continued shouting almost non-stop. Then, suddenly, he walked away. A couple minutes later, several police cars arrived. They had one street shut down, blocked at both ends, and were searching through some empty lots with their flashlights.

The area they were searching was a half-block from the corner where Gordon was standing, but he was walking around a lot. Because no one was in sight when the police started their search, I have to assume they were acting on a call. But I have no idea if it was because of Gordon’s antics or something else. In the middle of all this, Gordon suddenly walked back into the area. He walked right up to the patrol car that was blocking one of the intersections and started talking with the cop inside. There was only one officer in the car, and the others were a half-block away. At one point, Gordon had his head inside of the open window of the police car.

Now it is altogether possible that this officer had no idea that Gordon was the one who had been shouting earlier. And I can say from later experience that Gordon can shake off his high and look very sober when he needs to, so it's possible that he appeared normal to the officer. But Gordon is (and was at that time) known as a very serious drug trafficker to the police. It just seemed a little strange that this officer would appear so relaxed around him. After that, I began to wonder if the police (individuals or department) were possibly complicit in the activities here. That could help explain why the drug dealing is so prevalent here and why the police didn’t want to talk with me. Notice, at this point I was not making such an accusation, simply speculating.