I’ve lived in a big city for years now. Never seen anybody get mugged, or shot, or carjacked, despite doing activist work that often has me visiting poor minority neighborhoods.
The only time I ever really felt uneasy was when I had to walk alone at night through a neighborhood where all the businesses had bars on the windows. Worst thing that happened was a couple of people asking me for money, and they didn’t give me any shit when I said I didn’t carry cash.
But any time I visit the small town where I grew up there’s always someone or another acting like I came back from a fucking warzone lmao
The fear of the cities actually traces its roots back to the establishment of the (overwhelmingly) white suburban “middle class”, which was a product of Jim Crow era legislation and laws along with redlining and white flight.
I have a whole bit about how this happened, if anyone is interested in hearing more about it.