Yup. I lived in the hood for a long time. Detroit NW. I'll admit I wondered what I was getting into when I moved. As a middle-aged gay white guy, I wasn't exactly going to blend in. But I'll tell you what else I wasn't about to do: Let fear stand in the way of pursuing my dreams. (Why moving to NW was part of an artistic dream is a complex story for another day.)

It didn't take me more than a few days to start to relax and feel at home. One really cool thing I noticed is that neighbors talked to each other and hung out with each other. A lot. Including with me after a while. Front porches were crowded.

Try that in a White suburb! I didn't even know my neighbors' names in the White suburb I moved from. There were almost no common spaces, houses were set far back from the street and relatively far apart from one another. Not conducive to hanging with the neighbors!

By comparison, the hood was one big block party.

Was there crime? I guess. Sometimes. It didn't touch me, though. And it usually wasn't random, either. So long as people avoided known problems, the block was safe and friendly.

I'll tell you what. I had a very hard time convincing some of my White friends to come visit. They were afraid. For the exact reason you spelled out.