Det her er USA, og her er flere våben, end der er indbyggere

I går blev New York erklæret i undtagelsestilstand pga. en alarmerende stigning i skyderier. Så skal du til New York, er der nogle områder, du skal holde dig fra.

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This is the United States – and here we have more guns than people

Yesterday, New York was declared a state of emergency due to an alarming increase in shootings. Then you are going to New York, there are some areas you should avoid.

When you are a tourist, it can be difficult to know if the area you are in is safe. I experienced this when I was in the United States for the first time. I was in my early 20s and found myself with my travel companions in Los Angeles. We stopped at a gas station and wanted to ask for directions.

“Get in the car, lock the doors, and drive! Do not stop if you hit a red light, “said the man. I stumbled back into the rental car and we drove with beating hearts out of the area as fast as we could.

I will never forget it. And I never forget the feeling of not understanding what was going on – of not being able to read the signals of the surroundings. For I did not have the feeling of being in danger or of being in an area that was dangerous. Not until I was made aware of it.

I lived in Denmark and was a tourist in the United States with all the blindness it entails. When you are in a strange place, everything looks different and the codes are different than you are used to – therefore it can be difficult to see that you are in a place where your life is potentially in danger.

The state of New York has had an explosive growth in shootings of more than 75 percent since the onset of the corona pandemic . In what is usually the most festive weekend of the year here, namely the 4th of July weekend, there were 51 shooting episodes in the state. 

Even after the state has gained some control over the virus that shut down the city of New York in particular and made a large portion of the state’s especially younger uneducated residents unemployed, the shootings continue.

Therefore, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has declared New York a state of emergency. At the same time, millions of dollars have been allocated so that the hardest hit areas get help with programs to help young people out of the criminal environment.

Cuomo , of course, is afraid that the city of New York will get a bad reputation, and tourists will not return after the corona hell it is recovering from. But he is also afraid of the future of both the state and the city of New York in relation to all the citizens who sought out and away during the pandemic and who may not return.

If you have the resources to seek refuge when the crisis hits, you will not return until you feel that it is safe and secure to return to the big cities. It’s a problem, because New York risks withering away and falling into violence, chaos and shootings instead of flourishing with tourism and affluent dollars, which make business thrive and citizens’ incomes rise with all that entails of a society that works.

Maybe this will be a wakeup call for the people who are so lucky to live in a bubble, and who have never before had to take a stand on the life that thousands of black families and Latino families have to deal with with their hearts in their throats every day when they try to take care of their work, support themselves and send their children to school.

It should be a human right to live in an area where there is no risk of being slapped down on the open street. But this is the United States, and here are more weapons than there are inhabitants. And when the crisis is raging, it really does – especially if you live a life where you hit the very bottom of society very quickly. It is not an excuse for the violence, the murders and the horrific crime that carry so much horror with it. It’s just a finding.

So before you explore the exciting residential areas far away from 5th Avenue and the hip shopping streets when you visit The Big Apple, just check online to see if you plan to take the subway or an Uber to an area where your Senses do not respond to the dangers that may be there, even if they are not visible to you. 

(Google translate)