We asked educator and illustrator Roosevelt Pye to come to share some wisdom with us. After he woke shit up at our photo stories of "My Brother's Keeper" in winter 2017. Posted in Brooklyn Bushwick neighborhood for a night, Roosevelt spoke on gentrification, community violence, and San Francisco culture.

Interview conducted by Stetson Hines

What city did you grow up in?

San Francisco CA,

How long have you lived here?

27 years

Can you tell me what it was like growing up being a minority in San Francisco? 

Growing up being a minority, I felt not an outcast; I felt more included, I felt, and I feel like San Francisco is a great melting pot, or were more so, it's changed a lot far as diversity, districts, communities, and my experience has been pretty good for the most part. 

What neighborhood did you grow up in? 

Portola right on the other side of Excelsior

How was it growing up in San Francisco? 

Umm, my experience growing up in San Francisco was good! A lot of cultures I grew up in Portola. My father lived in Fillmore. With family in the Bay View, it was a lot of love, a lot of good times, a lot of good memories

Was it a lot of crime where you grew up? 

No Portola is a predominantly residential neighborhood. For the most part, it was not a lot of crime at all actually in the neighborhood.

How did your parents keep you safe? 

My parents kept me safe by sending me to the school in the neighborhood Hillcrest elementary. I made sure my older siblings kept me in close contact. They made sure they provided strong leadership far as real-life lessons.

Did you lose any friends growing up? 

Omg! tons of friend's in the city from different sectors, different districts, many friends to gun violence. Many friends are incarcerated in the prison system. And most recently, in 2015, Mario Woods was killed by the San Francisco police department.         

How was the era you grew up in San Francisco? 

90's baby, the era was filled with a lot of love, a lot of originality, a lot of colors, and many styles. Growing up in the '90s was a beautiful thing, I would say the pre-tech boom. And it was just a lot of in-your-face originality, the hip hop scene, the music scene, the culture, the fashion.

Are your friends still around? 

I do still have friends that are still around. Some friends are not with us anymore or incarcerated for the most part. My close net circle of friends is very much so around. Maybe not so necessary in San Francisco or the Bay Area, much to do with Gentrification and the housing crisis with living costs.  

 

"Photostories: Roosevelt Pye talks gentrification & San Francisco.

How does that make you feel? 

It makes me feel bad honestly it's a lot of greed that has taken over the city. In regards to pushing a lot of the natives out of the city, Bay Area, state for that matter. It's horrible it's completely wiped out neighborhoods, it's changed neighborhoods. As much as people may, or may not want to say bringing in a lot of money into the community. It's pushing out the tight-knit group of people, and families of natives I don't think it's a good thing at all. 

Is San Francisco the same today? 

San Francisco will never go back to the way it was simply because the cost of living is too high god forbid you to have any kids, just putting food on the table is stretch, and it' very difficult with the commute times, and just a lot of things in play I don't see San Francisco ever going back to that community-oriented city.

How has San Francisco shaped you into the person you are today?. 

San Francisco has molded and I have been blessed to grow up all over the city and to have friends and family all over the city. Also to have gotten to know different cultures see different things it's molded me to overcome obstacles, to code-switch, embrace other cultures, preserve, and love. San Francisco has so much power and beauty and has taught me about life itself.