What Running An Airbnb Has Taught Me About the Word Unsafe

I run an airbnb, I am a superhost with a majority of glowing reviews, and have a bone to pick about the weaponization of the word unsafe. And how the word unsafe is used by non-blacks (including non black poc) when they are uncomfortable being in a majority black environment.

Although my neighborhood is overall diverse, I live in a mostly blackety blacker than black street on black north black neighborhood. A west indian enclave. My neighbors say hello to me, they open doors, they help with packages, they have families, they work hard. They have fun parties. They cook up something serious and I can smell the spices in the building. They have made their marks on the neighborhood for decades with their culture.

I have never felt unsafe. My building is chill and mostly quiet at all hours of the day. Safety is important, but this word has ALWAYS been weaponized against black neighborhoods for decades to assume that blackness = danger. White flight (google it) was in response to "too many black people" moving into a neighborhood, for fear the neighborhood would become unsafe. running away from those families, red lining, cutting them off from infrastructure, would create a vicious self-fulfilling cycle of poverty that created poor black neighborhoods. people would point and go "see black people are dangerous! look at that poor dangerous black neighborhood!" as if the neighborhood just magically became unsafe without the help of racist policy. Black people weren't inherently poor and dangerous, they were pushed into neighborhoods that were birthed and nurtured by a racist society, and then living in those forced neighborhoods was used against them to prove their inherent danger. there's a 24/7 media frenzy narrative created around how black people are scary & dangerous. People use blackness and black culture they do not understand as a subjective assumption of how safe or unsafe a neighborhood is.

When I see an airbnb reviewer mention "the neighborhood is unpleasant and feels unsafe" with no details of a specific incidence or happenstance, my bias barometer goes up.

Choose your words wisely & stop making dangerous assumptions. Think about how someone just existing and being themselves makes you feel unsafe and why. It may have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with bias and misunderstanding.