For me, and my guess is that for almost everyone on this thread, I wasn't a normal resident. I had an intact family, they gave me good values, education was important, they knew life wasn't supposed to stay like that. I think for most people in the hood, they don't have any of those things, or very few of them and so they don't know how to navigate out of it.
One thing is, hood living is normal b/c that's your environment so the crime and insecurity don't seem that bad b/c that's how everyone's life is. If you live in SE D.C. in the late 80's or early 90's you just assume some folks are gonna get shot. Worrying about getting shot and planning on how not to get jumped by crackheads is part of your daily routine. You think about it the same way you might be thinking about what homework you have. -- reddit