Abdussabur, Shafiq, 2007 April 5

Shafiq Abdussabur grew up in the Dixwell neighborhood in New Haven in the 1970s. Abdussabur recalls that Dixwell was not unified neighborhood. Although the street was almost entirely African-American, lines of geography and class were readily apparent to most residents. He suggests that there were effectively five distinct neighborhoods on Dixwell, and that class and geographical snobbery ran rampant among Dixwell residents, particularly the children with whom Abdussabur grew up. There was a key difference, he recalls, between people who were "poor" -- single parent families, living in the Elm Haven projects, on welfare -- and those who were just "broke." Abdussabur's family fell into the latter class. Despite these class divisions, he recalls that community life in the Dixwell area was vibrant, with lots of opportunity for kids and many positive Africa-American role models. It was, he says, "really a black-empowered zone from Dixwell all the way up." Abdussabur now works for the New Haven Police Department.

Interviewer: Joseph, Amber