The ghetto is a dangerous place. The ghetto is different. Feral behavior is the norm there. In ghetto culture, the worst thing you can do to someone is “diss” or disrespect them. And the response to being dissed is violence.
Toss in the whole gang and drug culture, drug deals gone bad and people wanting revenge, poor impulse control, looking at somebody the wrong way, looking at someone’s girl the wrong way, and you have a recipe for the violence we see among ghetto people. And is any of this racist when it’s black on black violence???
Yes, the west Baltimore area is very bad. But violence bleeds over (pun intended) into other places in Baltimore as well. At night, when the feral youths hit the streets looking for trouble, the central city becomes a dangerous place, even in the popular Inner Harbor.