Native Oaklanders sound off on what annoys them about newcomers to the city

"It's a lot more techie," - Monica Harris, a fourth generation Oaklander

Also from Harris: "I guess aside from the complete lack of interest [in] the place they are occupying....People are shocked that I'm from Oakland or to meet someone from Oakland." less "It's a lot more techie," - Monica Harris, a fourth generation Oaklander

Also from Harris: "I guess aside from the complete lack of interest [in] the place they are occupying....People are shocked that I'm ... more Photo: Jessica Christian, The Chronicle Photo: Jessica Christian, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Native Oaklanders sound off on what annoys them about newcomers to the city 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

Keith Tivon Gregory is Oakland through and through. He was born in East Oakland and raised on High Street. After he graduated from Merritt Junior High School and Fremont High School, he stayed in Oakland while studying at UC Berkeley. He's been here his entire life and has seen the city change over the last few decades, especially in recent years.

Gregory, who is black, has interacted plenty with Oakland's newbies. When asked what annoys him about them, he responded with a question of his own. "Is it safe?"

"It's annoying when people ask 'Will I get robbed? Once you're here and your feet are on the ground, everything is beautiful ... [but] everything is seen as a threat. Everyone who is black and brown is seen as a threat."

SFGATE asked Oaklanders from all over The Town — West Oakland, East Oakland, the Flatlands, North Oakland and more — what annoys them about people who are new to the city. Responses ranged from intolerance to displacement to separation between newcomers and natives.

Mike Vincent, 38, shared a similar sentiment to Gregory while walking to the Fruitvale BART station on a recent afternoon.

"It's not like the media portrays us, with all the killings and everything," Vincent said. "it ain't as bad as you think it is. Some people are crazy, but that's how it is everywhere."

Two Oakland natives – Monica Harris and Indigo Jackson – both get peeved that they aren't recognized by newcomers as people from Oakland, but gave different reasons as to why they think it happens.

"People are shocked that I'm from Oakland or to actually meet someone from Oakland," said Harris, a fourth generation Oaklander. "There are 100 years of my family contributing to this community."

Jackson went to UC Santa Cruz after growing up in Oakland. When she moved back, she started being mistaken as a newcomer, she said. It was doubly weird for her because she had started becoming conscious of the effects of privilege and gentrification. During her college years, she noticed the city changing.

"It was strange to sense that all of a sudden I might be perceived as one of the perpetrators of this problem (gentrification)," she said. "Because of my age, caucasian features and funky dress, I would be mistaken as gentrifier tearing apart Oakland culture of old.

"I felt an urgent need to assert my Oakland heritage, constantly prove that I am from here and not to question if I deserve to call this home."

"Who belongs in Oakland?" has been a question at the heart of two recent news stories involving Lake Merritt that got national coverage. In May, a woman named Jennifer Schulte was shown in a video calling Oakland police on two men who were cooking out at the lake, claiming that they were breaking the law by barbecuing with coal. Then in early June, a man named Henry Sintay was shown in a video throwing a homeless man's belongings in the trash. The incidents inspired outrage among both longtime and new Oakland residents.

Miguel Montil, 25, who's lived in Oakland his entire life, said those incidents show the intolerance of newcomers to the city. "Here there is tolerance on things that annoy most people," he said while serving people fresh fruit, sorbet and cold juice on International Boulevard in Fruitvale. "We have a tolerance for homelessness, cannabis, loud music, having a good time.

"People are more likely to join you than call the cops on you. They should exercise tolerance. Those things are not going anywhere, so they should learn how to deal with it in a respectable manner."

A couple blocks down the street another lifelong Oaklander, Eddie Arias, 21, was on his way to lunch. He works at the Chase Bank in Fruitvale, where he said he interacts with a lot of people who are new to Oakland. He said that he sees opportunity in new people bringing their resources to the city.

"I see a lot of inexperience in the newcomers," Arias said. "They should get involved in the city and community."

Pendarvis Harshaw, a 30-year-old journalist who moved to Oakland when he was three years old and writes about the city, agrees that newcomers should get involved. He said he's noticed "imaginary lives of division" between longtime Oakland residents and newcomers to the city.

"I think that's problematic. When people who were already here separate themselves from newcomers and vice versa," he said. "At one point, your people were newcomers."