In Black communities throughout the African Diaspora, streets form the link between "home" and the "rest of the world." Being "in the streets" connotes a state of living in the open, the place where anything can happen. Successfully maneuvering the streets of one's environment requires special tenacity and skill. Here one's personality and "hometraining" make one alert and ready.

In the United States, streets in Black communities often carry powerful and graphic cultural statements revealing basic methods of human survival and creativity--in the midst of economic and political depression.

Much has been said about the pathology of the streets,