I love outside of Gary Indiana, and yeah it can be dangerous if you look lost or like you have no purpose for being there, but there's also good working people just trying to eke out the same shit living we all are. I hear my mom and sisters say this kind of shit and it's just like. Sigh
Edit; for some fun examples look on any reddit thread about dangerous trips or some shit and people will constantly talk about how badass they were for driving through Gary or St Louis or some shit.
It's not a warzone mayos.
I'm asking this partly because I've been assaulted before, at random, in a "dangerous" neighborhood, carrying no cash or valuables.
I don't judge everything by that experience but "just don't act weird" kinda sounds like you're just fucking luckier than me. Or maybe there's some social dynamic in play that I'm incapable of sensing. Maybe as a neurodivergent person I am marked for this kind of thing.
Sorry that happened to you, and it sounds like you just had some very bad luck, and I'm sorry for that. Usually you will just have the occasional homeless person asking for change or something, or maybe yelling at you for no reason due to untreated mental illness.
Seriously sorry about that man. Nobody deserves to have hands put on them whenever it takes place.