I just finished the book Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and Home of the Shameless by Cora Daniels. Her quest-- to find out what exactly it means to be ghetto. When the word was first introduced, it was a noun. It was where people lived, it begain with the segregation of Jews. As time passed it became lower income folks in large cities. But time has caused the word to evolve and it is now an adjective to describe crazy behavior. I guess you could equate it with the word redneck.
The first time I heard ghetto used to define a person was about ten years ago. The person was defined as ghetto because she did not graduate from high school, has served about five years in prison, had three children (all with different men), and did whatever she had to do to make ends meet. It was rare to hear the word to describe a person then, but now it is very commonplace.
Daniels explains that ghetto is not used to describe a particular group of people, but crosses all lines-- racial, age, socioeconomic, gender, and locale. It is behavior like renting a house and buying an expensive car, but it can also mean buying a huge house and not being able to afford furniture for it. It is a mindset of materialism instead of wealth building. We see it daily in kids who are dressed in all the latest fashions, but can't read. We hear it in our language-- baby daddy/mamma. She uses endless examples of how ghetto is now part of our culture.
Daniels has a unique perspective on the issue because she lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and has a daily glimpse into the lives of those who are considered the epitome of "ghetto." She talked to people all over the States to find out what it means to be ghetto and why so many people think it's a compliment to be defined as such. We all know the strong influence that hip-hop has on our youth and that is probably the root of the problem. Cable has given our children access to much degredation and disrespect.
My problem with Daniels, is that she, like others discusses the problem and gives no solutions. She does talk about the lack of parenting that goes on now, but HOW do we solve it? It left me thinking of how I can make a difference in my family and community. I think we need to stop making excuses and pointing finges and take responsibility for what is happening.
3 comments:
Alright I preface my comments with the fact that I've had the most frustrating morning, so perhaps I'm not exactly in the best of moods. So here goes...
Does Daniels explain that the Jews were forced into ghettos? That the governments (mainly Russia) had progroms where they hired TarTars to go into the ghettos and annihilate the Jews? This occurred throughout most of the 18th and 19th centuries. It's interesting to me that the word again was used in the 20th century to describe the areas that the Nazis moved the Jewish people prior to the concentration camps.
Yes, the world we live in is a dispicable place. People have no care about others. Which is essentially hate. To hate means you do not care about someone. Without care there is no compassion. Life without compassion and empathy the world is cold, and barren.
To be perfectly honest I can't remember if she included all of that information in her brief history. I think her point was to show that to live and stay in the ghetto was not so much a "choice" and people always worked hard to get out. It seems she did mention that in other countries the ghetto was a holding place until Jews were executed. I think she was trying to give the history of ghettos in the U.S. Thanks for pointing that out to me and I will take that out of my entry.
Her book left me thinking about what impact I have having on society and what do I contribute to the "ghetto" factor. How do we reach people who don't care and who think they are "keeping it real" when they are only hurting themselves?
Yes, I know what you mean. This topic has been on my mind off and on over the last few years.
I never had a word for it so your entry has given me a name for it. Yesterday morning I did somethings that made me think, "Uh! I just did something ghettoish." I ran a couple of stops signs. It was kind of the result of a woman insisting on making a left turn out of the school instead of the right. Yesterday I thought as I did a little aggressive driving that that woman affected the moods of at least ten individuals who were stuck behind her. Oh well, I need to calm down and drive carefully instead of getting all wound up.
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