Whenever im in class or walking down the halls of my school, i always seem to hear a person (a white person most of the time) say "thats so ghetto!" I feel to myself that people who say that doesn't seem to fully understand the term "ghetto". If i were to ask them to define the term ghetto, they wouldn't be able to because they themselves does not know what it means. At times i feel offended when people say i dress ghetto when i wear big earrings, wear lots of gold bracelets, and necklaces that has my name in it in big writing. I have a 4.0 gpa and i take honors classes (Is that something that "ghetto" person does?)I feel that when someone says the word "ghetto", they really want to say "black" but they feel that the word ghetto is a nicer way to say it and they don't know any better. The area that fenced Jewish people into they're own little communities at the beginning of the holocaust is a ghetto. Another name for the projects is the ghetto. When you think of those ghettos, you think of broken down homes, violence, and dirtiness. A ghetto can exist but a person cant be ghetto. I also dont like the fact that people say "you talk black". I feel that just because i dont correctly prononce my -ERs doesnt mean that im talking black. When i say off da chain or dats tight doesnt mean im talkin black, to me thats talkin slang. I live in a southern region so im gonna talk southern. I know how to talk southern but i also know how to turn that southern accent off when im presenting myself in front of a group of people. I know how to spell and correctly pronounce big words. So to those people that people that feel that black people are dumb and dont try to push for success should learn to be more open-minded because ima living example of someone who wears big flashy earrings and doesn't pronounce their -ERs but i stay on top of my classwork and my game.
Oh My God, That's So Ghetto
By Babiegurlblue_08 - Posted on October 6th, 2007
I'm not black but I lived in philadelphia, surrounded by black people who were my friends and neighbors who were a mixture of other minorities(cambodians, hispanics, chinese, etc)...
I know what ghetto implies but it has become this term that people use, like you are saying, without even knowing what exactly they are saying or calling ghetto...
aaah, the other thing i have an issue with is that people who live in suburbs have this image and idea that no matter what area of a city you live in, it's gonna have violence/drugs/shootings/rape and all that, like the WHOLE city of Philadelphia (every corner/street and neighborhood has killings and drugs
AND all I can think of is, THAT"S ignorant....to think that way. and some just think that regardless if you tell them it is NOT like that everywhere in the city
"Things have a life of their own. It's just a matter of waking up their souls."
--Gabriel García Márquez
http://www.progressiveu.org/231615-this-is-a-muslim-girls-plight
Ghetto means a group of minorities living in "slums", right?? Yeah, now it does...
But everyone around me keeps talking about "oh, you don't even know what ghetto means blah blah blah"
A "ghetto", before it defined slums that are inhabited by a particular ethnic group, was used to define slums where JEWS were forced to live as a result of the racism against them.
I see where the current definition is derived from the true definition.
I also see why you get so offended. But I don't think people are trying to say "that's so black."
It does bother me when people say "thats ghetto" because like you said they really mean black. So if ghetto means being black that makes every black person ghetto and not for how they dress or talk but simply for being black. And all the white people that say ghetto will in my opinion there being recist. If that were the true definition. Seeing how its not People that use ghetto improperly are obviously ignorant to its true definition.
I really feel that there is an undetone of insensitivity when people use the term ghetto so freely because ghettos exist in most countries and if you were to visit a ghetto in africa there is nothing glam or cool about it. It is easy to ignore the bottom when you are at the top.
Tell that to rappers.
Livin Life 2 Da Fullest
I don have to tell that to rappers, they are individual people and if the choice to rap about being "ghetto", then that is their choice. quite frankly if people don't like to listen to what rappers are saying then they don't have to watch it.
i can understand how that came about BUT i think you should not hate all of it, there's really good rap music out there...I think you just haven't been exposed to it because the one that is worth listening to, doesn't get played on MTV, the radio or even on BET... but these HIp Hop and Rap artists ARE out there...Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Nas...i would add Jay-Z and Kanye and there are other really unknown (nonmainstream) artisits who don't rap about the candy shop or ridin dirty
have you given them a chance (i hope so) I mean it's easy to group all of Rap as degrading to women/sexual/drugs/sex/money music if you don't know Hip Hop and Rap as intinmately as people who really love it and understand it..do
"The good life, let's go on a living spree
Shit they say the best things in life are free" --*K A N Y E
http://www.progressiveu.org/231615-this-is-a-muslim-girls-plight
Listen to Be by Common.
~Great spirits have always faced violent opposition by mediocre minds~
I don't hate all rap, I like certain rap and hip hop groups. I just hate when people complain about saying, "That's so ghetto." and glamorizing the ghetto. Because most mainstream rappers glamorize it and all races have no problem with it, until some white person says, "That's so ghetto," and it offends a black person. Then all hell breaks loose.
I don't like Jay-Z or Kanye very much. Jay-Z used to play the whole gangster rap game and Kanye used to too. I like more underground artists who do rap and hip hop the way it was before it became mainstream.
when it does break loose is if you hear it from someone who has no idea of the actual word's implcations and what it entails.
it's not understood by many people who don't grow up in a ghetto (what exactly the ghetto is)...
if you aren't of the projects or the row homes culture then How the Hell do you get the right to really understand what the WORD and that WORLD is?
I can totally respect someone (whites, hispanic, asian) using the word if he or she has knowledge and understanding of it--BUT i can't accept those who use it just because it has become some kind of "in" word or trendy or something
I, myself am not black--But I think like black and understand black because I grew up in a neigborhood in Philly which was mostly black (my neighbors, all around me). I attended a high school, mostly blacks...I have friends who are blacks, hispanics and asians...I am ulitmately colored and painted in that mind set
Therefore... when i hear people in the suburbs use that (and some other words), it does anger me but it's their ignorance so I let it go
and Why do you have a problem with certain rap that does glamorize the ghetto, what you might not understand is that they are not saying that it is something to aspire or want to remain in. They are just telling you what they were, how they lived and what it feels like to go from there to become what they are today. They talk about the struggle, the trouble, the drugs and the guns , NOT because they think those are good things or kids should get into that sutff But that is their PAST and they want to show their journey from their past to the present.
I love Common's Testify, http://www.anysonglyrics.com/lyrics/c/common/Testify-Lyrics.htm
it's an extremely powerful song and I also like his break my heart (talking about commitment amongst other things) http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/common/breakmyheart.html
"The good life, let's go on a living spree
Shit they say the best things in life are free" --*K A N Y E
http://www.progressiveu.org/231615-this-is-a-muslim-girls-plight
"when it does break loose is if you hear it from someone who has no idea of the actual word's implcations and what it entails."
Is what I say. Kinda like when a girl in my neighborhood told me that she thinks the neighborhood is like the ghetto. It annoyed me because she has no idea what a ghetto is, she needs to go down to the fourth and fifth wards of our city, and she won't.
"and Why do you have a problem with certain rap that does glamorize the ghetto, what you might not understand is that they are not saying that it is something to aspire or want to remain in. They are just telling you what they were, how they lived and what it feels like to go from there to become what they are today. They talk about the struggle, the trouble, the drugs and the guns , NOT because they think those are good things or kids should get into that sutff But that is their PAST and they want to show their journey from their past to the present."
Then they need to explain that, they don't. glamorizing the ghetto doesn't mean they're telling about how bad and hard it was. Glamorizing means to make it look good. I know people who've grown up in the "ghetto's" of houston and they hate rappers who glamorzie it and like to glamorize being gangsters.
But as someone said a ghetto was a camp that the Jews were put into during WW2. How ghetto became what it means today, is beyond me.
I don't think all hell breaks loose. Thats the problem the term amd concept of the "ghetto" is glamorized that some poeple take pride in being called ghetto.
I feel mixed emotions about this blog. On one hand, you're standing up against the stereotype. On the other hand, you are kind of feeding it.
I have a 4.0 gpa and i take honors classes (Is that something that "ghetto" person does?)
Are you implying "ghetto" people cant get a 4.0 or take honors classes? if this is the case, basically you are associating being ghetto with stupidity and incapability. Although this is what it is NORMALLY used for, I don't really think it is the true meaning. Most people who can claim to be ghetto, do so because they were raised in the ghetto.
But then, for some reason, others take it upon themselves to think that people raised under such conditions are dumb and only care about trying to be flashy. So while you are offended by the fact that people call you ghetto, in a way, you are pretty much believing in the same stereotype that they are judging you based on...if that makes sense.
Maybe you couldve worded your feelings in a different way. But I THINK i understand where you are coming from
&uotYou say you have a 4.0 and are in honors classes yet you choose to "talk black" ???
I am confused, what I know of "talking black" (with my 4.0 educated college brain) is not southern accent or culture, but the choice to act and talk like you are uneducated. I am not talking about the title of your post (ghetto) I am talking about hearing someone around the corner, whether black or white, talk in such ebonics that I cannot understand them.
You say you have a 4.0 and take honors classes, then why not show them off? You must work very hard to get to that point, I know- its not easy.
I associate "ebonics" with uneducated people, no matter their color, because if they were educated why would they talk like that. In America today, there is all the opportunity in the world for children to get a proper education. Coming from a family myself who could not afford college, I worked very hard to maintain my grades so that I could get a scholarship and pay for college that way. If you are educated and worked hard to get there, why would you choose to be associated with that uneducated type ghetto "stereotype?;
Why wouldn't you want to break the mold and act like a proper educated American looking to make a difference with an education that you worked hard for.
Livin Life 2 Da Fullest
thanx for recognizing the fact that i have worked hard to get the gpa that i hold today, but i feel that being a teen and living in the area that i live in and being the people that surround me everyday, i feel that i can blend in with the crowd, but i do know when and when no to act a certain way. My friends they know im smart and i dont show off my skills in front of them. Some of my friends dont make the grades i do and if i flaunt that off in front of them they make look at me as bougie. I kno i shouldnt care what people think of me, but i need friends for support and i look at my family when there is no where else to turn. I go to a school where there is about five black people in the top thirty percent of my class. In front of my friends i can be myself. For example, in front of them i could say "ay yall im so hungry right about now," but when i have to present myself in front of a group of people i dont see everyday i would say " I am about to go home right now and eat, im quite famished.