Commentary: If Mocking ‘Ghetto’ Life Offends Us, We Need to Stop – Or Change

[Nia Imani]

Commentary: If Mocking ‘Ghetto’ Life Offends Us, We Need to Stop – Or Change – That Image

By: Joseph C. Phillips, BlackAmericaWeb.com

While strolling through our neighborhood, my wife happened upon a group of young white girls, ages eight or nine, playing in front of their home. The girls were singing in full throat: “I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digga/but she ain’t lookin’ for no broke n---a!� My wife said her eyes just about fell out of her head. Mine certainly would have.

I shared this story with a black student from the University of Chicago. The young man was interested in my opinion of a “Straight Thuggin’� party held a few weeks ago in one of the dormitories. Also known as “Ghetto Parties,� the shindigs seem to be a fad among many mostly-white college students. Guests are encouraged to wear gold chains, 'do rags, hats turned to the side, listen to loud rap music and flash gang signs.

Isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery? The largest market for hip-hop music is suburban white kids, who have adopted the music, the language and the dress as part of their youth culture. Indeed, based on photos I viewed, the students at U of C’s party didn’t dress any differently than many of the white kids I see everyday walking the streets of Los Angeles. Yet the black students on campus are not flattered, they are angry and some of their anger is understandable.

There is an element of mean spiritedness surrounding some of these gatherings. A flyer for a party at another school encourages revelers to bring empty beer bottles to strew around the dorm, draw graffiti on the walls and steal computers from their fellow students. This was not the case at U of C, but the perception remains that the parties have less to do with adulation than they do with ridicule.

I suspect, however, that the black students are less concerned with being mocked than they are with what they see as the appropriation of a sacred haven by their white schoolmates. Though I have no official figures, it is a good bet that most of the black students attending universities like U of C are not from the ghetto. Yet, that does not stop them from speaking with authority on ghetto life and charging sponsors of ghetto parties with insensitivity and racism. Among black folk, there is a sense that, no matter where you were raised, by virtue of being black, you have some ownership of the ghetto -- that it is part of who we are.

Another reader shared her opinion with me: “What I do find heartening is that those ghetto folks are proud to be just that, and more and more are identifying themselves thusly. It's not uncommon to hear people in their 20s-40s say proudly, ‘I'm from the ghetto.’ I think that's where the power is, that's where the life is, that's where our salvation is.�

This writer is not talking about location, however, but state of mind. The ghetto she celebrates is a vision of unity and shared purpose -- the power realized in another era that, oddly enough, sought to lift a people out of the ghetto. If only those that sing of “straight thuggin'� were singing about that same state of mind. Instead, their vision is one of minstrelsy -- scantily-clad women shaking their rumps, fancy cars and gaudy jewelry. THAT is the ghetto satirized by students at U of C and, to my way of thinking, not one worth protecting from white interlopers.

Like the little white girls in my neighborhood, the students in West Hall on the University of Chicago campus are guilty only of buying images sold to them by black producers and performers. If we find those images offensive or mean spirited, perhaps we need to have a conversation with those that peddle them to the masses.

Source: http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site....d/phillips1115

[Im The Truth]

To the untrained eye these are very good points made by this article. But it still does not tackle any of Our (African/black) concreate problems and it attacks the victims rather than the victimizers. This article plays on common stereotypes about the black community. It also forgets that mockery of any sort it unacceptable. The kind of logic this author uses is the type of logic the Uncle Tom House Negro used to justify Minstrel Shows and other forms of stereotyping..... "If Mocking ‘Ghetto’ Life Offends Us, We Need to Stop – Or Change – That Image". Statements such as:

Isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

Celebratory stereotyping and mockery have no value of flattery! Not only does this author justify the knowing or unknowing acts of open racism but he foolishly downs Our students for being upset. Similar to the House Negro who frowns down upon the Field Negro for speaking about racism in ameriKKKa. With statements like:

Though I have no official figures, it is a good bet that most of the black students attending universities like U of C are not from the ghetto. Yet, that does not stop them from speaking with authority on ghetto life and charging sponsors of ghetto parties with insensitivity and racism.

Mr. Phillips plays into the divisive stereotype of the "ghetto blacks" versus the "non-ghetto blacks". Not only does this separate and divide Our Communities but it goes against many of Our well known and greatest leaders. Isn't it Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"? Dr. King was not from the "ghetto", so according to the Mr. Phillips, this elimanate his ability to speak for Our People. This is absurd. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." The author can't honestly believe that a portion of Our People can not stand against injustices done to any of Our People. This author continues blinded with his statement:

Like the little white girls in my neighborhood, the students in West Hall on the University of Chicago campus are guilty only of buying images sold to them by black producers and performers. If we find those images offensive or mean spirited, perhaps we need to have a conversation with those that peddle them to the masses.

Contary to popular belief, 100% of the bad in rap/hip hop is put out but white producers/distributors and performered by black entertainers. The truth is statement many of Our entertainers have come from proverty-sticken environment and find selling the skills to entertainment companies a way to make money. Instead of attacking the problems and people who control rappers and other black entertainers. He attacks Our black producers and performers for doing their job in the entertainment field.

[Dr. G]

I am the truth...how do you figure that poor or not so poor Black folks that act out some of the most degrading and debased images and sell this niggerfied bullshit image of us to the entire world are "just doing their job in the entertainment industry"??? The Black bufoons who eagerly perform this sambo-ism are as guilty of perpetuating the problem as the white producers and lable owners. Just because someone offers you money to sell your soul doesn't mean you have to take it. Those who cater to white racist images of us as "gangstas and thugs, hoe's and hochies, etc. and promote that type of lifestyle are little more than white supremacists hiding out in Black skin! A sellout by any other name is a sellout.

[Simba Nerevu]

Originally Posted by Dr. G

Those who cater to white racist images of us as "gangstas and thugs, hoe's and hochies, etc. and promote that type of lifestyle are little more than white supremacists hiding out in Black skin! A sellout by any other name is a sellout.

I agree.

SN