Ghettonation

I read a book by Cora Daniels a few years ago that explored the concept of "ghetto" in American culture. I thought about it yesterday as I was watching a PBS special on Jewish concentration camps, the original ghettos. There was nothing fun, or cute, or good about the ghetto. They couldn't afford the exorbitant prices for food - people were essentially zombies, wandering in a half-dead stupor until they starved to death. And when they died, all the families could do was set the deceased on the street. Conditions were terrible, disease and starvation were as common as breathing, and if you didn't starve, you froze from a combination of threadbare clothes, no coat, and no heat. These were the images the word "ghetto" conjured up in the minds of our ancestors.

Fast forward to today, where "ghetto" is used to describe anything from an inappropriate outfit to loud car music. In the book, Ms. Daniels makes the point "ghetto" is a state of mind, a mental destitution we embraced and use as am excuse to not be better. In fact, the biggest difference between yesterday's Jewish ghettos and today's "ghetto" is theirs was forced upon them while ours is self inflicted. I'm not saying everyone who lives in the ghetto loves it and stays there of their own accord. My point is often we abandon the drive to do better because we are comfortable being ghetto. Think of something you would deem "ghetto." Now ask yourself if it could have been said or done better but wasn't because ghetto was good enough. That mentality is what the book is about. If you haven't read it, check out Ghettonation by Cora Daniels. Hopefully if we change the mentality, we change our outcomes.

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