Putting Ghetto on Blast
Author Cora Daniels criticizes pop Culture in her new book Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless.
DI: Your book includes shocking examples of the popularity of so-called “ghetto” behavior, such as wearing gold teeth, the use of the N-word and mothers putting Pepsi in their babies’ bottles. How did our culture deteriorate to this point?
CD: It was a gradual process of letting our expectations get too low, so behavior that shouldn’t or wouldn’t have been acceptable slowly has become acceptable. We’re at the point now where, it’s like this is just how it is. But this shouldn’t be normal.
DI: Ghettonation mentions University of Chicago students holding “straight thuggin” parties in which students mock “ghetto” behavior. What’s going on?
CD: These kids go into these parties and they think they’re just having fun playing up stereotypes. I don’t think these kids think they’re being offensive and racist; that’s not their intention. But they are. They create very stereotypical poor Black images in what they dress up as, and they equate that with something to make fun of — like, that’s the most undesirable thing imaginable. It’s an indication of our attitude that it’s a joke now. I’m more worried that they are probably surprised by the outrage.
DI: What advice can you give to college administrators about how to respond to these parties?
CD: They should be treated as hate acts. To not have administration shut them down quickly would be setting the wrong tone. It shouldn’t be tolerated at all.
DI: You say “ghetto behavior” promotes out-of-wedlock births, incarceration, misogyny and worse; and most of your examples involve African-Americans. Does this phenomenon primarily affect the Black community, and do some of its members bear the primary responsibility for promoting “ghetto behavior?”
