Behind the walls of the Ghetto Essay -- essays research papers fc

Behind the Walls of the GhettoCommenting on the famed Los Angeles ghetto in which he grew up, gangster disparager Ice Cube asserts, If you aint never been to the ghetto, dont ever come to the ghetto (Cube, Ghetto Vet). But why are American ghettos filled with so much violence, drugs, and inopportunity? In tin Singletons powerful drama Boyz N the Hood the harsh reality of youths growing up in South of import Los Angeles, a place where drive-by shootings and unemployment are rampant, is brought to life. Shot entirely on location in South Central LA, Boyz N the Hood presents its story with maximum cartwheel and realism. The movie is a prime example of how American ghettos are dead end environments with minute chances for survival. If we are to put an end to the destitute, prison-like ghetto environments, we first need to payoff a look at what goes on there.One can point to many initiating factors from racism to property owners aspirations of gentrification that create ghettos. Furi ous Styles, the muscular and intelligent father of the films main character Tre, addresses the issue of why these areas are in such a dire state when he says How do you think the crack rock gets into the country we black people dont own any planes, we dont own no shipswe are non the people who are flyin and floatin that shit in here why is it that there a gun shop on almost every corner in this community? For the same reason that theres a liquor store on almost every corner in the Black community, they trust us to kill ourselves. You go out to Beverly Hills you dont see that shit, the best way you can destroy a people is if you take apart their ability reproduce themselves. (Singleton)In this passage, Furious presents ideas of white property allowers looking for the best way to exterminate the Black and Hispanic communities in their area. The late bosom Tupac Shakur once declared, We Black people aint meant to survive cuz its a set up (Shakur, Keep Ya Head Up). As far-fetc hed as these notions may seem, they may hold more truth than one thinks. Questions arise as to the relation between the ghetto and the upper class areas. Oddly, these communities, though only miles apart, are completely detached. In a study on ghettos in America, Ed Glaeser writes thatThese districts commonly called gh... ...r any other sport after college, is slim to none. At the very least, more high profile avenues out of the ghetto such as science and the arts need to be instituted in order to provide better opportunity for the futures of ghetto youths. Works CitedBoyz N The Hood. Dir. John Singleton. Perf. Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, and Larry Fishburne. Columbia Pictures, 1991.Glaeser, Ed. Ghettos. Regional Review 7 (1997) 1-7.Guarino-Ghezzi, Susan. Reintegrative Police Surveillanceof Juvenile Offenders Forging An Urban Model. offence & Delinquency. 40 (1994) 1-16.Hagan, John. Class Fortification Against Crime In Canada. Canadian Review of Sociology & Anthr opology. 29 (1992) 1-11.Vergara, Camilo Jose. A Guide to the Ghettos. Nation Company Inc. 256 (1993) 1-5.Vergara, Camilo Jose. Our Fortified Ghettos. Nation Company Inc. 258 (1994) 1-4.Vergara, Camilo Jose. Traces of Life The Visual Language Of the Ghetto. RC Publications Inc. 47 (1993) 1-4.Zukin, Sharon. How Bad Is It? Institutions and Intentions in the Study Of the American Ghetto. International Journal of Urban & Regional Research 22 (1998) 1-11.