I wish more Black people did act like they know that Black is NOT interchangeable with “ghetto,” so they would stop ranking other Blacks’ blackness by their “ghetto-ness,” slang, prison clothes trends and lowlife behavior. That is NOT acting black. That is, in fact, acting ghetto, broke and ignorant, which is nothing to brag about and claim as “keeping it real.”

BTW, whites, Asians, Hispanics-Latinos, and others who act the same way are also in that ghetto with these Black folks, yet many Blacks will act as if these people wouldn’t act like this without Black influence. Now that’s ignorant.

I’m co-signing with WindChimes.

I absolutely despise ghetto and will not voluntarily associate myself with ghetto people. If that makes me come across as “uppity”, then too damn bad.

@ WindChimes no black isn’t Ghetto and yes there are other races that fit in to this picture. But it started here in the states with blacks. Now it’s more than just blacks in the Ghetto. Most like to smile about it because this is what they where born in to there for thats what they feel the need to rep.I’m from the Ghetto i was born and raised in it. I now i have three books on the life in the Ghetto. No it’s not the best place but theres a strong bond there because when theres no money an other things to blind you. You see family an support is more important. I have since then grown out of the Ghetto but now i see like isn’t all that well out here nether. Theres no bond and money kills a lot of family and friends. It becomes harder to trust others because you don’t know if it’s the money there want or you. Where i’m from there are now other races that live and act out the same roles i was once living in so do understand your stand point. But i love the Ghetto it’s one place were you will find people love you for you and not anything else.

technically speaking, black people are not from the ghetto, we came from the areas of africa. Ghetto is a place, so it started with Jewish people, it just surrounds the African American community, because they allow it too, Jewish people did not. Calling someone ghetto is being ignorant to the fact that you cannot realize that its a place, and not how you describe a person character.

@nighttowl358 if thats how you feel so be it it’s your choice. But we are not Ghetto because of our color but because of the life we have had to lived. So it makes us view life a lot different but it doesn’t make us less than anyone. I feel as those it makes us stronger than the normal person because we face situations that most people have never even dreamed of. But still we move on over coming these problems. We are not perfect so there for yes you do have the ones that life a bad life by choice. But don’t let that paint a picture for all of us. we have our bad we have our good and if you were born in to streets that but you in a cold position you would have most likely made the same choices. Cause once your stomach starts to hurt and hunger sets in you have to do something about it of die in those streets. I did what i had until i was able to get out. I was born with no hot water no food and a school with holes in the floors and ceilings and no books to read from. It’s not bad to be Ghetto it’s bad to choice to be Ghetto and create a violent life style for more yough to grow up in.

When I say ghetto, I’m mainly referring to the mentality. I applaud those who persevere even when they had so much stacked against them and can thrive even in that environment.

@ nighttowl358 o ok well then we’re on the same page thanx for understanding. i just don’t people to detail us all as bad.

I’m co-signing with Jimiealsmith

I myself was raised in poverty and I will never forget where I come from or my black folks that’s still there. I made it out of the ghetto but I not gonna turn my back on it.

Nightowl I’m not gonna call you uppity but the way your thinking is the main reason we can’t unite because we to busy looking down on eachother.

Windchimes its nothing wrong with talking slang or the way a person dress. Most crooks wear business suits and speak perfect english, so you can’t judge a book by its cover. When your put in a place were you dnt know were your next meal is coming from, you will do what it takes to feed your family and that’s the main reason they’re in prison. Since most jobs do back ground checks and won’t hire a black person who been to prison, and that’s why we have so many black men in the life of crime cause they feel that’s the only choice they have. But if we can stop judging our people by the way we dress or were we live, then maybe we can learn to help our people out of the ghetto.

@real_bumbleclot i feel what your saying and i understand where your coming from. yes i agree all the way people prejudge and make up a character of a person they have never spoken to and thats not right. I love the ghetto because it was my home an indeed built this person i am today. We most find reason in all of this and make change where it’s due. We can indeed learn from each other. some of the problems people cry about others wish they had. so just when you think you’ve live the hardest someone else is living a little harder. But we must fight for each other the more we judge each other as lower the more we hold each other back from making it in this life we live.

@Real_
I didn’t say there was anything wrong with slang or the way a person dresses. All ethnic groups have their way of being unique that we may deem stereotypical. But, negative “ghetto” stereotypes have become the dominant culture of Black America, and it is destructive, not productive. It’s when Blacks believe in “his or her” mind that being Black are those things. When Blacks if they live in the ghetto or not, are poor or not, still ACT “ghetto” as if it’s “keeping it real” – as we see daily with our athletes to the average working Joe’s – that should tell everyone there is a problem. They are exploiting social ills as if they are something to be proud of, not eradicated. And, too many Blacks tend to judge others’ “blackness“ by the label “ghetto,” not the other way around as you stated.

So, if these proud to act “ghetto” folks would stop prejudging everyone on the scale of “against” us if different and with us if like-minded, then maybe those truly in need or want a better life can help themselves out of the ghetto or make it a more decent place to live rather than continuing the ignorance of many Blacks that “something‘s wrong with everyone else.”

Witnessing literate and illiterate people, poor to rich, some “acting,“ some not, praising this “ghetto” culture by people’s inability to speak proper English like it‘s a foreign language to use to get a job; praising the inability to get along with others like a badge of honor, AND praising the inability to read, write and count ONLY puts Blacks as a whole at a disadvantage. Black and “ghetto” are NOT interchangeable. You don’t have to be a genius; just not a menace to society.

Sumi_Jay, Well damn, you are so right!

“technically speaking, black people are not from the ghetto, we came from the areas of africa. Ghetto is a place, so it started with Jewish people, it just surrounds the African American community, because they allow it too, Jewish people did not. Calling someone ghetto is being ignorant to the fact that you cannot realize that its a place, and not how you describe a person’s character.”

Im going to add to this by saying that the ‘ghetto’ word itself was, like the man stated a place where the jewish people lived. Black people are absolutely ignorant for even embracing such a negative term to identify who they are. No black person should be proud to say they are from the ghetto or they are ‘ghetto’. It disgusts me when I hear people say..”yeah im ghetto, thats where im from”…Do you think that jewish people who lived that horrible period in time are glorifying the ‘ghetto’? No, they had enough sense and pride to leave that in the past where it belongs and rise HIGHER. I was recently at a concert and the ‘hype man’ came out and said..”All the ghetto mufukkas make some noise”…When EVERY body in the damn building started screaming I was appauled…

jimiealsmith, “But i love the Ghetto it’s one place were you will find people love you for you and not anything else.”

I HOPE that I NEVER have to resort to the ghetto to get unconditional love and acceptance..As long as I am comfortable, love, and accept myself then what do I need with anyone else’s?

The black americans mainly go through this s**t. And when u come to think about it everyone speaks “white”. English, Spanish, French, etc. are all “white” languages. Another thing that gets to me is that when I tell black americans that my parents are from the Caribbean they say that I’m not Black, like WTF?

“The black americans mainly go through this s**t. And when u come to think about it everyone speaks “white”. English, Spanish, French, etc. are all “white” languages. Another thing that gets to me is that when I tell black americans that my parents are from the Caribbean they say that I’m not Black, like WTF?”

WTF..is you talkin bout? All Languages derive from AFRAKA!!!!!
Mass Engineering of the Mind has many minds stagnant….refusing 2 move their thoughts in Gear

RealBumbeclot you can make as many excuses as you want for someone to commit a crime, then complain about that person not be able to get a job because they have a prison record-like HELLO-there are alternatives. I was raised in the projects, one of six children, a father on drugs and a mother who was practically a single parent,who, by the way, worked two jobs to provide for all six of her kids. Never once, did my mother result to any type of illegal activities to either feed, clothe or shelter us. My mother was smart, she came from parents who were dirt poor and semi-illiterate. My mother was the first person in her family to graduate High School as well as attend college. If my mother could do this all by herself, there is no excuse for anyone else when the only person you have to look out for is you. Someone will hire you be it fast food, construction,customer service or something. Not to say this is all you should strive for out of life but it is a starting point. If that doesn’t suit you, go to school! Since you are poor and economically disenfranchised anyway, you are more than eligible for financial aid and assistance. If that fails, join the military for a while until you can improve your life situation. You have a guaranteed place to stay, three guaranteed meals a day and a guaranteed paycheck. You might want to argue that you don’t want to go to war because you might die or get killed, well HELLO, who said you are guaranteed life each day anyway. There are SEVERAL options that don’t require you to go out and commit a crime and ruing your life by acquring a prison record. I am sick of the excuses.

People are just down right lazy and impatient these days and too caught up in the wrong thing.

peezhead,

Check ya sources on this one.. White people have NO language. They bully into other cultures throughout history and take over, but the facts still remain. You need to educate yourself, otherwise the white people have you exactly where they want you!

I can relate to the point he brought out about “talking white”.I had one of my friends say that when she first called my house she thought she had the wrong number because she said that my mother sounded “white”. I always said to myself, since when does talking with a sense of education and good speaking automatically mean your “talking white”. Why we refer to everything positive it haves to be towards white people? I know grown people and young adults my age, black,white,spanish that talk with “slang” but talk professonally when dealing with a serious or business matter.

Jesus created every language. Talking white or whatever helps a lot when you want to make more than $15\hour or have a career that gets you respect. Sure white America has been really screwed but so what. Isn’t it better payback to work and show them they can’t stop you? I personally consider myself an American first. Every race and culture other than the British have had to deal with the same things. The Irish, the Chinese, the Italians.

And you were NEVER A SLAVE and no one under 45 who didn’t live in the deep south even experienced separate fountains.

Plus, how racist can the COUNTRY be if we elected a black President with a Muslim name. People do see character. Most thugs don’t have any. They’re too bust keeping the women down with their tats and crap.

If you wear jeans and jerseys everyday, you’re a ghetto piece of crap, NOT BLACK.

Ok im going to sum this whole issue up for everybody. For years black people have been stuck in this “slave mentality” thats been passed down through the generations since we were brought here. We we were told we’re not allowed to dress nice or even wear our pants pulled up, that’s right folks, saggin started on the plantation, white slave masters used it to show slaves they were inferior so they made them wear the pants pulled down, spell SAGGIN backwards and tell me what you get. We weren’t allowed to speak proper, if you did you’d get killed or beat, we weren’t allowed to read,(EDUCATION), if you could read you got killed, and now today if you have a degree and talk like you went to college because you did, you get labeled as being “white” because thats what white people do,, black people arent supposed to talk like that, or dress in those nice suits, or have those pieces of paper on the wall. Slave mentality. We need to break free of this and realize that God’s blessings are for us too and not just the slave masters. We CAN live in prosperity, we CAN speak without having to sound ignorant, we CAN, wear Armani suits, we CAN go to school and educate ourselves, but what we can not do is continue to think that all these things we perceive as being “white” are not meant for us.

Khalif2000, Im sorry bruh but I had to speak on what you posted..No offense though..

u wrote: “Talking white or whatever helps a lot when you want to make more than $15\hour or have a career that gets you respect”

Correction, there is no such thing as ‘talking white’, because incase you havent noticed there are MANY white people who dont have a great command of speaking correctly, i.e. George Bush, Sarah Palin and a plethera of the white people that are showcased on ‘COPS’..(had to put that one in there! lol). There is ONLY a such thing as speaking proper grammar which I do everyday and anyone that knows me can tell you Im the furthest person from ‘trying to talk white’ than anyone else. Get out of that mindset that supposedly equates success, articulation, intelligence and career progression with WHITE.

u wrote: “Plus, how racist can the COUNTRY be if we elected a black President with a Muslim name. People do see character”

HA! Some of you need to WAKE UP to the fact that Obama being elected means NOTHING as far as race relations are concerned. WE the ‘people’ didnt have a damn thing to do with this man being in office, if you think that YOU with your position in life, a ‘regular’ person had a say so in the election then you should probably open your eyes when you walk around because they are presently ‘wide shut’.

u wrote: “If you wear jeans and jerseys everyday, you’re a ghetto piece of crap, NOT BLACK.”

Soooo you mean to say that everyone else who doesnt wear jeans and jerseys arent ‘ghetto’? Ummm, lil wayne doesnt wear jeans and jerseys, he wears skinny jeans everyday…GHETTO. Nikki Minaj NEVER wears jeans and jerseys..GHETTO. I have my Greenbay Packer jerseys in the closet as we speak..am I ‘ghetto’? Not at all…Your post was very judgemental and ill thought out to say the least…

FYI: Ghetto is NOT a mindset to begin with, it is a geographical PLACE…

Khalif2000
Pitiful the way you proudly posted that comment

WTF..is you talkin bout? All Languages derive from AFRAKA!!!!!

Mass Engineering of the Mind has many minds stagnant….refusing 2 move their thoughts in Gear

Ghetto and black aren’t necessarily synonyms, but can be depending on how the person is using them. “Quit acting ghetto.” “Quit acting black.” “Stop acting like your color.” When ghetto and black are used in this context, the meaning pretty much means the same, which is ignorant, stupid, and so on. Ghetto originally was the place where Jews lived in Venice, but black Americans residing in the ghettos of America have given the word new meaning. Ghetto is basically the name contributed to the poor areas of the United States where minorities reside. It’s an unofficial name given to poor housing projects across America. For example, she lives in Liberty Housing Project. “Oh, that place is so ghetto.”

The young kids in the ghetto aren’t stupid because they’ve adapted to their environment, and use the word ghetto to mean the way people walk, talk, dance, act, and dress. “He dances so ghetto (black).” “She talks so ghetto (black).” Depending on what words the speaker emphasizes, this may be meant to offend some or actually praise some. “Tom is so ghetto (black). Has anybody reminded him that he’s a white boy?” “Tom, you’re acting ghetto (black). Calm your butt down!” I think many of the kids from the inner cities are extremely smart, but misguided. Because of their broke homes, because of their financial conditions, because of their struggle, a lot of the young inner city kids don’t develop the skills needed to survive. Kids around the world want to talk like, act like, and be like the kids they see from the inner cities.

Why is this a topic this is stupid

Holy cow. This is so close to the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen, it’s scary.

Truly cutting edge stuff. He’s gonna put ginzu knives outta binniz…..

LOL

Dumbest article ever. Waste of time.