For eighteen years I walked the streets of Richmond where drugs circulated the hands of young thugs like waitresses serving food at a 24-hour diner, crackheads walked the streets like zombies in an apocalypse and the stench of trash lingered in the air. But this never bothered me because it was all I knew and besides I had Jesse. I thought the saying “you can never escape the hood” was just a myth. It wasn’t until I turned 18, that I discovered the truth about the hood. I never thought my love for a thug, our ambition to leave the hood, and bad company could nearly cost us our life. I remember it like it was yesterday, the day we realized we had to leave our hood. I found out that I was pregnant one Friday morning so I decided not to go to work. I picked up my cell phone and called Jesse, he picked up and I blurted out “I’m pregnant”. The conversation fell silent then Jesse said “I’ll be over in 5”. As I waited for him on the steps of my front door I began to cry. In the distance I could faintly see his perfectly caramelized skin, coral pink lips and hazel eyes as if he were right next to me. As he walked up to me he reached out his hand and I followed him. …show more content…
They were the scum of our town wearing dirty torn up clothes, smelling like garbage itself and always begging for a dollar. Then I looked to the crease of the streets and noticed all the discolored empty beer bottles and cigarette buds that looked like they lived there their whole lives there. This image of my city began to disgust me, and I thought to myself how could I raise a baby in this? “we gotta leave this place, I can’t raise my girl or boy here” I said to Jesse. He looked around and nodded back with
There is a deep seated hatred between rival gangs, which makes it difficult for the gang’s members to let go. Gangs became a source of income for some people, which made it difficult for many young African Americans to escape the gangs. Significance: This film shows how the police saw activist groups such as the Black Panthers and the U.S. Organization as a threat, which led to repression despite the Civil Rights Movement. This repression leads to anger and hatred and the need for a sense of belonging amongst the African American community.
For this assignment I decided to read the book Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city by Elijah Anderson. This book is about how inner city people live and try and survive by living with the code of the streets. The code of the streets is basically morals and values that these people have. Most of the time it is the way they need to act to survive. Continuing on within this book review I am going to discuss the main points and arguments that Anderson portrays within the book. The main points that the book has, goes along with the chapters. These points consist of Street and decent families, respect, drugs violence, street crime, decent daddy, the mating game, black inner city grandmother. Now within these points there are a few main arguments that I would like to point out. The first argument is the belief that you will need to accept the street code to get through life. The other one is the belief that people on the street need “juice”. For the rest of this paper we will be looking at each one of main points and arguments by going through each chapter and discussing it.
Throughout There Are No Children Here, a continuous, powerful tension always lurks in the background. The gangs that are rampant in the housing projects of Chicago cause this tension. In the Henry Horner Homes, according to Kotlowitz, one person is beaten, shot, or stabbed due to gangs every three days. In one week during the author's study of the projects, police confiscated 22 guns and 330 grams of cocaine in Horner alone (Kotlowitz 32).
CNN presents the documentary, Homicide in Hollenbeck, spotlighting gang activity in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollenbeck. This documentary explores the subculture of gangs existing within Hollenbeck from a several perspectives. The people documented include a mother who lost both of her sons to gang violence, a priest that has tried to help rehabilitate gang members, a police officer that has worked in Hollenbeck for five years in the gang unit, and a current gang member. For a conclusion, Homicide in Hollenbeck focuses on a juvenile exposed to gang life on the cusp of decided where they want their life to lead; gangs or freedom. Problems attributed to the high rate of gang activity and number of gangs in Hollenbeck are the high poverty rate, low employment rate, and broken families that make up the majority of Hollenbeck. The crime most discussed, as per the title of the documentary, is homicide The number of gang related homicides has risen even though the criminal behavior of gangs has ultimately decreased in the neighborhood. In order to fight the overwhelming gang presence, the police believe in increasing the amount of gun power on the streets and number of jailed gang members. The priest who runs Homeboy Industries stated that he feels most gang members are just young men who can’t get out of the gang life. With more funds and opportunities, he thinks the problem could be decreased. In the end, the documentary mentions that the FBI has formed a gang center where local law enforcement agencies can share information to gain more knowledge and to better fight the presence of gangs.
This movie was very sad but depicted the many social problems of struggling black communities in the early 1990’s. We learned in Adler, Mueller, & Laufer how criminal behavior as a result of frustrations suffered by lower-class individuals deprived of legitimate means to reach their goals are
Boyz N the Hood was a film created to convey an anti-gang message as well as to provide societal members an in-depth look at life in “the hood” so he or she can expand their culturally awareness of identifying societal issues (Stevenson, 1991). Upon the debut of “Boyz N the Hood” violence erupted at theaters across the nation, resulting in multiple shows pulling the film from scheduled showings to alleviate future violent behaviors (Stevenson, 1991). The film profoundly illustrates the realty of the events revealed within the storyline that frequently occur on a daily basis within every impoverish community; however, is overlooked by the individuals who are not directly involved and or affected (Leon-Guerrero, 2016) Children of lower socioeconomic status often are raised in ghetto neighborhoods where they often witness, crime, violence, gang activity, abuse, and drugs (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). Ghetto communities envelop tumultuous cycles of violence and substance abuse creating a pervasive occurrence within the residents of the community. This is prevalent in lower developed communities that unfortunately many children and the youth populace indirectly inherit and sadly conform to, as there are no other means to an end for them (Leon-Guerrero,
Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, as well as Eugene Jarecki’s documentary, The House I Live In, both discuss the controversial issues surrounding the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, and drug laws. Ultimately, both Alexander and Jarecki concede that the court systems have systematically hindered growth and advancement in black communities by targeting young African Americans, primarily male, that have become entangled in drugs due to their socioeconomic status. There is a disturbing cycle seen in black underprivileged neighborhoods of poverty leading to drug use and distribution to make money that inevitably ends with the person in question landing in prison before likely repeating these actions upon their release. Both Jarecki and Alexander present their case, asserting that the effects of the War on Drugs acted as a catalyst for the asymmetric drug laws and
In “ Code of the Streets,” by Elijah Anderson, we analyze how in poor inner-cities, many residents feel the need to wear a mask to portray this power, honor, and anger that many use to keep others away so that they will not be messed with. Because those who live in urban communities are not allowed to interact with the upper and middle class, “the inclination to violence springs from the circumstances of life among the ghetto poor- the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, the stigma of race, the fallout from ramping drug use and drug trafficking, and the resulting alienation and lack of hope for the future.” (Anderson 1). Survival in cities like Baltimore is very uncommon, because of poor living conditions and the lack of resources that enforce help, such as the police department. With no protection around, many feel the need to use violent behaviors to avoid being messed with and like Anderson quotes “the trophy does not have to be material. It can be another person’s sense of honor, snatched away with a derogatory remark” (12). Many Latinos and African American in urban communities turn to street fighting for the exchange of money or participate in the beatings of others to give one a sense of power that makes him or she feel more superior than their surroundings. Some hide their true identity by
The torn down neighborhood, graffiti on the walls, gun shops and abandoned houses are what people living on the wrong side of 8 miles in Detroit saw in their everyday lives. Social disorganization theory according to Freda, Mueller, and Laufer (2013) is “A theory of criminality in which the breakdown of effective social bonds, primary associations, and social controls in neighborhoods and communities is held to result in the development of high crime areas” (p. 124). In the movie 8 Mile (Curtis Hanson, 2002) B-Rabbit lives in 8 mile where he is surrounded by delinquents that commit crimes, bums around the neighborhood and the alcoholic drunk of a mother he lives within a trailer park in the duration of the movie. He is a blue collar worker who does a lot of physical labor in a steel cutting factory where he tries to make a means to help support his mom and sister. But what he really hopes is to be a rapper, make a demo and sign to a label. So he goes where all other rappers go to get noticed, the “Shelter.” Rappers go and have battled to become a highly valued individual in the residential district. With such a large population that attend and participate in those battles there are less chances of any of them being sought out for a record deal. Others that lived outside of the 8 mile district thought less of the people that did live in that location. Even though they stayed together as people from the 313 there was always a better neighborhood or somebody who had it better. So who better to pick on than the white boy who survives with his alcoholic mother in a trailer, taking care of his sister, playing in a distasteful factory, and failing against the “Leaders of the Free World?” He was the perfect target just like many others th...
In the 1980’s crack cocaine hit the streets of Los Angeles for some it brought quick fortune but for many doom. Crack cocaine had become a major source of income for those who had been locked out of mainstream America. Heavily armed the Rolling 60’s were one of the most violent, active gangs in Los Angeles. The Rolling 60’s gang members no longer fought over neighborhood rule but, profit endeavors. Gang members had became both a slave to the business, doing whatever the drugs demanded them to do. Crack cocaine had erased those codes of res...
A main factor in the storyline is the way the writer portrays society's attitude to poverty in the 18th century. The poor people were treated tremendously different to higher classed people. A lot of people were even living on the streets. For example, "He picked his way through the hordes of homeless children who congregated at evening, like the starlings, to look for the most sheltered niche into which they could huddle for the night." The writer uses immense detail to help the reader visualise the scene. She also uses a simile to help the reader compare the circumstances in which the children are in. This shows that the poor children had to live on the streets and fend for themselves during the 18th century. Another example involves a brief description of the city in which the poor people lived in. This is "nor when he smelt the stench of open sewers and foraging pigs, and the manure of horses and mules" This gives a clear example of the state of the city. It is unclean and rancid and the writer includes this whilst keeping to her fictional storyline.
As I am looking out the window, the train passes by for the last time. We live directly behind the railroad tracks; everyday we hear the same annoying train pass by. I am happy that we are moving out of this neighborhood. It's sad to say, but there were days when I didn't want to walk across the street because I would have to deal with the low-life drug dealers and crackheads. All day long the crackheads would stand across my street in front of the store, drink, act foolish, and waste away to practically nothing. The drug dealers would stand out there from the time I went school until late at night. They never tried to sell drugs to me, but I hated looking at them. They thought that selling drugs was the only way to make money, rather than getting an education. While I look out the window I notice them standing across the street wasting away. "Tiffani, come bring this box to the car," yells my mom. I guess I have to take some boxes down.
Jeffries, M. P. (2011). Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-hop. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
As an African American woman, I have lived and worked in underserved communities and have experienced personally, the social and economic injustices grieved by underserved communities and the working poor. All of which, has increased my desires to work with such populations. A reserved person by nature, I have exposed an inner voice that I was oblivious to. I have expressed my inner voice to those living in underserved communities, who are seeking social and economic stability. I have come to classify and value the strength I have developed by the need, to survive in an underserved community. I use these as my continuous struggle against the social and economic injustices that I have experienced, as a product of an underserved community and as an African American woman. I have continued my struggle to overcome the barriers from my upbringing in an underserved community.
People from the Hood are trapped in a cycle made by society. It is a never ending cycle of drug abuse, illegal commitments and violence in which people from the Hood use to survive living in those conditions. Featured songs such as Coolio’s Gangsters Paradise sings of ‘the shadow of the valley of death’ where people have to ‘watch how [they] talkin’ and where [they] walkin’. The song also mentions of seeing ‘pistol smoke’ referring to the people of the Hood killing for money.