Of all the chapters in How
Race is Made, Chapter 5 was one of the most interesting to me. It looked at
the mind of black southerners and how they absorbed and perceived the
stereotypes that were forced on them. Since many of the Jim Crow rules and
regulations prevented blacks from participating in everyday social activities
and interactions, blacks began to accommodate to these sensory demands made by
white. As stated in the book, “as children, blacks learned to not ‘look at
white folks in de eye.’” Blacks began to live in fear and adapted to their fear
of whites by training their eyes in particular ways. In so, in addition to
black being careful about the watching eye of whites, blacks learned to watch
whites with precision.
Not all blacks adapted and changed the way they lived to accommodate
to the sensory demands of whites. Many middle and upper class blacks began to
have less black qualities and antagonizes the lower class black who exemplified
them. These upper class blacks believed they were superior to the lower class because
they did not participate in the sensory demands associated with blacks, they
became agents of whiteness. Upper class blacks began to demonstrate that he/she
“’possesses the attribute of breeding,’ but also divorcing himself from ‘the
inferior type of Negro.’” From this, the upper-class harshly criticized the
lower class as being “rough and common nigguhs” and a degradation to society.
As I think in modern times, this mindset of blacks trying to
separate themselves from stereotypes reigns true today. Acting “less black” is
deemed to be better and more respectable, especially when it comes to females.
In my opinion, the term “acting ghetto” is the new way of expressing black stereotypes.
Many blacks try to stray away from the “ghetto” stereotypes and if another
black person acts in this manner, they are harshly criticized and deemed
inferior.
Here is a short video of what “acting ghetto” is:
I want to know what you all think about “acting ghetto” in relation to what we have learned and read about in class through the senses.
It is definitely evident in today's society that when you see someone acting like they were in the video one automatically looks down on that person and questions why they choose to act like that. They are automatically classified as "ghetto" or "ratchet". Most of the time ghetto people seem rude and always defensive over small trivial situations. Maybe it is these peoples way of retaliating against whites and showing they can act however they want to act. It is not even only black people you see acting this way hispanics and even whites act like this. It seems as though people from a lower class tend to act so called "ghetto". Your post had me wondering as to why people do seem to act like this. I found a video of a young black male expressing his anger towards black people who act ghetto. I chose this video because even though he does use explicit language he could be anybody you see on a daily basis, somebody who you could work with or sit next to you in class. I apologize again for his language but it seems as though he truly wonders why black people seem to embrace all the negative stereotypes and instead of proving people wrong only prove them more right.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIBf6AQJBDk
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DeleteIt seems the link did not highlight. But if you search on youtube 'why do people act ghetto' it is the first video to come up. Video is 9 mins and 46 secs called ghetto black people.
DeleteThe idea of “speaking ghetto” or “acting ghetto” seems to be a perpetuation of the same sensory differentiation described throughout the entirety of How Race is Made. This classification of behavior continues to demean many black people and culture by encouraging them to act less “black,” which becomes synonymous with unrefined, lower class, etc. Additionally, by contrast whiteness becomes contrary to these negative adjectives, causing “white” to become the pinnacle of social decorum. This video also reminds me of one of the first readings from the class by Patricia Hill Collins because not only does “acting ghetto” become a way to classify race, but social and economic class as well. This video really exemplifies that intersectionality of systems of oppression because socio-economic status also plays a major role in an individual being considered “ghetto” aside from their race. This video also demonstrates certain stereotypes from How Race is Made such as blacks having “simpler” and stronger emotions by nature (Smith 98). The video reflects this same idea of emotional simplicity when the girl who is acting ghetto responds to being frustrated in a situation by saying she “cut him,” while the more socially refined individual “walked away” (40-48 seconds in). It is frustrating how similar these class and race-based classifications are to the methods used by southerners to justify segregation.
ReplyDeleteI think acting ghetto is just that a word that people use to describe things that people do that are not like them. "Ghetto" to a white person or any other race of a different class could be something as normal as going to a flea market or a persons speech and or clothing. Honestly I don't anyone just wants to be known as being or acting ghetto. "Ghetto" is simply a label that has been placed on lower class people. Just seeing me in class no one would know that I've stayed in the projects before. Growing up there I'm sure there were people around who may have acted ghetto bu is it really ghetto if thats just how they are naturally. I agree with Priscilla that people just throw the label ghetto and ratchet around all the time when that may not even be the case. And while we're on the subject of ratchet, this "new ghetto", I just wanna say that I personally want that term to die. It is often overused and most times used out of order. I think people confuse being "ghetto" with just being plain ol different.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading How Race is Made I believe that in many ways especially stereotyping blacks was part of the foundation of social norms that we live in today. I watched both videos "acting ghetto" and "why do people act ghetto" and "acting ghetto" made me so disappointed because I know this is how some blacks act. Yes, all races act "ghetto" in some way but it is always pined on blacks because of the history of slavery and segregation. To some extent I agree with the man on the video "why do people act ghetto", things such as rollers in your hair in public, loud talking and using curse words loudly as if your uneducated everywhere you go is unacceptable but many blacks do that to gain attention or may feel that is the only way to receive attention. The "acting ghetto" video really made me mad because many blacks think it is cute to be ghetto or act a certain way until they want to be humanized in the white world. The problematic thing about "acting ghetto" would be...and I hate to use this example, but the Trayvon Martin case. Trayvon was a product of his environment, I do not believe he was ghetto but because of his class he was considered ghetto. In reality he lived in a home where he had two hard working parents, did well in school and played sports. All of the those things made his family have "whiteness" except he lived in the "ghetto" and he was black. Throughout the case Zimmerman lawyers tried to paint this stereotype of ghetto on Martin because of the pictures he posted on Facebook like one of him shooting the bird and other pictures that were considered "thug-like". All of those pictures were cool with all of his black high school friends until something tragic happened and he passed away because of a stereotype. So the thing that upsets me the most is that many blacks know the stereotypes but choose to be them instead of being against them until it is too late. Like the man said in his video "why do people act ghetto" all races have issues and have a "ghetto" person like white trash and other mean names but all of the negative will fall on blacks. Negativity will always fall on blacks because since the beginning of time, slavery and segregation always made blacks dehumanized, uneducated and over-looked because of the white fathers who made the rules on how race is made and how others will be treated because of their skin color.
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