The other day I found myself the target of an individual who was rather angry that I had used the word "ghetto" to describe parts of the city of Baltimore in an article I had written more than two years ago. Because of my use of the adjective/noun, he claimed that I was a racist and in fact epitomize everything that is wrong with Hopkins. Never mind the fact that I never mentioned a single word about race in the article under consideration. Hell, never mind the fact that he was rather free with labeling practically the entire tri-state area as being ghetto.
My main complaint comes from the fact that people have become so obsessed with being politically correct in their vocabularies that they cannot see the truth for how it is. Parts of Baltimore are, indeed, ghetto. To claim that such a proclamation is tantamount to announcing a bigoted attitude against African-Americans, however, is faulty and straight up wrong.
I spent a large part of my life growing up in a rural area of Texas. The town was located about an hour outside of Houston and was probably around 99 percent Caucasian. Yet, I would honestly say that many parts of this area were, indeed, ghetto. A large part of this town was dirt poor, and if dilapidated housing, boards on windows and drunks wandering around street corners are in any way indicative of ghetto-ness, that's all there is to say.
I would even go so far as to say that making an association in your mind between blackness and ghetto, as the aforementioned individual did during his angry fit, is in itself racist. Let's be honest. A trip to any city will give you an amazing number of ghettos. There are the black ghettos, the Chinatown ghettos, the Little Italy ghettos, the gay ghettos, the Jewish ghettos. If you have ever lived in or near a major city, you know exactly what I am to be talking about. Then again, if you happen to be from some minority-free suburb in, say, Connecticut, maybe you are just missing the point entirely.
I personally do not even see anything wrong with the concept of ghetto. How many hip-hop designers are proud to proclaim that their lines are "ghetto fabulous?" Sean-John, Fubu, Timberland, ENYCE and even the clothing store Against All Odds are all, in fact, proud to maintain their ghetto fabulous style. Let's not even forget the enormous number of hip-hop and R&B stars, from Nelly to J. Lo, who are starting their own ghetto fab clothing lines.
When it comes to music, the ghetto is held in the highest of positions: where would Coo Coo Cal be without the ghetto in his number one rap single "My Projects?" I know you can't deny it - yes, that was probably a horrible pun - Fabolous probably wouldn't be where he is today without his rapidly-approaching platinum status album "Ghetto Fabolous." Lil' Bow Wow got in on the action with this summer's "Ghetto Girls." Foxy Brown gave a salute to Brooklyn's projects in "BK Anthem" and then speaks to the masses in "Hood Scriptures." Jay-Z has his project chick in his newest single "Girls, Girls, Girls." Damage, an R&B group that is reaching relatively high popularity in the UK, had a top-ten single earlier this year with "Ghetto Romance." And even G. Dep is getting in on the action with a cut from this summer's album from P. Diddy & The Bad Boys Family, "Child of the Ghetto."
Ghetto is not bad. Ghetto is, in fact, very good. If you feel the need to use some euphemism to describe it, then maybe you just don't have the pride in ghetto-ness that the rest of us do. Honey, say it loud and say it proud: there ain't nothing wrong with the ghetto.
