Recently, South Carolina has come under attack again from the NAACP regarding the confederate battle flag. Al Sharpton has called for a renewed boycott and even the South Carolina NAACP has suggested that the state sanctions the growth of "Ghetto Housing" within the state.
Have you noticed how pop culture loves the word "Ghetto"? It's so much more poetic than "slum" "shanty town" or "hood". Add "Ghetto" to the word fabulous, chic or booty and you have a whole new wonderful meaning.
Langston Hughes didn't need the word "Ghetto" in his poem "The Heart of Harlem" in 1945.
The buildings in Harlem are brick and stone
And the streets are long and wide,
But Harlem’s much more than these alone,
Harlem is what’s inside."
Harlem was synonymous with Ghetto as was Cabrini Green, Robert Taylor Homes, South Central, Compton, Bronx, Patterson, Watts…
Hell you don’t even need the city and state, most people know where these places are and Charleston isn’t one of them because Charleston doesn’t have a “Ghetto”.
Take a trailways bus to East St. Louis and walk the 59 blocks to the “Gateway Arch” on the Mississippi River.
Ride the subway from Wall Street to Broadway, you’ll know you’ve missed your stop when you’re the only white person when the train leaves the station. The next 18 stops are no man’s land, that’s why the transit police lock the doors between the cars.
Ask a cab driver at the Newark airport to take you to Patterson, and watch the color drain out of his face.
The South Carolina NAACP must be run by some pretty small minds, maybe they don’t get out much or never been north of Georgetown.
If they are going use the word “Ghetto” to describe a few dozen blocks on the Peninsula, understand that to the people in South Central or Patterson living in Charleston’s “Ghetto” would be living the dream.
Should you need to school up on your “hoods” check out the photos at:
http://ghettoamerica.blogspot.com/
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