Ghetto?

Last night when watching Nene Leaks on the Celebrity Apprentice finale I had an epiphany or  an aha moment as Oprah would sometimes call it. As Star Jones spoke about the way in which Nene Leaks was an embarrassment to all professional black women I realized something, Nene Leaks is obviously ghetto but what is ghetto?

I realized that ghetto is a culture, ghetto is a part of some African American communities but the word ghetto should be replaced by the word culture. Being afro-caribbean myself I have a rich culture some of which I hold onto tightly and some of which I reject but nevertheless I am still who I am. Some African Americans who are viewed as ghetto are merely holding on to the undesirable aspects of their culture along with the desirable aspects.

I believe that ghetto is a culture because of the following things that are often labelled as ghetto:
hair- "ooh her hair style is ghetto"
jewelry- "ooh he got on some ghetto bling bling"
language- "why you gotta talk so ghetto?"
clothing- "ooh she is dressed soooo ghetto"

'Ghetto' Jewelry

In various cultures around the world whether they are Latin American, Caribbean, European, African etc. there are hairstyles, jewelry, language and clothing specific to the culture some of which are held highly by the native people and some of which are an embarrassment to some.

Aspects of the African American culture which was formerly known as ghetto(since I have taken upon myself to rename it as culture) should be carefully examined and the individual should allow themselves to esteem certain parts of their culture and reject other parts.

Nevertheless society should view African Americans dressed in culture specific ways as expressing a part of their culture whether it is desirable or undesirable it is still a part of their culture.

'ghetto' hairstyle