The answer is both complex and simple. You cannot escape your upbringing. When a poor person wins the lottery, he will continue to be poor mentally, thus the phrase nouveau riche. A well bred person might lose all his possessions in the world but he will continue to live with the manners and behavior he is used to. Even in jail. There is also the issue of race connected to this problem. For poor blacks, they resent the idea that to 'fit into' their new neighborhood they have to behave like their white neighbors. Often times, they will not be accepted by the white community on equal ground anyway, so why bother. After years of feeling oppressed by white people in their black communities, it is fun to make white people feel uncomfortable and tense. As a black male, often when I am in a white area, I notice people holding their belongings tighter or even crossing the street to avoid coming into contact with me. It is more evident if I dress in a 'hip hop' manner, people act a little differently when I wear a suit. Imagine how frustrating this must be for me. Sometimes the frustration leads me to do something for my own enjoyment, such as yell 'BOO' at an obviously uptight white person. I grew up the son of a successful lawyer and my mother was a housewife. I went to private schools with a tuition over $11,000 a year since age 2 and after high school went straight to university out of state. No matter how much education I have or my background, if I wear certain 'hip hop' style clothing, these white people can't tell the difference between me and some gangbanger they saw on tv. Life for people of color in america can be frustrating and sometimes we just get tired of trying to play the game. Your example of minority youths walking in the streets, I think, is an example of their frustration. Why should they get out of the way of your car? They are pedestrians, who always have the right of way to powered vehicles. As more and more white youths buy hip hop music, movies and clothing, this will create more rich and powerful blacks who feel, why should they dress like the white man? Why should they keep their house in the same way as white people? White people should be like them, after all, they have just as much money as the white man. Who is to say which culture is more respectable. Money is power my friend, if you don't like the new look of your neighborhood, save your money and move to a more expensive neighborhood.
User Detail :
Name : Terence Morgan, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Buddhist, Age : 29, City : Los Angeles, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : IT manager, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, First of all, pedestrians always have the right of way. Maybe we are deliberatly challenging you because you almost hit us with your car. Maybe we are challenging you to do something about it because we are frustrated with impatient people like you who can't wait a few seconds for us to cross the street. Second, why do we do these things? Simply because we can. For the same reasons you can pass judgement on us for our broke down cars, our uncut grass, and for having extended family living with us; we can do whatever we want to do. We dress 'ghetto' because we can and because it's fashionable. Why do you dress the way you do? Simply put, it's our culture. Might not be the greatest, but it is. Not everyone shares your view of the American Dream. Not everyone shares the same morals, goals, and standards as you. Why do you ask this over a forum? Why don't you ask us for yourself face to face? You'll get the real answer to your question that way.
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Name : bembol roco, Gender : M, Race : Black/African American, Age : 27, City : seattle, State : WA Country : United States, Occupation : unemployed, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Lower class, I know exactly what you are talking about! I work in downtown Detroit and see tons of pictures from when Detroit was beautiful in the 1940's. Then Detroit turned into a ghetto. A neighboring city was small and cute, then the same people that moved in Detroit moved to that city. That city, Redford, is now turning into a ghetto. It's like this certain class of people keep moving west and every city in their way turns into a ghetto. And then they wonder why we get fed up and don't want them to move into our cities. Sorry if that sounds racist, it's just the truth.
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Name : Susan, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 21, City : Novi, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : Law Enforcement, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, Because they're ignorant and have been raised to have no respect for others.
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Name : Kasandra, City : Manhattan, State : NY Country : United States, To answer it quite simply because that is the way that some people are raised and they can't or won't aspire to anything better. Some people feel that being respectful of other people with their actions or simply 'lawn decorations is 'acting white.' My mother was raised very poor in the 'ghetto' but she got a well-paying job and growing up I lived in the best neighborhood in an all-white town. And we definitely did not even approach bringing the ghetto with us. We were taught to be respectful, polite, take pride in what we had and ourselves and treat other people the way we would someone to treat our own mother. But some(definitely not all) black people (some of my own relatives included) feel that the live in a little bubble and that their actions or failure to do things has no effect on anyone else. Or maybe I can sum the whole thing up in one word. Ignorance, plain and simple.
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Name : Melissa, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 23, City : Warren, State : OH Country : United States, Occupation : Office Manager, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Just because you move from one location to another, your behavior will not change. Your financial situation might change, but your views on life and how you live it doesn't. If a member of a family does well, the goal is to bring your whole family with you. If a wrecked car is in the yard, people with no car insurance (white or black) will bring the car home cause you are still paying on it. Minority youths walking in traffic is not because they are minorities, its because they are youths. You can't explain them.
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Name : Rick, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 32, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : IT Consultant, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, To put it simply, ignorance. No one ever sat them down and told that how to leave the ghetto behind or even that they should do so. Many of these people have never been outside of the ghetto. Some of these families have been in the ghetto for generations. Therefore that is the only lifestyle they know. When you are moving up in life, it always helps to have a mentor or mentors to 'show you the ropes'. The problem is that many upwardly mobile black people move out of the ghetto and never turn back; not even to help their own family follow in their footsteps. This causes a huge intra-racial communication gap between the classes in the black community.
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Name : Davita P., Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 22, City : Bristow, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : auditor, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I believe this is because people only know what they have lived. If they have never been introduced to anything else or been shown any different, this is what they know, therefore as a result simply moving away from the violence isn't enough. In order to successfully adapt, these people need to want to better their lifestyle in order to learn change so they can be respectable members of society.
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Name : A. Fiedler, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Minot, State : ND Country : United States, Occupation : Youth Services, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower class, good question, sucks noone can answer it. :(
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Name : froo, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 20, City : Farmington, State : CT Country : United States, Occupation : IT, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class, J. MICHAELS, they do these things with the certain knowledge that you would not DARE run over them with your car.
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Name : ron-s29623, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 60, City : stockton, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, Have you ever heard the saying, ' you can take them out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of them.' This saying is some what true, but at the same time it can be false. By this I mean, you act the way you've been taught. In the ghetto alot of people are raised only to look out for themselves. If you take someone out of a situation and put them into a new one, someone has to teach them how to act to certain extent. For example if you take a young kid out of the hood who never had anything or anyone who looked out for them (not their potential money earnibg ability), then when they get to that new environment their going to act the same way that they've been acting. But to the contrairy their are some ghetto peolpe who were raised to care about others, and also ghetto people who've worked their way up to that higher level, learning in the process how to get rid of the ghetto mantallity. All in all to sum it up, that what we're talking about here is an mantality, just like anyother mantallity it can be lost with the correct teachings, being spiritual, educational, or social. Peace
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Name : Matasa Davis, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 29, City : Bay City, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : Security Admin, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, It would be a whole lot easier to raise 'the level of their lifestyle' if there was time to do it. When a majority of time is spent trying to afford the house that you are fortunate enough to just barely afford you don't worry about little things such as that. Your thankful enough to get your children out of an area where they are not constantly threatened by gun fire. It would be like asking you to mow your newly acquired 3 acre lawn with the walk-behind lawn mower you had at your 1,500 sq ft house. Change is difficult and requires time and money.
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Name : N-Walker, City : Washington, State : DC Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, BECAUSE THEY ARE IGNORANT
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Name : PAT19873, City : MANSFIELD, State : OH Country : United States, I'm a white girl that grew up in the ghetto. I knew those kids that walked in the center of the road, daring traffic to run them over. It's a show of force, letting you know that 'I may be poor, but I am not afraid!' Many of us had parents that worked two and three jobs and didn't have time to teach us respect. We learned it the day one of us got hit by a car. As far as bringing the ghetto out with us, we want the same things you have, and we want to earn it. We want to take the people we love with us. So when I finally got a house outside the gate, I asked my best friend and her mom to join me. Besides, its easier to pay bills with three incomes than one. The broke down car in the yard? It's because we can't afford the brand new ones. Failing to maintain our property? We need milk and bread, and that is much more important that a lawn mower. I work hard to feed my children, as does everyone I know from the ghetto. Dress and act? I don't dress nasty, neither does anyone I know. Please, don't confuse us with drug pushers and hookers. We are people who are down on our luck, or made a few mistakes in life, trying to make it better. And those that are drug pushers and hookers, they just ran out of options. It doesn't mean that I am just like them, or that they didn't try. Unfortunately, once we are in the ghetto, few make it out, because the image that society gave us keeps us there. Like the gates in the ghetto I lived in. They weren't to keep people out, but to keep us in.
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Name : Jessica G., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 24, City : Greenville, State : SC Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, First of all, I have to be up front and say that I too am white/middle class, so you'll probably want to stop right here if that matters. I have however, worked for Habitat for Humanity and seen what you're talking about. Consider this: If you moved up into an ultra rich lifestyle where everyone around you has a master's degree or a doctorate, and a lifestyle much more complicated than yours-would you automatically know how to adjust to it? You probably would really want to, but without having to ask someone to teach you how and risk looking stupid. You live what you know from how you were raised. You can't change that without training. You wouldn't know any different. Someone who moves up will still have their same values and tastes and lifestyle. As far as walking in front of traffic and disregarding motorists-it's defiance. They feel different and they know they don't fit in. They wish they didn't feel so stupid or so ignorant or different. So they're defensive and defiant. They want to show that it 'doesn't matter' to them that they don't fit in. They want to seem tough and independent and cover their true feelings of fear amd inferiority. Much the same as a little kid would say, 'That's stupid' to another kid rather than embracing the differences.
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Name : Kate26818, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Brainerd, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : sales, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 
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