In particular, inner-city(e.g., low-income urban) African-American male adolescents have been identified as a high-risk segment of youth due to their disproportionately high rates of exposure to (and often participation in) violent situations (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2001; Hammond and Yung, 1993; Rich, 2001)" (Abdul-Ali). Elijah Anderson states, that "the 'code of the street' in poor, inner-city African-American communities places all young African-American men under much pressure to respond to certain situations-show of disrepect-with violence" (Anderson. 1994). The Young Warriors Violence Prevention program is consistent with Anderson's research because the program targets those that Anderson identified that were the most at risk: African-American Males from poor inner-city enviroments. Anderson, states that it is not only African-Americans that have a 'code on the street", but other races (white and Latino) who come from disadvantaged environment have a 'code of the street'. Economic and social disadvantage in these communities create "a threat of violence that is high in many disadvantaged communiites" (Cullen & Agnew, 2011, 143). The Young Warriors Violence Prevention for Inner-City African American Male Adolescents program uses rap music to challenge 'the code of the street' and they use this as a mechanism to unify the youth and prevent violence. For instance, Jaleel Adul-Ali who reviewed the program found that "critical consciousness may be a particularly important sociopolitical resource for enhancing violence prevention efforts with inner-city African-American male adolescents(Watts & Abdul-Adil, 1998; Watts, Abdul-Adil & Pratt, 2002; Watts, Griffith & Abdul-Adil, 1999). Kerns and Prinz (2002) arg... ... middle of paper ... ...ual, collective, and socio-political factors concerning violence among inner-city African-American male adolescents). Based onthese themes, the program goals are to help inner-city African-American male adolescents: a) apply critical thinking to their world and behavior (e.g., causes and solutions for violent behavior today in society and media); b)adopt positive perspectives on manhood and male identity (e.g., salient characteristics of being a “man” that maycause and prevent violence); c) develop cultural awareness (e.g., knowledge of African-American icons such as Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Harold Washington, Maxine Waters, etc.);and d) increase understanding of social processes and social change (e.g., develop themselves and their society by raising consciousness and changing conditions that contribute to violence)".
The Universal Negro Improvement Association is an organization (UNIA) that was developed by a man named Marcus Garvey. Now Garvey was not the only one to have established this organization, however he was the face of it. His ideas, connections, work, and influences were all huge factors in establishing the UNIA. However, creating Garvey’s vision into a reality was not an easy road, the organization changed a lot throughout the decades and has impacted many lives. The Universal Negro Improvement Association and Marcus Garvey did not just stop at singling out one object, but reached out in many different ways also.
As described in the film “Tough Guise 2”, the U.S. is both obsessed with and is a victim of its own culture. On one hand, movies and video games that glamorize violence and books that argue that violence. Additionally, many other films and books highlight that violence is a core aspect of male masculinity and argues that men are losing it through the empowerment of women and the loss of employment. At the same time, the United States has suffered through countless gun-related deaths and the mainstreaming of media such as Bum Fights, where actual homeless people are assaulted on camera. But due to the politicization of the issue of violence and the news media to properly explain the issue to the U.S., many people are taught that violence stems from the youth, which is only part of the broader picture. Instead of identifying and preventing the largest source of violence in the country, young white males, the focus is instead shifted toward the potential of violence of young men of color in poor urban
Throughout the article “The Code of the Streets,” Elijah Anderson explains the differences between “decent” and “street” people that can be applied to the approaches of social control, labeling, and social conflict theories when talking about the violence among inner cities due to cultural adaptations.
Once again, showing the lack of attention or focus exclusively on African American youth. The underlying problems that continue to affect mortality rates among African Americans in inner cities are rooted in the lack of knowledge and government support. To remedy the mortality decline in the black community, it is equivocally important to understand their cultural heritage and provide a change in the communities that will be embraced and foster cultural change. The United States has an epidemic festering in the inner cities that, if not properly addressed, can destroy the fabric of a community and spread to other areas of society.
The "youth control complex" is one of the concepts presented by the author to analyze young people 's lives. As mentioned in the book, it is "a ubiquitous system if criminalization molded by the synchronized, systematic punishment meted out by socializing and social control institutions"(p.40). It is a person 's normal daily behavior become ubiquitously treated as deviant or even criminal behaviors. For example, schools in Oakland often treat problem students as potential criminals, and some staffs and teachers act as prison guards telling students they are will never be amount to anything and threaten to call the police for misbehaviors which should be dealt with on campus. Many young men are often called a thug and frisked by police. It damages the mind and future prospects of them. They feel outcast and just want to be acknowledged
At the age of thirteen-year-old, Jonathan (a pseudonym) knows all the names and shapes of the weapons circulating his neighborhood. Jonathan lives with his brothers and mother in a poor-income neighborhood of a metropolitan area. As a result of a lack of father’s presence in his life, his uncle serves as his male role model. In many occasions, when his uncle “goes out and steal” at the nearby stores, Jonathan is often his look out. Despite the criminal laws and police regulations, crime rates in these poor urban neighborhoods are escalating with incarceration rates and death rates follow suits. According to Elijah Anderson (1994), an American sociologist at Yale University, the inclination to violence is derived from the situations of life among the urban poor; these circumstances could be the lack of paying jobs, the stigma of race, the rampant drugs use and drugs trafficking, and the lack of hope for the future. Accordingly, who or what is responsible for the problems displayed in these African American, urban poor communities? The answer comes down to choices. The behaviors of these African American can be attributed through the individual’s disposition and the situational influences; thus, two theories hold the key explanation to answer the inquiry of this phenomenon: Rational Actor Theory and Structured Socialization Theory, respectively.
In 1960, the American sociologist Paul Goodman published his seminal work, Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society. Having observed that, since World War II, there had been an increasing rise in juvenile delinquency – especially amongst white, middle-class, educated males – Goodman set out to study both the source and forms of delinquency. Simply put, he wanted to understand why and how young men were rebelling not just from the previous generation but from society as a whole. Goodman ultimately posited that having been frustrated by an increasingly bureaucratic and corporate culture, the only way for these young men to begin forging their personal identities was to reject the very middle-class culture and values from which they had emerged. Goodman then discovered that many of these young men began to find solace and freedom, to quote Allen Ginsberg, “by dragging themselves through negro hipster streets.” These middle-class young men – or what Goodman would ultimately label as “the white negroes” – found for themselves an entirely new cultural frontier by embracing what they felt to be the only free space available: within the bosom of black culture. The fact middle-class, white males listening to “black music” would hardly raise an eyebrow today only serves as a testament to the enduring power of blackness as a cultural trope. Whether it be jazz in the 1950s or hip-hop at the turn of the century, white youth have continued to find avenues of self-expression and self-formation through what Toni Morrison calls an Africanist presence.
Geoffrey Canada gives his readers a rare opportunity to look inside the life of a ghetto kid and what they have to go through just to survive. He also provides answers to the many questions asked of why certain things happen the way they do in the Bronx. He used his childhood experiences and turned them into a unique tool when helping the youth of today. Now that he works as a youth councilor he sees that the problem in the slums has gotten dramatically worse with the emergence of guns. It used to be about pride and status, now any thug with a gun can be feared in the community. This, to Canada is a major problem because guns gives kids a sense of power, a strong feeling that is often abused and results in someone, even an innocent person dead.
In the movie “Boyz in the Hood” director John Singleton, paints a clear image of the problems that happen very often in the African American communities. The movie deals with issues such as: the importance of a father in a young man’s life, the ongoing violence of black on black crime, and how black people are put in situations where they are put to fail and not succeed in life.
Staples successfully begins by not only admitting the possible faults in his practiced race but also by understanding the perspective of the one who fear them. Black males being opened to more violence because of the environment they're raised in are labeled to be more likely to cause harm or committing crime towards women but Staples asks why that issue changes the outlook of everyday face to face contact and questions the simple actions of a black man? Staples admits, "women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence," (Staples 384) however...
For this assignment I decided to read the book Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city by Elijah Anderson. This book is about how inner city people live and try and survive by living with the code of the streets. The code of the streets is basically morals and values that these people have. Most of the time it is the way they need to act to survive. Continuing on within this book review I am going to discuss the main points and arguments that Anderson portrays within the book. The main points that the book has, goes along with the chapters. These points consist of Street and decent families, respect, drugs violence, street crime, decent daddy, the mating game, black inner city grandmother. Now within these points there are a few main arguments that I would like to point out. The first argument is the belief that you will need to accept the street code to get through life. The other one is the belief that people on the street need “juice”. For the rest of this paper we will be looking at each one of main points and arguments by going through each chapter and discussing it.
Throughout, the documentary one can come to the conclusion that most of these African- Americans who live in this area are being judged as violent and bad people. However this is not the case, many of them are just normal people who are try...
Imagine our youth all over the country being exposed to this explicit kind of language. There is no need to imagine, because it is already happening. Ever since the rise of Rap and Hip Hop music, teens have been turning to them to help solve their problems. However these kinds of music can be very destructive to teens. It is not the youth’s fault; it is the content that the music contains. Although Rap and Hip Hop music can be a force for good, they can also have an extremely negative impact on the attitudes and behaviors of our youth.
Richardson, Jeanita W., Kim A. Scott. “Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny: America’s Culture of Violence in Context.” The Journal of Negro Education 71.3 (2002): 175 – 192. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. “Media Violence Causes Youth Violence.”
Goodman, G.S. (2007). Reducing hate crimes and violence among american teens. New York, NY: Peter Lang.