okay. youre right. i dont always have my *P.C.* hat on when I write, but I should not have used the term "ghetto kids" when speaking of innercity youths. but to explain further and beat a dead horse: I also see humor in white suburban uppermiddle class kids insisting on acting and dressing like gangster rappers. It's funny as hell to see a city dwellers wearing cowboy boots and cowboy hats too! maybe it just me though :^)
Lester Kenyatta Spence wrote: > On Tue, 22 Feb 2000, sean deason wrote: > > > dude! dont get all sensitive on me now. > > If you lived in the southeastern section of Michigan I wouldnt have to > > guide you > > to the humor in the image I was trying to conjure (think Carlton on "The > > Fresh > > Prince"). The *funny* part is that Grosse Pointers are not notoriusly known > > for > > thier individual fashion sense and we would try to emulate such blandness. > > sorry > > to you other out of towners for my regional sociolgical references, I > > sometimes > > forget how small the internet makes the world seem :^) > > sean > > I'm in Ann Arbor now....and grew up in Detroit during the period you speak > of. It's hard for me to take off my intellectual hat, because that's what > I do for a living.... > > Here then, I understand where the humor is supposed to come from. But at > the same time this is the period I lived in, and I knew that the supposed > "ghetto kids" weren't really ghetto....except for the fact that they were > black and lived in Detroit. Black Detroiter=ghetto kid. This equation > doesn't quite hold though....even the distinction that Dan makes in the > book was a bit more fluid. > > I went to Bishop Borgess....a private working class school on the West > Side. (For those of you not from here, this isn't an oxymoron in Metro > Detroit.) We had a strict dress code....but this dress code still allowed > for a great deal of stylistic freedom. What was interesting here is that > you had some people who were preppy...but only at school. At home they > sported patent leather addidas, kangols, and addidas jogging suits. And > then you had kids who did the exact opposite. > > All to say that I get the joke....but recognize that race, class and space > are different. The black preps mimicked Grosse Pointers like May mimicked > Kraftwerk. > > peace > lks
