Cora Daniels, the author of Ghetto Nation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless, which calls 'ghetto-ness' a "mind set which embraces the worst," came to the Penn Bookstore yesterday to promote and discuss her book.
The book, which was released last March and is the editor's pick in this week's Penn Current, covers one of the most sensitive and controversial issues in America: that of embracing the ghetto persona.
Daniels said she was driven to write the book because of what she saw around her. As a journalist, she was motivated to address this topic, which she said she thought needed to be criticized. She said that the book was a "story of how being ghetto has become chic."
Daniels gave examples of pimp-and-ho Halloween costumes available for toddlers and pole dancing toy-sets for young children to show how, what she calls as the ghetto mind set, can have disturbing ramifications. She said that we must never allow this to be considered appropriate or acceptable for any community or social group.
She classified the issue as one that crossed generation and race lines and that while she believed there had always been a sliver of this mind set, it has only become mainstream in the last decade although there is no concrete reason why. She thought about this change when she was working at Fortune magazine and observed the trend among the stereotypical upper-class New York City and working-class Brooklyn residents.
Many in the audience seemed to agree with her and gave examples of hypocritical black professionals who blamed the youth. After being prompted by members of the audience she spoke about Bob Johnson, the founder and former CEO of Black Entertainment Television.
Media companies have promoted this mind set by airing shows which "embrace morally wrong topics like demeaning women, devaluing education and celebrating the worst stereotypes," she said.
"Sometimes she takes a myopic view of this situation by focusing on the American culture," said first-year law student Joe Meszaros.
The book has been criticized as being too moralistic by various newspapers and magazines, but nonetheless Daniels addresses many issues which are generally avoided so that society can change what she calls "the reality of race."
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