The Detroit Drug Trade Thesis: The practice of using the home as a drug-spot and the proliferation of gun violence as caused by the drug-trade in the society creates a scenario where the drug-trade shapes the identity of the young people in the society and is the main window through which they see the world around them. First Paragraph: The use of homes and more importantly family homes as main drug spots combine the private nature of family hood with the public facing drug-trade business. This affects the identity of the young children in the household as they are forced into the drug business. Their identity follows along with their parents and they have a hard time getting themselves away from this mold. Second Paragraph: The use of private …show more content…
In this story, we learn of the society surrounding these two young dealers and their daily lives and through that we can see the way that they identify themselves. Like many people, these two characters among others in the book identify themselves through their race, ethnicity, family and the life that they have led. However, in this city especially, the drug-trade takes an important position. As Bergmann states early in the book, the drug trade is one of the most important social institutions because it is “the locus of their senses of identity, politics, and promise in the world…taught them about the nature and power of the state…family…senses for the shifting distinction between childhood and adulthood, the length of natural life, and a timely death” (13). As such in this novel we see that the drug trade and the practices emerging form it such as the use of homes as a drug-spot and the proliferation of gun violence as caused by the drug-trade in the society creates a scenario where the drug-trade shapes the identity of the young people in the society and is the main window through which they see the world around …show more content…
This also relates to Bergmann’s quote in the beginning of this essay, as this ongoing drug trade changes how the young people in the society view the length of natural life and timely death. Gun violence directly cuts off the future life and aspirations for the criminal and the victim, as one’s life is cut short by death while the other’s is cut short by life in jail. This endemic gun violence and the early deaths and prison sentences create a scenario where as Bergmann describes “there are few living models of the drug-hustling adult to which young drug dealers turn in Detroit.” This is also present in Dude’s own life as his own brother’s life is cut short by his life long prison sentence as a direct cause of the drug trade. This instead causes him to take part in this same trade. This situation creates a cyclical behavior where the people who we normally consider to be the bread-winners are not capable of providing help to their families, which in turn pushes on this role to the younger generation, increasing the proliferation of the drug trade among the young people in
“My squad is my family, my gun is my provider and protector and my rule is to kill or be killed. ”(Ishmael Beah)”A long way gone”was written by Ishmael Beah and published in 2007. Ishmael Beah was very happy kid he was really close to his family but they were seperated when the war happened with the rebels, later on he was caught by the rebels but he was able to escape, the rebels killed all his family so he was recruited by the army, they gave him drugs so he wouldn’t feel anything he had no emotions. The three most important scenes in this story include when Ishmael was alone in the jungle, when Ishmael was in the army,and when Ishmael was NYC.
Getting Ghost, an ethnographic research carried out by Luke Bergmann in 2000, shows how culture shapes and gives meaning to the lives of the adolescent African American males in inner city Detroit. Many African Americans had migrated to Detroit in the 1920s at the promise of employment in the automotive industry, however, after the industry began to dissolve in the 1970s, Detroit’s inner-city population began to be hit with a strong economic downfall (Background Sheet 2014,1). Subsequently, drug dealing in Detroit became widespread in the 1970s and 1980s, leading to a strong drug and convict culture which has affected many of the youth over multiple generations (Background Sheet 2014,1). A common practise in the African American population
Provocative and eye-opening, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade through weaving history, biography, social structure, and drug market forces. It offers a revelatory explanation for drug market violence by masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, this book is engaging, personal, deeply informed, and entirely
This African-American culture within Detroit shapes and gives meaning to the lives of Dude Freeman and Rodney Phelps. The overarching cultural element of African-American culture within Detroit affecting the two main interlocutors is the street drug trade. The culture of the street drug trade can be thought of as having three overarching effects on the adolescents which shape and give meaning to their lives, economic effects, kinship effects, and political effects.
How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.
The research method that Dwight Conquergood used is that of ethnographic fieldwork, which is one of the early qualitative research methodologies, involving the combination of fieldwork and observation, which seeks to understand the cultural phenomena that reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group (Boundless.com). This type of research method, allowed the author to immerse himself in a long-term participation in the day to day life in Chicago’s Albany Park and the Latin Kings Nation that operated within Albany Park. He wanted to have the firsthand experience for himself, in so much that he chose to live in the so-called “Big Red” housing area, which as he described as the microcosm of the community. In
The author’s intention in this book is to advise all people, from children to young adults, to understand that everyone is going to face life’s struggles. Life can throw severe situations at anyone at anytime. The choices you make in those opportunities can cause consequences that better your life or change it for the worse. These two men, were born into an atmosphere where violence and drugs were present in their daily life. The narrator states, “Fear and apathy had become the new norm in what had once been a close-knit community.
As each year passes in America, life continuously changes through the advancement of technology. However, a more important change in America is seen through the attitudes and actions of the people. In today's society, people place more concern toward their own needs; furthermore, people are becoming increasingly violent with others. In addition, not only are people hurting each other but also themselves through extensive drug usage.
In Chicago, and all over the nation, the effects of gang activity have been displayed, specifically in low income and poverty torn communities. Poverty is measured depending on a family’s annual income and determining if the amount falls below the poverty threshold for the family’s size. If the annual income does fall below the threshold, then the family and every individual in it is considered to be in poverty. Gang activity is more visible in the areas specifically in major cities similar to Chicago where poverty is a commonality in communities. although gangs might add structure in order where the government fails to do so in the projects and and similar low income communities the negative effects such as the distribution of drugs, violence,
“A gram is better than a damn,” is a statement that reflects the mindset of contemporary America to use drugs to palliate the problems rather than dealing with them. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley shows the relationship of drug usage in the near future by alluding the use of drugs to the real world. Huxley creates a drug, soma, in his novel that makes a person who takes it instantly becomes tranquil. This drug is commonly used throughout the novel by giving an instant source of gratification and also is used to control the population. Huxley’s prediction of drug usage became a reality because both legal and illegal drugs are commonly used in contemporary society.
From his uncontrollable drug dependence in which he “viewed narcotics as most people regard food” to his extensive hustler lifestyle, he was consumed with the action on the streets (141). Caught in
In Rom Rash’s “The Ascent” a fifth-grader named Jared goes on an adventure through the Great Smoky Mountains. While exploring, he finds a plane that has recently crashed and has a dead couple onboard the plane. Jared also does not have a great home life with his parents who use drugs. Rash is able to show how Jared and his parents want to escape reality through their daily life decisions. More specifically, Rash is using Jared’s imagination and his parent’s use of drugs to give the story a theme of escaping a harsh reality.
“[H]er voice reminded me for a minute of what heroin feels like sometimes — when it’s in your veins. It makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time. It makes you feel — in control. Sometimes you’ve got to have that feeling” (142). James Baldwin was a popular African-American novelist and essayist whose themes include human suffering, race/racism, social identity, sexuality and numerous others.
The original book “In search of respect by selling crack in El Barrio” (Philippe Bourgois (2003) was first published in1995 and the second edition in 2003. Bourgois, is its author. Generally, the book (second edition) describes the major dynamics which have affected life in various parts of East Harlem. Through this book, Philippe Bourgois narrates his experience in East Harlem, which is also known as El Barrio in Spanish and is located in northeastern side of Manhattan. He describes East Harlem as an area that is notorious for its high violent crime and jobless rate in comparison to the rest of New York City.
There is breaking of oral traditions even in rural areas as it is not being passed along to the younger generations. Younger generations often spend hours in front of the television or playing video games instead of listening to traditional oral stories. In the cities, drug abuse, violence and gang activity is common which has disturbed many parents (Cline, 2011). The cases of drug abuse and thefts and the crime rate are on the rise amongst the youths. This dramatic change is seen even in the remotest parts of the country that has been adopted from western culture through television and internet.