Mrs. Hedges In The Novel The Street

They may have family members or friends that live in a more urban or “hood” area who influence their lives. They may be stereotyped by their peers at school and in their neighborhood to be a certain way because they are black. The paper will discuss all of these factors and find out what

Elijah Anderson, a Yale professor, developed the concept or theory entitled the “code of the street” which explains the reasoning for high rates of street violence among African-American juveniles in a Philadelphia community. The “code of the street” is the way of life for many living in poverty-stricken communities which attempt to regulate behaviors. Anderson observed that juveniles in inner-city neighborhoods who are exposed to racial discrimination, economic disadvantages and alienation from mainstream society may lead violent behavior. The strain, social learning, and labeling theories are all directly related to Anderson’s work.

The profound novel, The Help, can be interpreted as having many themes and subliminal messages about life, but to truly understand the meaning of them, the conflicting points must be recognized. Due to the fact that the setting of the novel is during segregation, the friction between blacks and whites is what creates the novel. Although it is easily recognizable that one of the main conflicts is segregation, there is a major conflict between two prominent characters, Hilly and Skeeter, wealthy white women. Some of the issues within this novel lye in location and the social aspects of living in a small southern town in that time. There are several underlying conflicts in The Help, but the main one that sets up all the themes are the conflicts

Housing is another issue African American mothers have to deal with especially having a low income. It is hard for single African American mother to afford and provide 3 meals for her children. It wouldn’t be a smart decision to stay in a place where she can’t afford the rent. Studies show that low-income neighbors set such an impact with the child’s mind set he or she will adapt behaviors from that community. Children learn what they see and if they witness crime, violence and drugs they tend to walk on that path.

Leading Ladies The novel Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell presents a series of vignettes about a wife, mother, and socialite who finds herself trapped in a materialistic society. Via her ordinary encounters (less the robbery incident) readers understand how the meaningless cultural forces of materialism and class expectations can lead to people feeling trapped. This idea also presents itself through the character of Sapphira Colbert in Willa Cather’s Sapphira and the Slave Girl. However, when one ignores class focusing on kindness instead, happiness is truly attainable as seen in Shadows on the Rock.

Kids in the most disadvantaged neighborhood, with low family resources, bad schools, and neighborhoods characterized by violence are the ones who are being punished unfairly and are not given second chances. This is because of the discrimination and the bias of the criminal justice system against poor African-American communities, which represent a concentrated disadvantage in that case. Moreover it affirms the theory that the poor are more likely to get to prison because there is a bias in arrest such as the neighborhood social class that affects the presence of the police and their arrests. In that case 6th street is considered a neighborhood that represents communities that are disadvantaged, and therefore the presence of police is greater than necessary. Instead of having the resources from outside to ameliorate the conditions of the neighborhood and improve schools or academic institutions, the efforts and resources are being invested in the war against crimes, but without giving an alternative solution for their

In “If I Were A Poor Black Kid,” writer Gene Marks claims that poor inner city children have opportunities to be successful in life if they follow the advices/ideas he gives such as, to magnet/private school, have technology access and get good grades. Throughout the article Marks, emphasizes that poor inner city kids have the ability to be successful but they do not want to use the resource they have available. This article has been a controversial because Marks compare himself with the poor inner city kids without having knowledge about the challenges poor inner city kids face daily. The argument the author presents in the article may seem logical on the surface but investigating more deeply it can be unreasonable. Gene Marks is a man who comes from a middle class white background.

She discusses that many residents are against the idea of integration of Levittown and rumors are circulating around, one being that, the family is sponsored and paid to live in their community. The second lady interviewed is utterly against an African American family living in her community. She was happy to buy a home here because she was told it was an all-white community. Even contemplates moving out of Levittown, but she fears African Americans living here will drive real-estate value down. She emphasizes the question, if the Myers’ family can achieve the ‘American Dream’ is it really a dream.

There are many open wounds in the African-American community that have not healed what so ever. Disintegration of family structures in the African-American community has been a persistent problem for far too long. High out of wedlock birth rates, absent fathers, and the lack of a family support network for many young African-Americans have led to serious problems in America's urban areas. The persistence of serious social problems in inner-city areas has led to a tragic perpetuation of racial prejudice as well. African Americans still face a litany of problems in the 21st century today.

The researcher provides a look at the past, reflections on recent developments, and considerations for the future, based on current trends” (Troost Village Community Association 1). African Americans tried to live in the same neighborhoods as whites, but they made sure that did not happen. Once many people started realizing that they were not going to be able to live in neighborhoods with white people or get as nice of houses they

The public often stereotypes low-income youth of color as uneducated, lazy, lacking good family values, unintelligent, unmotivated, etc.. However, poverty among minorities in the United States is not the result of individuals, but rather is the result of structural, social issues that contribute to the poverty. New York City has some of the worst aspects of the American city when it comes to racial issues. In New York City, people of color have being unconsciously marginalized by using various tactics to isolate them. Studies have found that more than half of black and Hispanic youths are terrified of discrimination.

The source of the difference is no secret. African Americans have been subject to a long history of social and economic oppression and disadvantage; they have experienced higher levels of poverty and lower levels of education than white Americans. After the Brown decision in 1954, the federal government and many states adopted policies to redress the past inequities, but those systems were insufficient to overcome generations of racism, which limited access to jobs and education. Despite significant progress in expanding educational access, education attainment, and economic opportunities for black citizens in the past half century, blacks continue to agonize. African Americans face many trials such as being disproportionately poor and attending racially isolated communities, where children are likely to be exposed to violence, gangs, and drug

The contemporary distinctive patterns of segregation and poverty in the United States often relate back to the issue of race. Scholars have looked at the institutional forces that shape differential life outcomes of American racial minorities, particularly African Americans, to explain such patterns. Massey and Denton explore racial residential segregation in the United States throughout the 20th century. They argue that the making and concentration of the (African American) underclass in inner cities resulted from institutional and interpersonal racism in the housing market that perpetuates already existing racial segregation. Amanda Lewis and colleagues adds more insight to Massey and Denton’s investigation with their comprehensive overview

Growing up in Newark was a death sentence for most educationally. Surrounded by Ghettos everyone assumed the only way of life was to sell drugs and to work at Mc Donald’s. My mother did not allow that perception to define our life or our way of learning. She always wanted better for her, for us.

In Carol B. Stack’s book, All Our Kin, Stack journeys into The Flats, an African-American poverty-stricken community and she narrates her one on one experience with the community themselves. Stack observes that the black urban poor or any other poverty-stricken communities do not come into poverty from an individual’s experience but comes from middle and upper classes, due to their need for lower class labor, which they think is needed for the economy. Stack also talks about the lifestyle of the people in the Flats and their survival to live on within their community. Stack discusses the two pre-requisites that Stack claims that the poor need to accomplish in order to get out of poverty and also the treatment of the poor in the flats from the larger members of the society.