|
POS334-L: THE RACE
AND ETHNICITY BOOK REVIEW DISCUSSION LIST |
Elijah Anderson. Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban
Community, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1990
Date:
Wed, 02
Feb 2000
From: Clayton Cobb clcobb@ILSTU.EDU
Subject: Review: Streetwise (Clayton Cobb)
Streetwise: Race, Class, and
Change in an Urban Community, by Elijah
Anderson. University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, 1990
reviewed by: Clayton Cobb <clcobb@ilstu.edu>
Streetwise: Race, Class, and
Change in an Urban Community by, Elijah
Anderson, was written as his
fourteen year (1975-1989) case study in which
he explored the area of
Village-Northton, which encompasses two
communities- one Black and low
income to very poor, the other racially
mixed, but becoming increasingly
middle to upper income and
White. Anderson's focus is
on the nature of the street life and public
culture, how this diverse group of
people "got it on" or related to one
another in public settings.
He explores the dilemma of both Blacks and
Whites, the ghetto poor and the
middle class, caught up in a struggle for
comity and equality while living
in an urban environment. Anderson deals
with the political and social
issues we have discussed in class such as:
public vs private education,
gentrification, youth culture, socioeconomics
and the ramifications of poverty,
violence and drugs.
The bulk of Streetwise: Race,
Class and Change in an Urban Community
focuses on Northton, a low income
Black community located in the large
northeastern industrial city of
Philadelphia. The logic of racial
oppression has left the Northton
area poverty stricken and devoid of middle
class leadership. Highly educated
Blacks have abandoned the community in
search of professional
opportunities in corporate America and the
realization of the American dream
in elite residential suburbs. The Black
residents who remain are locked in
a culture of poverty by declining
opportunities for meaningful
employment in the economy of the central city.
For many young Blacks, the
underground economy appears to be the only
escape from a life of
destitution. Drugs have become a threat to health
and safety in the community.
Anderson's book contains interviews with
young Black people who are caught
up in a world of drugs and violence.
These stories reveal a serious
breakdown in relations between "old heads"
(Old Black men) defined by
Anderson as "a man of stable means who believed
in hard work, family life, and the
church (female old heads, grand motherly
types who were seen as wise and
mature figures in the community were
equally important) and "young
heads" young Black men. The sense of trust
and confidence that allows old
heads to lead young heads to manhood and
instill within in them a sense of
purpose has been replaced by alienation
and profound disrespect. For
a new role model is emerging and competing
with the traditional old head for
the hearts and minds of young boys. He
is young, often the product of the
street gang, and indifferent to the law
and traditional values.
Anderson points out that young Black men and women
are now forced to live in a
different world, one in which their presence on
the street is considered menacing
to society. In this world, young women
are addicted to crack and become
teenage mothers, and young men drop out of
school and become immersed in a
life of crime during the early stages of
their lives. To survive in
this world, they learn the laws and etiquette
of the streets.
Young Black males, dressed in the
uniforms of jogging suits, expensive
tennis shoes, and heavy gold
chains frighten the older Black residents of
the ghetto, the Black middle class
and their upper class White counterparts
in the neighboring suburb.
They like to walk around looking as mean as
they can, because these young
Black males are powerless in the larger world
of wealth and power, they rule the
smaller world of street interactions and
everyday encounters.
Anderson portrays these young men
with an urgency to be accepted among
their peers, so they adopt their
youth culture and take on the street
mannerisms that, to Whites, label
them as dangerous and threatening.
Anderson's account of sex codes
and what it is like to be young, Black and
female is equally powerful.
Sexually active by the age of twelve, many
girls in the Village-Northton ghetto
have their first babies by the age of
fifteen or sixteen. The
fathers of these babies wander off with other
males bragging about his sexual
exploits (again seen as youth culture),
leaving the girls to turn to her
on family and her peer group for
support. The fact of
children having children thus becomes an element of
life in the neighborhood, as girls
praise each other's babies and give what
support they can to each
other. Anderson points out that having babies
becomes the only thing of value in
a girl's life, and these young mothers
often feel the need to dress her
baby in the latest and most expensive
clothes that fit rather than a
size larger that the baby can grow into. As
time goes by the baby, who was
once important to the young mothers, becomes
a burden, an obstacle to fun and
to further sexual adventure. Young
mothers may tire of the work
involved, thus creating a special role for
grandmothers, some of them in
their mid-thirties, who may often take on the
responsibility of raising the
child as one of their own. Obviously this is
not the case of all families in
the Village-Northton ghetto, for there are
stable families in even the most
desperate neighborhoods, and not all
fathers will abandon their roles
as fathers. But the overall pattern is
one that seems destined to produce
infants, who will often reproduce the
despair of their own childhoods,
or lack of childhoods.
No other aspect of life in the
Village- Northton ghetto is more chilling
than the influence of drugs,
particularly crack cocaine. Crack destroys
everything that makes a viable
community possible. Friendships and trust
are turned into mechanisms for
hooking new addicts. Crack "zombies," in
Anderson's account become more
desperate and more dangerous than what used
to be called "junkies,"
for they approach crime with a new boldness. As
Anderson writes, "They seem
to lack a sense of reality and the immediate
consequences of their
behavior." The drug crisis has given rise to addicts
who scavenge the area with sad
tales, or who aggressively beg for
money. Some even go door to
door, alarming residents. These people also
commit a large amount of the local
crime, so residents believe. But unlike
ordinary thieves and muggers,
crack addicts are desperate people who are
not always sensible, and they make
take chances ordinary criminals would
not risk, thus making the streets
and public spaces increasingly
dangerous. The old heads and
strong women of this community look on in
shock and dismay as crack
establishes a new status hierarchy in the community.
In the Village-Northton area, at
least two distinct but overlapping
cultures give the appearance of
coexisting in relative peace. The first
comprises the middle class Whites,
along with a small number of middle
class Blacks and others.
Compared with most of their Black neighbors,
these people appear highly
privileged. Some have money, and many are well
educated, having grown up in
suburban communities and attended some of the
finest preparatory schools,
colleges and universities in the country. Most
residents are liberal on social
issues, but the rise in Black-on-White
street crime pushes many toward a
more conservative stance, in which racial
intolerance often emerges.
Generally, Villagers are concerned with "good"
education for their children, a
clean and safe neighborhood, property
values, and intolerance toward
people who are different from them or deemed
less fortunate. Thus many
people, particularly recently arrived Whites,
see residents of the Black ghetto
as desperate and perhaps dangerous and
feel a need to protect themselves.
In regards to education, they are
blinded by the assumption that all
public schools are inferior, and they
readily send their children to
private schools, bypassing important
opportunities for community
involvement. Eventually they move to the
suburbs for the schools.
The picture that Anderson paints
in Streetwise is not of Black
underdevelopment and misdirection in
the Village-Northton ghetto, but of a
pattern of social isolation and
racial oppression affecting the social,
economic, and political
development of Black communities across
America. The efforts of the
government must encourage the private sector
to take the initiative to take an
interest in the poverty stricken
inner-city neighborhoods and do
things they may normally consider as beyond
the call of duty, and the Black
residents of inner cities should look to
better themselves, they should
want more than to rule the ghetto, but to
rule the world, for the welfare of
our cities is at stake.
From: Ian Garrett ijgarre@ILSTU.EDU
Subject: The Streetwise Book Review (Garrett)
Streetwise, Elijah Anderson. University of Chicago Press,
1990.
Elijah Anderson tackles the always familiar, yet always changing concept
of race relations in America in
his book, Streetwise. The focus is between
two econonomicly, socially, and
racially different communities in the
Philadelphia area, and how the
people attempt to co-exist with each other.
The study reflects on the changing
faces of each community over time,
between the early 50's up to the
beginning of the 1990's. Anderson focuses
upon the communities' variance of
opinions toward the impact of drugs, sex
codes and family behavior, as well
as the perception of the black male and
his role against his most notable
adversary, the police. Rooted within
these differences is the examination
of how both areas and their
inhabitants see themselves, and
others.
Early in the story, Anderson makes relevant the fact that both communities
are supposedly subjected to the
same problems, however, the black community
suffers the most over time. Today,
(late 1980's) inhabitants of the
Northton area during its less
turbulent times that have moved into the
suburbs face a continual onslaught
of negative reaction from their white
counterparts in "The
Village"; an area adjacent to Northton becoming
increasing upper class and white.
Many of those in the Village that have
seen the deterioration of the
Northton area generalize that blacks that
emigrate out of the area into more
livable areas also bring their
'baggage'. Village whites believe
this baggage, will slowly lower the land
value of their area whilst
increasing crime and other community problems.
In this case, many outsiders of
Northton are quick to point that "they"
(blacks) are the biggest threat to
community safety and financial progress.
However, Anderson asserts that in
areas such as Northton, a lack of
educational opportunities, moral
values, and hope lead to a general lack of
respect toward people and property
by younger generations of blacks. These
issues, along with the constant
fear and unprecedented withdrawal by black
and white middle America has
helped lead to total isolation of the black
underclass, causing many of the
deplorable social and economic conditions
we see in numerous ghettos of
urban America.
The political and social aspects of life within both communities is what
Anderson focuses his analyses
upon. Northton is a predominantly lower
income African American community,
whereas The Village is economically
empowered and
becoming a completely a white
middle and upper class community. In order
for the reader to understand the
strife between the areas, Anderson
stresses the opinions of the
"street", namely those who live in the
Northton area. The responses of
many in the Northton community only
reiterate the idea that America as
a whole has given up on them. Without
sufficient opportunities for many
to empower themselves, a problematic
cycle emerges in areas that need
the most support from the neighboring
communities, as well as others.
Black middle class individuals that have
left the area for "greener
pastures" in the suburbs create a vacuum to those
that used to live in the black
neighborhoods. With no strong black role
models to look up to, many of the
Northton youth find themselves going down
the illegitimate path to find
respect and stability. Most youth in the
Northton area found their success
through drugs and violence. The drug
problem is examined, and the book
begins to make firm assertions about why
such issues are evident. The
heightened deterioration of the black
community stems from the
introduction of crack cocaine in the early 1980's.
Anderson makes the claim that
cocaine is the most visible and volatile icon
that has led to greater
destruction of the black community. With its
increasing number of addicts,
'crack' causes individuals to "do things they
would never usually do--like steal
or even kill family in order to sustain
their addictions. The drug becomes
the most important object to the users
and sellers, and only deteriorates
the image and vitality of the community
by attracting younger victims.
This cycle is what seemingly dooms the black
community more than any other.
However rousing and true, Anderson
makes the mistake of making most of his
comments from the view of the
black community. This subjectivity makes the
book a bit more frustrating to a
black male--such as myself. There are
massive generalizations of
"crack whores" and "drug pushers" that the
reader must almost forcibly assume
that they are black. We
are perceiving to understand that
this is strictly a black problem that
only affects African Americans in
predominantly low income black
communities. The fact is that
these problems are extremely universal. Mass
media has a tendency to shine the
spotlight upon the problems of African
Americans. White America has
constantly seen "race relations" as a
"them-us" issue. It
never seems to be a "we" issue.
Along with the problem of drugs, the family structure falters as younger
adults that already have no
legitimate financial opportunities in their
area resort to those of
the illegal means (drugs,
prostitution, wedlock). Biological and surrogate
parents lose a grip upon their
children to the streets. In addition, the
older citizens of Northton, that
have lived through the progress and the
debacle of the community, are
often less respected
and become targets of anger
.Families begin to break apart, and the
community loses more continuity.
The remaining chapters of Streetwise show what Northton looks like to the
outsiders. Although he continues
to chronicle the issues of violence and
racism between the two
communities, the following chapters speak of those
living around Northton, The
perception of the black male to others, namely
whites, and the conflict between
the police and the black male. Anderson is
able to extract the opinions of
many in the white community, and as
expected, man of them are the
same. Village whites continually used the
reference that race relations is
strictly "them versus us" analogy.
Anderson writes about constant
bouts of fear and uncertainty by many
Villagers that must commute
through the Northton area. In a move that is no
less ironic, middle class blacks
of Northton had also shown the same
sentiment. Sometimes, that
sentiment was more aggressive that that of their
white counterparts. It is here
that one can understand the burgeoning rift
between that of the black middle
class and black underclass. Although the
problems are evident, Anderson
stays true to the "streetwise"
interpretations of how things are
seen and done by those that live between
both areas.
In an idea that goes beyond streetwise, the suburban white community has
tried to flee the problems of the
ghetto, however increasing numbers of
predominantly young white males
and growing numbers of females are grabbing
on to the "ghetto"
lifestyle and mentality. Numerous scores of suburban
white males are attempting to
identify with what they see as the "hip"
things to them as conversely
tragic problems in many black communities. In
this sense, it is beyond
streetwise. White males and females see "hustlin",
ballin", and drug usage,
among other negative staples of the black
community areas as interesting and
compelling. It has provoked a greater
sense of violence and disrespect
toward authority in many suburban
households. Pop culture has
constantly glorified this image as being cool.
It's almost as if many of them
want to portray these images and characters
they only see. One major
difference---they only see it on television and
print media, many do not live in
such areas. If one looks around any local
mall, especially in the
suburbs, it is truly staggering. A problem that
many in the black community are
trying to escape is the same one that
suburban america finds hugely
entertaining, profitable, and popular. As
the issue becomes more pronounced,
it will be interesting to see how
suburban America handles this
growing problem in their neighborhoods.
In Streetwise, Anderson chronicles the racially dominant problems in the
paper, such as interaction and
social differences in attitudes and actions.
Towards the conclusion of the
book, we find that Anderson sheds a racial
'silver lining' across what seems
to be a never ending problem to those
living in such areas. Anderson's
mission in Streetwise is to show that in
spite of many of us have differing
backgrounds and the living conditions,
there exists a medium. That medium
is to attain knowledge of those that
live in both areas. This
knowledge, helps for each member of Northton and
the Village, among others, to at
least make strides to understand the
cries, fears, and issues of each
community. Such simple knowledge may help
lead to lessened amounts of white
flight, drug usage, and black on black
crime. Seemingly it is a
proverbial long shot, but it is a legitimate try.
The message is entrenched in the
fact that whites must do a better job of
not withdrawing, but understanding
the code of the street. A community is
only as good as its people.
Sometimes it takes the help of many areas to
help resurrect one that has fallen
by the wayside. The knowledge of being
"streetwise" may not
tear all the barriers down between the two races, but
it may provide a firm foundation
to build from in the always changing and
highly frustrating issues of race,
social and economic relations within
urban and suburban America.
From: allana michelle hennette <amhenne@ILSTU.EDU>
Streetwise: Race, Class,
and Change in an Urban Community by Elijah Anderson
Every day a number of us
walk down a street or into a grocery store and upon
doing this we encounter
people. These people are of a mixed
race, gender, and
socioeconomic status, but
most of them are simply doing the same things we are
doing, going to an
appointment or buying a gallon of milk.
But many of us take
a mental inventory of
these people. We look at their clothes,
their shoes,
their faces for signs of
similarities or differences, and if we decide there is
something different we
may look longer. The question is what
are we looking
for? Signs that the person could be a threat or a
nuisance is often the
answer. In the Village-Northton community the
question is asked often and the
answers are unsettling. The community in question is racially and
economically
diversified and the
residents living within the communities are learning how to
live with one another in
a quickly changing area.
Village-Northton is a
fictitious name for an area near a larger, industrial
city that houses
universities, factories, corporations, and a large
population. The Village is an area of racially mixed
middle to upper class
residents. The Village
range from residents of more than twenty years to newly
arrived yuppies that buy
cheap and gentrify the areas. Residents
of the
Village tend to have
mixed feelings about the gentrification of the area. Many
see it as a boon, while
others see it as insidious. The area is
being cleaned
up and beautified, and property
values are rising, but residents that cannot
afford the higher rents
and property taxes are being forced out, often into
crime stricken
ghettos. Village residents do not see
their community as
perfect or crime free,
but rather as a fairly safe community in which to raise
their families.
On the other hand,
Northton is the antithesis of the Village.
It is a crime
and poverty ridden area
which is home to a large black population.
Many of the
residents are working
people who simply cannot afford life in the Village or
the suburbs, but are
forced to reside in an area which poses a threat to their
well being. Unfortunately, not all residents of Northton
are legitimate,
hardworking citizens; the
problem of drugs runs rampant on the streets and in
the youth of
Northton. Drug dealers can be found
with ease, often spotted by
the street “uniform” of
Adidas or Fila shoes and clothing, a hat, possibly
jewelry or a large
radio. This uniform is the sign of
ill-gotten gains and
many of the younger
residents of Northton attempt to emulate these drug
dealers, beginning a life
of crime that many cannot escape. Other residents of
Northton include welfare
mothers, street gangs, and drug addicts, all of which
contribute to the
problems of the community.
The problems that face
Village-Northton are diverse, but most of the residents
believe the root of the
problem is in drugs. Crack cocaine is
blamed for
everything from street
crime to unwanted pregnancy to unemployment and
justifiably so. Drug dealers look and act in a specific
manner which may
either gain respect or
disdain from neighbors and many young residents want to
imitate the dealers by
dressing as the dealers do and dealing or running
errands for the
dealers. The young residents see the
dealers as a success
because they wear the
proper clothes, wear expensive jewelry, and drive nice
cars and since most of
the young people have no other role models, the drug
dealer becomes
theirs. Babies and children go hungry
because their mothers use
any money she gets to buy
crack. Men and women turn to crime and
aggressive
begging for money to get
their highs. All of this makes Northton
an unsafe and
undesirable community in
which to live, although thousands live there.
The drug culture of Northton is also
considered a threat to the Village.
Dealers move into the
Village to peddle their goods and recruit young people to
join in the drug
culture. Crack houses can be found
filled with people who are
selling drugs and their
bodies for money or a high. This
affects the entire
joined community because
problems in one area are certain to ooze into the
other. Residents attempt to control the drug
problem with vigilantism and
police involvement, to
some avail, but when some see the arrest of a drug
dealer as putting the man
out of work, other issues must be encountered.
Although most residents
consider the arrest of a drug dealer an improvement in
the drug situation, it is
also understood that someone is waiting to take his
place the next day.
Race relations in the
Village-Northton area range from neighborly to cordial to
unfriendly and
beyond. Anderson, a resident of the
village, attempts to
befriend many residents,
black and white, as well as observe them from a
distance. He uses these interviews and observations to
illustrate the
relations between the
residents. He often refers to incidents
in which a
single white woman is
walking alone at night and she encounters one or several
black men. As a safety measure she will go onto a lit
porch or begin walking
faster, and in response,
the men will either laugh or assure the women that she
has nothing to fear. This incident is not one uncommon anywhere
in America;
often fright will
overpower common sense or any street wisdom the woman may
have.
Anderson’s investigation of
the Village-Northton area tends to focus most often
on the negative aspects
of life. The declining housing
opportunities, the
rising drug culture and
the rise of other illegal activities contribute to this
unfavorable view, as well
as the lack of job opportunities and legitimate role
models. Drug dealers who only care about themselves
have replaced the old
heads of the past, the
legitimate role models that have steady jobs and a good
family life. Residents of Northton are slowly turning to
welfare and crime as
their income, rather than
looking for a legitimate job, but the job
opportunities are limited
to low paying jobs in fast food or other service
industries. Of course there are other residents of
Northton who work long,
hard hours for their
status in the community, who work to make life better for
their families and
themselves, and those are the people who receive little
exposure. More disclosure should also be given to the
old heads who are
attempting to steer the
local children in the correct direction, to give them
some guidance when their
parents are away or at work. These
citizens look
after the kids, but now
there is no one new to replace the aging old heads, the
younger men and women
have turned to a simpler life of crime and drugs or they
simply do not have the
time and energy to put into a local child.
As the old
heads die or move, no one
is there to replace them, which leads to a bleak
future for the local
children.
The interactions between
the police and the local black males are also seen in
a bad light. There is a distinction between local police
and the city police
and the local police seem
to be mostly helpful and aware of the problems in the
Village-Northton
area. In this area “a young black male
is a suspect until he