You know you're ghetto when...
I see those posts all the time. People put typical stuff like, you know you're ghetto when you eat chicken boxes, or some bull like that. And it's funny how Kyle just talked about race too because 'ghetto' makes me think of a) where Jewish immigrants lived in New York, and b) the overuse of a word I hate with every fiber of my being. Most people don't think of (a) though. So here's my "You know you're ghetto when..." list:
-When you get robbed by someone you know
-When you have a drug addict in your family
-When people call you a sell-out for moving to a better neighborhood
-When you have to put deceased love ones on tee shirts, to make a fashion statement
-When the life expectancy in your neighborhood is 25
-When you believe the only way to make money is sell drugs
-When you live in the suburbs but you still have to prove how 'Gangsta' & 'thorough' you are by carrying a gun
-When you call people who speak proper English 'talkin white'
-When you steal from and hurt the weak and defenseless
-When you can't get girls the normal way so you rape them
I'm so very, very tired of Baltimore. City. County. All of it. And people who make me embarassed to be brown.
As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries
'cause if there's one thing that she don't need
it's another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto
People, don't you understand
the child needs a helping hand
or he'll grow to be an angry young man some day
Take a look at you and me,
are we too blind to see,
do we simply turn our heads
and look the other way
Well the world turns
and a hungry little boy with a runny nose
plays in the street as the cold wind blows
In the ghetto
And his hunger burns
so he starts to roam the streets at night
and he learns how to steal
and he learns how to fight
In the ghetto
Then one night in desperation
a young man breaks away
He buys a gun, steals a car,
tries to run, but he don't get far
And his mama cries
As a crowd gathers 'round an angry young man
face down on the street with a gun in his hand
In the ghetto
As her young man dies,
on a cold and gray Chicago mornin',
another little baby child is born
In the ghetto
---Elvis Presley
(Happy Birthday)