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05 April 2010
On the Term "Ghetto"
Excerpts from my speech during the orientation of the 2010 Learn 2 Teach, Teach 2 Learn program. L2TT2L is a summer learning and teaching initiative headquartered at the South End Technology Center in partnership with the MIT Media Lab to encourage elementary to high school aged youth to become producers of innovations in their communities and to pursue careers in sciences, technologies, engineering and mathematics.
I want to talk you all today about the term “ghetto.”
What do people mean when they say ghetto? [Students take turns calling out responses: poor, diseased, dangerous...] So we know the word is frequently used in a negative way and it is used to categorize people and/or the neighborhoods they live in. The word promotes certain behavioral and educational expectations of people. It maintains superficial separations along class-based and racial divisions. It is associated with ignorant and criminal activities. Beyond where you even actually live, it colors people's perceptions of you. One other frequently asserted definition of “ghetto,” though, seems mutable – it can be changed. This is when the word is used to describe handmade solutions and inventions, that, like any other in invention are crafted from necessity. So why are these gadgets called “ghetto,” and not “good,” or “great?” An example could be the way your cousin fixed the leg of the dinner table, or the way your mom sewed a new net for your basketball hoop when the old one got torn. These solutions are often created from found materials, might be decidedly low-tech, and certainly weren't prototyped out of a lab from shiny parts. But the fact remains that there are ingenious people in all communities. The real reason people think it is funny or clever to use the word “ghetto” in these situations is because they actually find the idea outrageous that people from certain communities are capable of producing anything for themselves. But we should people not be expected to change their own environments? During this summer program I hope you keep this thought in mind and even take it as a charge. Exceed simple expectations and combine hard-work with creativity. Be inspired by your surroundings, seek fixes...