Analysis Of The Book ' Elijah Anderson '

Kelly Brown Douglas begins by posing a series of questions, including, “Who is the Black Christ?” and “Is the Black Christ Enough?” (6-7) For Douglas, the Black Christ, “…represents God’s urgent movement in human history to set Black captives free from the demons of White racism” (3). The question of “Who is the Black Christ?” is addressed in Chapter 3. The question of “Is the Black Christ enough?” is addressed in Chapters 4 and 5, as Douglas critically examines the relationship of the Black Christ to the Black community and ends with addressing what womanist theology is and why there is a need for it in understanding the Black Christ.

The author uses tone and images throughout to compare and contrast the concepts of “black wealth” and a “hard life”. The author combines the use of images with blunt word combinations to make her point; for example, “you always remember things like living in Woodlawn with no inside toilet”. This image evokes the warmth of remembering a special community with the negative, have to use outdoor facilities. Another example of this combination of tone and imagery is “how good the water felt when you got your bath from one of those big tubs that folk in Chicago barbecue in”. Again the author’s positive memory is of feeling fresh after her bath combined with a negative, the fact that it was a barbecue drum.

“A Question of Class” focuses on Dorothy Allison’s struggle of identifying herself as a poverty stricken individual, and breaking free from her predetermined destiny while simultaneously accepting her past. Allison understands the prejudice that comes with being poor with the statement, “I have learned with great difficulty that the vast majority of people pretend that poverty is a voluntary condition, that the poor are…less than fully human…” The quote fundamentally means that society does not view the poor as their equivalents to the world, and one chooses to live in such conditions. Although the remark was made in the 1950’s, it still rings true in the societal ideology of present time. Changes have not been

Imagine coming home to a house that has no warmth or food. Constantly feeling like you are in a place you can’t get out of. This is how poverty may feel to others. The expeirences from the author Jo Goodwin Parker in the story “What Is Poverty” and the McBride family from the novel “The Color Of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute To His White Mother” show that there are various effects of living in poverty that include emotional problems, adolescent rebellion, and

In the book, Gang Leader for a Day, a rogue sociologist passionately dives into the lives of one of Chicago’s toughest housing projects in an attempt to develop an insight as to how the urban impoverished lived. Throughout the text it becomes clear that a conflict paradigm is being reflected. A conflict society is based on social inequality, in which some individuals benefit and thrive more than others, which tends to lead to conflict and thus change. This is evident both in the housing projects where a gang known as the “Black Kings” take over and also in the surrounding neighborhoods where the more elite citizens, including persons from the authors university, shy away from associating with the nearby poor black nearby public, thus

Anderson begins to analyze the troubled culture by first looking at the home environment and behaviors during childhood. The values differ drastically between the two groups. He states that the decent families are typically working families and try to instill positive values in their children. They hope to provide a nurturing environment and aid their children in pursuing a successful future. They are involved in their performance in school and have home rules to abide by. They have curfews for their children and generally know where and whom they are with at all times, especially young children. They try to prepare their children for the unknown and possible confrontations with

Shelby defines the ghetto as a primarily black, urban neighborhood with high concentrations of poverty. He identifies two inherent problems, extreme chronic poverty and the behavior demonstrated by residents deemed as deviations from mainstream norms, such as engaging in crime. Furthermore, Shelby refers to two common criticisms concerning ghetto poverty. One asserts that poverty is a symptom of moral depravity in the urban poor as beneficiaries in a perpetual welfare state. Another concentrates on the failure of government to fight poverty and insists on more public assistance. Shelby distinguishes his argument by focusing on the actions of ghetto resident through the principles of justice. He introduces the concept of society in terms of a cooperative scheme in which participants benefit from a mutual advantage. It then follows that individuals who benefit from the scheme must adhere to the civic obligations which enables such a scheme to develop. Consequently, refusal to adhere to these norms of society while benefiting from it violates the principle of reciprocity.

I wholeheartedly endorse what Cottom calls “The Logic of Stupid Poor People”, that poor people buy status symbols to survive in this world. She demonstrates that, as a middle class black girl, her family had a way of turning the tables in their favor in multiple aspects in order to supply their needs and wants. Poor people buy expensive items, sometimes depriving themselves of their other needs, just for the respect of others. These items are 21st-century status symbols, they can single-handedly determine the fate of your everyday encounters. The author uses personal experiences to support her argument, persuasively changing your entire perspective and broadening your mind to another individual’s lifestyle.

In his essay Justice, Deviance, and the Dark Ghetto, Tommie Shelby considers the question of what sort of criticism can be raised against the behaviors and attitudes of people who live in ghettos and who earn low incomes. He refers to this group as the “ghetto poor,” and he argues that they are open to far fewer kinds of criticism than many people claim. At the same time, Shelby does not go so far as to say that the ghetto poor are free from all criticism. In this essay, I will present Shelby’s distinction between civic duties and natural duties, describe how each kind of duty plays a role in Shelby’s analysis of possible criticism of the ghetto poor, and raise an objection to a segment of Shelby’s argument against criticism of the ghetto poor.

In Tressie McMillan’s “The Logic of Stupid Poor People”, it changed people’s views on the threat of keeping up with society, and the status symbol people think they must maintain. Society classifies it as Middle class, suburbs, or simply rich and poor. People feel threatened when someone looks better than them, or has something that they do not have. This story killed all reasons to even feel this way. McMillan also linked this story back to her own personal childhood. Their family was a classic black American migration family, with rural Southern roots. During this time most African Americans were considered as poor. Her family

The setting of a rundown house in a poor neighborhood gives the impression of their struggle to survive as African Americans. The shabbiness of the exterior suggests their low social status. “A relatively recent addition to the house and running its full width, the porch lacks congruence. It is a sturdy porch with a flat roof. One or two chairs of dubious value sit at one end where the kitchen window opens on to the porch. An old fashioned ice box stands silent guard at the opposite end” (Wilson, setting description). While the newly added porch may represent an attempt to

Author and sociologist, Dalton Conley, is a Caucasian boy who grows up in a predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhood in the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the 1970’s and 80’s. In his book, Honky, he tells us a unique view through a young boy’s eyes uncovering the way in which individuals are perceived in social reality, and how some groups of people are classified. He also speaks about how some groups get better opportunities and privileges then others. This book is a very powerful autobiography, according to his book, written by, “not your typical middle class white male.” (prologue, p. xiii) He goes on to say that he is middle class, even though his parents didn’t have any money and that he is a white boy, even though he grew up in an inner city housing project where mostly everyone was Black or Hispanic. Dalton speaks about his experience as a white boy exploring his definition of race and class and saying that, “race and class are nothing more than a set of stories we tell ourselves to get through the world, to organize our reality.” (prologue, p. xiv) He describes his childhood as a “social science experiment, Find out what being middle class really means by raising a kid from a so-called good family in a so-called bad neighborhood.” (prologue, p. xiii)

As Anderson does a walking tour of Philadelphia, he sees the very divergent aspects of the city by observing the people, places and tension around him. Walking the readers through a very poor area of the city, to Center City and through an upper-middle-class area, he attempys to answer the question of how race is lived and considered in Philadelphia. Although he is most interested in the Cosmopolitan Canopies of the city, he shows that there are parts of the city that are not as diverse including the poor sections and upper-middle-class

Jalapeno bagels is about a boy named Pablo whom cannot decide what to take to school for International Day. He wants to bring something from his parents’ baker. He wants something that represent his heritage but he cannot decide what to bring. His mother who is Mexican baked pan dulce and change bars. His father who is Jewish baked bagels and challah. Both of the bake good were good but while helping his parents with the bakery on Sunday morning, Pablo made a decision on what to bring. He decided to bring jalapeno bagels because they are a mixture both of his parents and just like him too. The multicultural representations in the story line is Mexican and Jewish. The pictures that were drawn in the book, the family has the same color of skin even though the parents are different cultures and the main character is mixed. There were no different skin colors.

The lack of dignity that these individuals feel is a direct effect of society’s disrespect for the lower class. The stereotypes of the homeless conceived by upper social classes, cause the lower class to lose any respectable role they may have in society. A homeless man in Oberlin, Ohio says, “Many of us historically invisible people, in our quest for visibility, have chosen to take the routes of organization and alliance building. Often we tend to find that our muted voices have more resonance, bass, and credibility within these snugly, institutionally sanctioned cubby holes” (Laymon). After failing to get sufficient help through