6th Street By Alice Goffman Essay

When Alice Goffman began her research project on the neighborhood of 6th street that eventually evolved into her thesis and this book, she dropped herself into a society and reality she was unfamiliar with. The men and women and 6th street lived by a very real set of rules and guidelines that helped them navigate external and internal pressures Alice and living in a less prosecuted environment would consider bizarre. Yet these actions are so ingrained in the community that they aren’t just learned over time, but actively passed down and taught from generation to generation, mentor to pupil, as a way to live and survive. The code of this community undoubtedly helps many inside of it consistently enough. If actions such as running from the police, or the use of fake documents, did not work and provide benefits in life they would never have become the status quo. Yet even accepting that,
much of the behavior in 6th street seems counter intuitive, and Goffman at times struggles to adapt and act in a way the 6th street boys would expect or hope her to. In one such instance, Goffman and a few of the young men from 6th street are pulled over and searched by the police.
One of the men in particular, Mike, has both marijuana and cocaine on him, and is subsequently arrested and taken into custody. When Goffman assembles the resources to bail Mike out as quickly as she can, Mike is highly disappointed that Goffman doesn’t understand the “sacrifice,” he made by taking the blame for his drugs, instead of placing them in her car and, in his words, ‘letting the chips fall where they man.’ While Goffman correctly asserts that he was indeed the one committing the crime, and may have been playing up his “heroic act,” he certainly acted in a way that, according to the reality of 6th street deserved thanks and appreciation. She likely took for granted the fact that she wouldn’t be placed in legal jeopardy just by associating with these men. Facing confusion, she explains her confusion with those around her close to the situation, and they mostly agree Mike would have acted differently were she not around, appreciation may have been
deserved. What’s even more interesting than the intricate set of commonly understood rules, were the exceptions and counter-actions that seem to go along with them. In general, to talk to the cops-to be an informant-is a detestable black mark on one’s character. Yet as the countless interactions with the law accumulate and become increasingly more threatening, many do cave to the pressure and turn their close friends or loved ones in, either for their own safety or the perceived safety of the pursued. When a young boy Ronny, 16 at the time, blames Mike to save himself, Mike turns his back to him, and it is only through carefully measured and constantly accepted steps of regaining trust is he able to clean his reputation. Marie, the mother of two of Mike’s children, faced similar chastization from Mike when she eventually turned him into the police.
Based on the reality the boys on 6th street have come to construct and live in, these actions seem to go against everything they stand for. That two of the people closest to Mike would ever consider turning him into the police seems amazing, let alone the fact that he eventually let them back into his life. Yet these behaviors seem all too common and in line with the sensibilities of the environment. While many do all they can in protecting those they care about from their legal entanglements, eventually outside pressures and concern for everyone involved’s well being changes their attitudes and causes them to relinquish their harbored fugitive. As these cat and mouse games are so intertwined into the character of the neighborhood, there is a set pattern and system of rules all those within it appear to follow.
To understand those that live on 6th street, or any group one may be unfamiliar with, it is important to first understand or be open to their reality. The reality one is born into is a culture, and the behaviors are imprinted onto their minds at an early age. The behaviors stemming from that may appear strange and foreign to those on the outside, yet you must be able to take another look when trying to understand the motives and actions of those from different backgrounds. Instead of simpily declaring other’s actions as wrong or strange with broad, judgemental strokes, it is important to take a step back and try to acknowledge the surrounding causes and constructed ideas giving those rituals life.