Persuasive Essay On Ghettos

Ghettos are often associated with crime, poverty, and cruelty, but it doesn’t have to be. The real definition is a minority living in an area such as Chinatown, Manhattan. But, with our prejudice opinions, we have towards the inhabitants and the area we create a new definition. Instead, we should reform our personal definition of a ghetto and not let our behaviors or actions affect the inhabitants.

“Ghetto” just means a minority inhabiting a small area, but the way people react to the term proves its misconception. For instance, a young African American child stated “our family was sitting at the dinner table and my father just yelled “those damn Mexicans”; even though we were also living in a ghetto, it was still racist.”. Even being part of a minority, her father still blamed another race when problems arose in their neighborhood. Washington State University recently made a survey
on the amount of people who don't know what ghetto means. An estimate of about 72% did not know the true meaning of “ghetto”. This percentage is only out of a few thousand people, but compared to the entire population of the U.S., that percentile can drastically change for the worse. Because of the misunderstanding of this critical term, our prejudice opinions can potentially damage these minorities. The way minorities are segregated or discriminated in America demonstrates how our previous opinions affect our judgment and behavior towards them. A non-profit organization that aims to spread awareness of the dangers in ghettos did a survey on a number of people afraid to enter ghettos. Approximately 60% of the people surveyed were not very passionate about taking strolls in ghettos. But, these prejudiced opinions do affect our behaviors, sometimes subconsciously prohibiting us from entering these places. And this can typically segregate these ghettos from other neighboring cities. Personally, my parents are somewhat over-protective, even though they let me wander my neighborhood myself, they would never let me enter an area with a bad reputation, especially one classified as a ghetto. Even during elections, surveys, or polls aren’t thought of as a table-turner or a game-changer. Mostly, this is because of the small population in these areas. But don’t our misconceptions with ghettos make their reputation, so aren’t we the ones limiting the population?

The way we treat the inhabitant of ghettos demonstrates the outcome of not understanding the term “ghetto”.
Even the film industry, will not hire an actor/actress if they have a distinct ethnic name such as Juan. For example, Raven Symone from the Disney Channel Show “That’s So Raven”, claims “even I wouldn’t hire someone who comes from a minority and has distinct characteristics of ethnicities.”. More on a realistic note, it is common for people to start walking quicker or begin to clutch purses and bags closely to themselves just to get ahead of a person of minority following them. Yet, these people may just plan on getting to the same bus stop or street as you. Sometimes, we may see a person of a minority such as a Mexican woman. But because of her limitations to become successful in our society she might have cheap clothing or ripped shoes. Usually, our immediate response is to quickly avert our eye contact after realizing that staring is rude. But we shouldn't treat them this way because of our prejudice opinions; instead, we should treat them like we would treat
ourselves.