The problem with P.G
The Problem with P.G
Statistically, Prince George’s county is the richest black community in the United States. Being that I grew up in Bowie, the largest city in P.G County, my knowledge of P.G county teenage urban culture is extremely immense. Bowie’s so-called “fake thugs” are teenagers with well-paid parents, living in million dollar households and going to exceptional schools, yet they still adopting the “ghetto” language, attitude, and culture of nearby southern D.C. We have mastered this culture to a T, almost to the point where outsiders could not tell the difference between a private school kid coming from Prince George’s county from a hoodlum coming from the depths of the inner-city; the parents of whom may have come from none other than surrounding ghetto’s such as Southern D.C. These people start earning a little bit of money that exceeds their prior means and immediately want to move out of the ghetto and into the first gated community with mansion style homes. Nathan McCall, writer of “Faking the funk” argues that these people are so worried about living beyond their means and not concerned enough with helping the people from where they came. My question is, What is the real problem with P.G county, is it the fake thugs, consumed with fitting a popular image or is it the parents from which they came, over consumed with themselves and not with giving back to the community from which they came, or is there even a problem at all?
I was born into a family of dentists. Both of my parents work together owning a dental practice, which has always allowed me to live comfortably. I have never really been exposed to a true ghetto lifestyle and neither have any of my friends. However, I have always been hip to the latest slang, lingo, and popular “urban” fashion. The surrounding neighborhoods of Bowie, those which are not so well off have always referred to the people I grew up around as the fake wannabe thugs of “boujie Bowie”. However we never intended to
Statistically, Prince George’s county is the richest black community in the United States. Being that I grew up in Bowie, the largest city in P.G County, my knowledge of P.G county teenage urban culture is extremely immense. Bowie’s so-called “fake thugs” are teenagers with well-paid parents, living in million dollar households and going to exceptional schools, yet they still adopting the “ghetto” language, attitude, and culture of nearby southern D.C. We have mastered this culture to a T, almost to the point where outsiders could not tell the difference between a private school kid coming from Prince George’s county from a hoodlum coming from the depths of the inner-city; the parents of whom may have come from none other than surrounding ghetto’s such as Southern D.C. These people start earning a little bit of money that exceeds their prior means and immediately want to move out of the ghetto and into the first gated community with mansion style homes. Nathan McCall, writer of “Faking the funk” argues that these people are so worried about living beyond their means and not concerned enough with helping the people from where they came. My question is, What is the real problem with P.G county, is it the fake thugs, consumed with fitting a popular image or is it the parents from which they came, over consumed with themselves and not with giving back to the community from which they came, or is there even a problem at all?
I was born into a family of dentists. Both of my parents work together owning a dental practice, which has always allowed me to live comfortably. I have never really been exposed to a true ghetto lifestyle and neither have any of my friends. However, I have always been hip to the latest slang, lingo, and popular “urban” fashion. The surrounding neighborhoods of Bowie, those which are not so well off have always referred to the people I grew up around as the fake wannabe thugs of “boujie Bowie”. However we never intended to