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| Street Code Revisited. October, 2007 |
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| Why some blacks do what they do. |
Understanding the dysfunctional behavior of the ghetto.
Code of the Street
Sometimes we can’t see the problem because we are too close to it. Sometimes we need to step back and refocus. We need to distance ourselves from our own cultural and social environments to really see our condition.
Elijah Anderson’s book Code of the Street, allows us to see ourselves in a new light. Without being judgmental or condescending, Professor Anderson explains common attitudes and traditions found in the America’s black ghettos. The brother is bad!
It was hard reading his work because it would trigger a memory or an attitude in my own life as a child of North Philly. My mind would recall past experiences and suddenly it all made sense. I understood the motivations and psychology of the case interviews he included in the book. Professor Anderson helped me to discover myself and I am grateful.
Here are a few notes derived from his book, Code of the Street:
1. The street environment can override the parental rules of behavior. The street culture demands that our youth look and act tough. The street-tough persona offers a degree of protection. The stance, the stare, the clothes, and the scowl deliver the same message, “Don’t mess with me.”
2. The oppositional culture is confused with black identity. Some children turn away from school because they perceive that they get no respect there. Professor Anderson says in his book, “Code of the Streets”, “…they seldom encounter successful black people who have gone through school and gone on to do well.”
For these kids to be engaged in the educational process is to act white. And to act white in the ghetto is to disregard one’s own self-defenses and openly invite predators. “A decent or nice attitude is seen as a weakness.” Those looking for respect or a street “rep” will target a “decent” kid.
3. Everybody likes the bling-bling but... Contrary to popular belief, use of illegal drugs, and the fast life of fancy cars, jewelry, and expensive clothes is not limited to low-income inner city youth. Middle-class kids also emulate the style, but they have greater access to “social capital”. They can drop the tough act without losing their identity or self-esteem.
4. Decent people trapped in the ghetto, condemn and tolerate the drug trade. The police are viewed as an occupational force of an oppressive governmental system. Ghetto residents don’t trust the cops. They believe that public officials don’t care about their lives. And while they may hate the drug selling in their neighborhoods, the drug trade is also a hidden economy that brings cash into poverty stricken communities.
5. Since residents of the ghetto don’t believe that the police are there to protect them, people take responsibility for their own security and safety. They lock themselves behind burglarproof doors and barred windows. On the street they are constantly aware of their changing environment. They make themselves the least attractive target possible. But sometimes the precautions don’t work. The “Code of the Street” dictates that transgressions are to be dealt with immediately. The wider society’s rule of law is a secondary consideration. The primary operating principle in the ghetto is, “Survive by any means necessary. Retaliation is mandatory.”
6. Teens note unworthy role models. Decent hard working people are often seen as dupes of the system. The street culture sees decent men and women who work hard all their lives, but have nothing to show for their efforts.
7. Inner city youth believe that they have no worthwhile future. With this mindset, aspirations for long-term goals are practically non-existent. Kids in the ghetto believe that they cannot rise above their circumstances and thus, make no provisions to achieve traditional success. Many expect to end up in prison or the grave at an early age.
8. The ghetto is a place where mothers and fathers abdicate their parental responsibilities. In the ghetto parents abandon their young, children as young as 3 or 4 years old are running the streets late at night and are adopted by the street culture. If a child is lucky they might have a caring grandmother or aunt to step into the role of surrogate parent. The importation of crack cocaine has completely destroyed neighborhoods and families.
9. For the most part, America has always been a racially segregated society. The last forty years has allowed some blacks to take advantage of the lessening of racial discrimination. With the opening of higher levels of education, better paying jobs and the social acceptance of diverse neighborhoods a large black middle-class has emerged.
With the financial ability to leave the ghetto, the new black middle-class has severed social ties with their poorer bothers and sisters. This exodus of the “most capable” creates a vacuum in the ghetto. It appears that “class-ism” is more pernicious than racism.
10. Finally, in the ghetto, there is a perception of mutual contempt between poor blacks and affluent whites. This oppositional attitude is evident in the street culture. Hip-ness is a repudiation of conventional values. In the ghetto-mind such behaviors as excelling academically, being polite and civil, and speaking Standard English are deemed as "selling out to the enemy".
I am a product of this ghetto mentality. As a baby boomer in North Philadelphia, I have witnessed the tumultuous progress of racial equality in America. The mid 1960’s brought about great social change on the American political landscape. The riots and street demonstrations forced government to unlock the doors of prosperity. I was able to move into the economic strata of the middle-class because of mandated government programs to hire minorities.
Growing up on the streets North Central Philadelphia was not easy, but I was lucky. I avoided illegal drugs, gang membership, trouble with the law, premature fatherhood and whole host of other problems that young black males face today.
Yet, my experiences have molded me; shaped my thinking and created a unique perspective. “An African-American Perspective”.
Richard C. James, Editor
 Get your thinking caps on. Professor Elijah Anderson might be a “Scholar in Residence” at Lycoming College next year. The details haven’t been work out yet so stay tuned. AAAP is on the case.
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