For black history month, I will be presenting a series of topics that highlight the black presence in society.

Topic #1: Why is the word ghetto accepted? Is it frivolous fun or disguised prejudice?

I am not from what people would call the ghetto, but I am starkly offended by that word. Why is it that when a white person is angry, crass, or loud that person is regarded as angry, crass, or loud, but when a black person (and sometimes other minorities) is angry, crass, or loud that person is simply regarded as ghetto? The word connotes inferiority and other unfavorable feelings, yet it is thrown around as if it were innocuous. With what it implies, I see why homosexuals were mad when people would throw around the word gay to describe anything viewed as inane. Ghetto has just been utterly appropriated by the masses, and it shows no signs of relenting. I honestly feel that the NAACP and others should work actively to have this word buried, as they are doing with the n-word. Reveal your sentiments about this word below.

I hate this word with a passion.

I so want to kill that word.

I hate the word. I hate how it is used. But I don't want it, or any word buried. It is un-American to abolish words.

It has become an umbrella term for blacks and anything seen as inferior, such as when people say,"that phone is so ghetto." I just do not think that is acceptable.

It used to be fun now it's awful. Some people call anything associated with black or urban culture Ghetto. I hear it alot on Pop music boards where pop fans call Hip Hop and R&B ghetto. It's bad.

We should definitely make it improper to use in that way, yes.

I saw a portion of a recent episode of American Idol where a girl performed Look at Me Now, and Randy Jackson asked the girl if she knew any ghetto dancing. I was just mystified. Like, what the **** is ghetto dancing? This is the type of **** into which the word has evolved.

You're talking about it like it's rooted in African American culture.

The things people use it for... It has more definitions and uses than the word "reductive" at this point. I don't think people even know what it means anymore.


Pretty much.

I heard someone call the country singer Darius Rucker (yes, the ****ing guy who fronted hootie and the blowfish) ghetto. Once I thought about his inflection and tone, it became obvious that he did not mean ghetto in the John Singleton's Boyz in the Hood sense but in the sense that he is somehow inept. I simply just want to know why do others think that blacks are disproportionately deemed ghetto in relation to other races, and if they think that the word is malicious?