First, I know it has been a long time…I’ll spare y’all the excuses because we all have the same — work, family, busyness. Yes, I’ve been busy with work — now writing each month for Fast Company, Essence, and Men’s Fitness magazines. Yes, as the mother of a toddler finding free non-mommy moments is like discovering the lost city of Atlantis. And, yes, always b-u-s-y –doing a lot of traveling for the book including speeches, radio, and tv appearances. Plus there are always more books to write.
Still, trying to pass myself off as a blogger when my last post is Imus is inexcusable.
And look at all that I missed! The NAACP staged a funeral to bury the N-Word (oh what fun I could have had with that waste of time), Paris learned to say the word “Bible” in prison, the media is determined to make us care that a chick named Lindsay is now “unemployable” (she joins the thousands of Black men in this country who have long been labeled “unemployable” too) and is there anyone who doesn’t agree that finger lickin’ Britney is 100% ghetto? Hot ghetto mess BET said it was trying to do better with its show formally known as Hot Ghetto Mess but in good news no one was fooled. And then the summer was rounded out with Michael Vick, who I will hold back on because no need to join the pack. Instead check this out. Not to mention it is election season and I’ve heard both Hillary and Obama speak at small events. Unortunately neither said anything worthy of dishing about.
So I’m sorry I’ve been silent. And that is the news I wanted to spread today.
Ghettonation 
It is sad to say that with all the press you have, past and present, I have not heard about your books. It was not until I ventured onto blackagendareport.com and saw a blurb about you. I am just happy you are not writing ghetto trash, baby mama, holdin’ my man (drug dealer) down urban novels. I also think that stories about coke head socialites getting more attention than the Jenna 6, Iraqi civilian bodycounts and corrupt corporate/government contracts is the Amerikan way. Can I buy your books directly from you or do I have to deal with the book mafia? Can’t wait to read them either way.
Ms Daniels, What have you been up to? Why are you not blogging more? Hope everything is going well!
Ms. Daniels,
My book club of mostly African American women read “Ghettonation” in August and the discussion was lively, to say the least!! I suggested to the owner of the bookstore who sponsors the book club that she should invite you and others to host a town hall meeting based on your book, i.e., when did the ghetto mentality become so acceptable, especially in the black community? Have you held any such town hall meetings and, if so, how were you received? Just wondering . . .
Keep up the excellent work. Your book was so good, we had older black men coming to our book club meeting when it was discussed, and we rarely have men at our book club meetings. You’ve given a voice and hope to a lot of us.
Hi I am 20 years old and in my english class my teacher is doing your book and I love it I really dont like to read much unless I have to I found I was glued to your book . Well have a assignment a research paper and I am going do it on your book .Thank you for caring
Cora,
I just happened to catch you discussing your book, Ghetto Nation this week on CSPAN Book Notes and it really struck a chord within me. I an so happy to see that I am not alone in my disgust with what passes for Black and to a large degree exported American culture. Martin Luther King stated in his famous “I have a dream” speech, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”. This is a powerful statement for it not only speaks to racism but more importantly to Black culture which is a direct results of the values we instill in our children and were instilled in us by our parents.
However America along with every land colonized by Europeans posses the seed of Ghetto-ism. Africans and some poor Europeans were “pimped” into slavery and servitude in America. The same holds true for the African continent many other countries like India, The Philippines, Central and South America.
I truly feel that now is the time for those of us that share these concerns to speak up to halt this slide into a kind of cultural oblivion from which there is no easy way out and join together to build an online community within a community.
Thank You,
JoelP.
Thought-provoking, riveting, can’t-get-ghettonation-outta-my-head – I just wrote a blog post on this topic. Thanks, Ms. Daniels!
Since when did “ghetto” mean “anything behavior you disagree with”? Paris isn’t ghetto, Lindsay isn’t ghetto, Britney isn’t ghetto, Vick isn’t ghetto. They are: rich whore, crack whore, white trash whore, and animal rights violator, respectively.
Your book relies first off, on the premise that our society is in decay. I find that hard to believe. Maybe things seemed better because we were just used to things. Ugly aspects of society weren’t on TV, they were swept under the rug and willfully ignored. Child abuse, spousal abuse, rape, homophobia and of course racism were significantly more prominent. A couple of rappers with gold teeth is a silly problem to have. So yes rappers with gold teeth are up, but so many other much worse things are down.
Don’t act like in the 70’s there wasn’t crack use of epidemic proportions, or that disco music was some sort of mythical cultural revelation.
And to account for this perceived decline in culture, you use the word “ghetto” as a catch-all. to describe the cause and effect. When people say “that’s so ghetto” they usually mean something homemade or jury-rigged or improvised. For example, my headphone jack broke and i had to keep it together with rubber bands. That’s ghetto. It’s not a negative, it just means of rather poor quality, but still admirable for it’s resourcefulness. Rappers with gold teeth, pop singers with drug problems, and so on have nothing to do with it.
A lot of the time, it seems like the word you’re really grasping for is “niggerish”. I don’t like saying it, it’s an ugly word and it is obviously loaded with racial content. But that’s what you really want to say. It means ignorance and unbound aggressiveness. It means representing the absolute worst in black stereotypes. It means doing stupid things for no reason other than seemingly unparallel ignorance.
Maybe there’s a rise in people acting niggerish, but that is hardly evidence that society is on the decline.