This reading truly made me think about how much different someone's life is when they are living and grow up in a place like Harlem versus someone like me who lives in Smithfield. One of the main things that made me think this is how they were walking and talking and Cliffe pointed out randomly that a boy was once shot in that spot he was pointing to. He said it like it a normal thing. That is due to the sad reality that this innocent boy lives in every day.
Then on the other hand you can look at someone like me who lives in Smithfield where there is very little problems and I have never heard of someone being shot there. If I ever saw that I would not take it as lightly as Cliffe. That would be due to the culture I have grown up in and that is not normal.
Now if you look at the power of culture in these two situations it can show you a good amount. For example, Cliffe's culture has taught him that, that is the normal thing, and you just have to learn to live with it even if you don't like it. Cliffe has to live knowing that he could be walking down the street and could be shot and killed for no reason. Then on the other side of this, I grew up in the culture where violence is not normal and not acceptable. I didn't have to be worried about getting shot while walking to the store. No one should have to worry about getting shot. But that is the sad reality for some communities and the culture of power has played a role.
The culture of power certainly plays a role and it's shocking to think about the day-to-day differences between those with and without power.
ReplyDeleteIt absolutely is culture shock to hear about or see, compared the safe lives many of us have lead. I attended high school in a poor town in Connecticut relative to the one I grew up in (though murder still wasn't an every-day casual occurrence), and I recall having a hard time my freshman year grappling with how many of my classmates didn't have a phone, or money for the vending machine, or refused to drive into school even if they had a car because gas was too expensive. My family has never been rich or anything, we've always been middle class and have certainly had tight moments from time to time, but it was only during my high school experiences that I realized how much of a world apart my experience is from many others. I'm glad you took the time to explore how culture builds our perception of the world in this writing.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said how much of a culture shock it was for you to read this article.
ReplyDeleteI did the extended blog post off of what you have said here
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned how casual Cliffe acted to all of these things happening around him
ReplyDeleteI like how you showed the issues of culture of power in this blog post.
ReplyDelete