A Black City Within the White” Essay Example for Free

A Black City Within the White† Essay Loic Wacquant’s â€Å"A Black City Within the White† provides an absorbing and honest perspective on the continuation of racial disparity and discrimination in urban America. He contends the black world within the white world exists due to the continued exclusion of blacks to the extent the black world is virtually â€Å"unknown and unnoticed† by white America. He makes the case through an examination of urban semantics, specifical-ly the use of the words â€Å"ghetto† and â€Å"slum†. He believes the original terms referred to either a concentration of a specific ethnic group (ghetto) or concentration of poverty (slum). Wacquant states the term â€Å"ghetto† began to include â€Å"slum† as reflecting housing discrimination as well as black urban poverty. He believes the term â€Å"ghetto† is now much closer to â€Å"slum† in meaning, as whites prefer thinking in terms of income disparity instead of ingrained racial prejudice. Thus â€Å"the concept of ‘ghetto’ has been stripped of its eth-noracial referent and denuded of any mention of group, power, and oppression†¦(thus it) obfuscates the history and enduring reality of racial division in the United States† (143). See more: Social process essay In essence the terminology has been changed by whites more comfortable with consider-ing a mythical â€Å"colorblind† poverty level instead of the reality of racial prejudice and in-equity. Wacquant makes the point that a â€Å"ghetto† is not simply a term but â€Å"an institution-al form† (143). It is indeed a â€Å"world if itself† caused by power and economic discrimina-tion that is either not acknowledged or misunderstood by whites. The reading provides and insight that I did not have before reading and contemplating the issues. It is im-portant to me to try to understand the background and culture of others. Without that understanding communication and relationships are very superficial. This reading has also been very helpful in understanding how often terms and meanings will often change, and â€Å"code words† come into use. This gives me the incentive to look past certain words to be certain of the real meaning the user is trying to convey. This is an unfortunate but com-mon problem we face in communication and perhaps readers of this work will come away better prepared to address an issue without the need for dishonest language.