What is "ghetto"?

I watched a book discussion on CSPAN the other night. The discussion was with author Cora Daniels on her new book, GhettoNation: A Journey into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless (http://http://www.coradaniels.com/). In her book, Cora discusses what the word Ghetto means and how, as a people, we are too involved in ghetto mentality. Cora opened up the discussion by asking what the word "ghetto" means. The author asked the audience what they thought the word meant and most people stated something negative...people talking too loud and showing off in public...people driving nice cars with rims and tricked-out systems, but living with their parents...playing music too loudly...etc. This seemed to be the mainstream view of the term "ghetto". The author stated that most people considered the term "ghetto" to mean a "black thing", but to her, ghetto transcended race lines and socio-economic status. She claimed that people like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan can be just as ghetto as anybody else...that their antics and behavior can equate to what one would consider ghetto. That was the basis of the discussion and got me to thinking about what ghetto is and what the term means.

I will admit that I have been guilty of using the term myself. I don't know what to call certain behavior but that word seems to stick. I know it is not the right word but the term "inappropriate" or "annoying" just doesn't seem to do this type of behavior justice. I guess ghetto is not just a black thing. It is a word that describes when somebody...anybody does something inappropriate... but the word has taken on a very negative connotation...even a racial one.

It's funny (not really)...the word nigger was not originally intended to be a racial or pejorative word, but it is a word that has historically been used to denigrate blacks over the decades, therefore it has taken on a racially derogatory connotation. I see the same thing happening for the word ghetto. The word ghetto does not mean poor, black neighborhood or behavior. The origin of the word comes from early Italy and the Venetian Ghetto where Jews lived. The word also transcended to refer to the neighborhood where Jews were held before eventually being sent to concentration camps. Over the years, the term has come to mean any location where the minority is segregated to. While, this does not necessarily mean black people, the term has come to be more commonly used when referring to black, low-class neighborhoods.

So, what makes somebody, or something ghetto? I guess this all depends on personal opinion and is all very subjective. I recently asked a friend of mine what he thought the word ghetto meant and he stated that a ghetto is just a neighborhood...that's it, but that is always refers to something negative when it is said. He stated that, "Ghetto to me is like nigga, on a lower level." To me, I would think that means that the same derogatory affects that the word nigga has for us (regardless of who says it...that is another story that I will save for another day...), the word ghetto is starting to have.

I leave the rest up to you...what does the word ghetto mean to you?