Growing up in Harlem
Growing up in Harlem
Summary
This YouTube video goes into detail about what it is like growing up in the New York neighborhood of Harlem. This is one of the most known neighborhoods in the entire United States because of all the crime that exists there. The documentary starts off by talking about how Harlem was originally a mostly poor black neighborhood where the people all had unity. However, in recent times Harlem has become must be more dangerous as many different gangs now live there and they will fight each other. The people that live in Harlem were talking about how its dangerous to have kids out after 10 and how you need to be aware of your surroundings when alone. Many of the people interviewed said the young African Americans must join gangs sometimes to survive. One of the adults they interviewed shared his experience of when he was a kid and how he got kicked out of his mom’s house for the first time at 14 years old. The kid had no way to make money or know where to go so he had to do illegal activities to survive. This documentary also mentions how many of these families are dysfunctional with no fathers. Many mothers have 3 or 4 kids they need to take care of, so many of these families will need some extra source of income. The documentary mentions how this is a cycle where fathers go to jail then the kids they have will end up in the same place when they become fathers.
Analyze
In class we looked at how police can use hotspot policing to patrol certain areas. Because of all the crime that happens in Harlem they are under more police surveillance than other places. In this documentary you can see that many of the people talk about how family members do drugs. This can make family life harder when parents and kids are on hard drugs. This also splits up family often in the area. This makes many people turn to the streets or gangs because to them that is their family. Most of these problems deal with money in the area. Its lack of money that makes parents or kids turn to drugs to make extra cash. The cost of living in New York is higher than most places in the United States so they need to make a good amount more than people that live elsewhere to survive. Some statistics that this documentary gives are that black men between 16 and 224 without a high school diploma have a unemployment rate of 52% in 2010. This number are high when you think about the fact that most people in Harlem don’t get much late stage education. Henning (2018) discusses legal socialization which is where people understand and support the legal process. In Harlem most of the youth have a negative view of the police because to them they split families up and stop them from trying to make a living even if it is done illegally. Mauer (2018) discusses how mandatory sentencing is commonly used to keep drug offenders off the streets. An example of this can be seen with California’s three strike laws. Instead doing mandatory sentencing much of the problems would be solved in Harlem if they made drugs legal and sold them through legal means then gave the revenue back to the community to help them. This would stop people from selling drugs illegally and would split up family significantly less often. This would help stop the school to prison pipeline theory that we discussed in class.
Personal Reflection and Rational
Since I lived all my life in Indiana, PA it is hard to understand what life is like in some cities where the cost of living is so much more. This documentary helped me realize why so many of these kids will end up doing drugs or going to prison. This also helped me understand how this issue is a cycle that will take a while to stop if nothing is done to help with the economic situation of the area. Instead of spending all the money to police these neighborhoods it could be used to help people with jobs or paying bills, so they will not be forced to commit crimes to live. Another point that was mentioned in the documentary that I also thought was important was the fact that because of all the violent crimes that take place in Harlem many of the people are forced to carry knives or guns with them to defend themselves when they are alone at night. So, making it harder for people to get weapons just puts the innocent people in danger when they are just looking out for their safety. I would recommend this documentary to anyone that wants to see why Harlem is an infamous neighborhood when it comes to crime.
References
Henning, K. (2018). Boys to men: The role of policing in the socialization of black boys. In A. J. Davis, Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment (pp. 3-20). Vintage Books.
Mauer, M. (2018). The endurance of racial disparity in the criminal justice system. In A. J. Davis, Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment (pp. 31-56). Vintage Books.
Matthew Berezansky
December 8, 2020 @ 9:06 pm
I think your point about growing up in Indiana, PA your whole life and that making it hard to understand what city life is like is important. Growing up in a similar small town, I have heard people criticize cities with high crime rates as if the residents are all going out and committing crime for fun. As you mention later, most people who aren’t involved in crime have to carry weapons around just for their protection. It is hard to imagine how fearful you would have to be of your own neighborhood to get to that point.