Page 96 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

80 Ethnicity

yearned to be ghetto and cool. “ “ Because it ’ s good to be ghetto, but you

have to be classy ghetto, you know? I mean, it ’ s okay to talk loud when
you ’ re with your friends. ‘ Yo, dawg, wassup?!!! ’ But some people get stupid
and do this in class. ” Interestingly, however, the acquired role quickly
becomes an identity of one ’ s own, something integral to one ’ s sense of self
rather than a performed act. “ The Puerto Ricans view the immigrant kids
as corny, rural, you know. But even that doesn ’ t last long. The immigrant
kids pick up on the dress style and the mannerisms right away. And they
don ’ t say ‘ those are Black people ’ s mannerism, ’ no. They say, ‘ those are
Puerto Rican mannerisms. ’ ” Interestingly, immigrant Brazilians, because
they are associated with a well - known international urban cultural scene,
are thought to already inhabit a “ ghetto ” of their own.
The Portuguese occupy a privileged position in this multiethnic com-
munity because they are White-skinned. Appearing White has been one
way for excluded ethnic communities to gain an entry to power and affl u-
ence in America. The US has a history of nativism , the idea that only
native - stock White Protestants are truly American. Broader, more multi-

ethnic definitions of what it means to be an American citizen have emerged
and been promoted in recent decades, but Whiteness, because it is linked
to social power and to wealth, is still associated in the eyes of urban youth
with an ideal of social status and consumption to which many of the youth
aspire. The poorer can only afford fake Louis Vuitton handbags, but some
aspire higher, and to appear White, they buy real Vuitton bags. “ Like I
know some Portuguese people who try to be all high class and whatever
and in the inside they are poor. It ’ s like you just as poor as me, ’ cause you ’ re
right across the corner from me, in the townhouse next door. … They pay
the real Louis Vuitton and then next thing you know they talk about being
poor and how their mother can ’ t pay rent. Go and explain. ” Differences of
income clearly intersect with ethnic differences. One consequence is that
multiculturalism, the ideal of an achieved mixture of social groups defi ned
by ethnicity rather than by income, obfuscates the fact that economic
inequality is a core feature of American life. And it often is linked to ethnic
differences. The Black youths who are imitated by their Hispanic counter-
parts are also thought of by some teachers in the high schools of Newark
as dangerous; “ ethnic problems ” in the school are blamed on them. They
are linked to gang activity. To posit them as a model of ethnic style for
immigrant youth is to acknowledge how they are driven by economic
inequality and poverty to adopt practices (gang belonging) and ideals
(toughness, criminality) that reinforce their exclusion from a White -
dominated economy.