To be or not to be “gangster” is what sometimes I feel we
are going through as a society and it’s been part of our country’s history
since it first began.
If you read about what the Colonist did to gain political
freedom from England some of it, in today’s language, could be called “gangster”
moves and those actions won them the political freedom they were looking for. Ever since then there has been this bravado
about being “American” the underdog always the rebel and never apologetic about
it and we make sure people know it.
So if it’s always been about the underdog is it to anyone’s
surprise that as time goes on that underdog would take a different shape and
form and may not reflect the current standard of “American?”
I don’t say that to create anger I say it based on facts and
I’ll give you a simple and quick example; as politicians campaign and the issue
of immigration comes up the first thing out of their mouth is MEXICO and people
will give reason to it by saying there’s too many of them here. So it is quickly realized that if you “look
Mexican” you might be in question whether you “belong” here or not. Here’s another example, slavery and the
battle for civil rights….If I go any further then it becomes a history lesson
that you should already know.
Being the underdog can be tricky because if you are fighting
to come out from under something then it means that you have been
oppressed. This usually means that you
have to rely on activities that are usually not accepted by that oppressing
force and possibly by society as well.
Is it done out of malice? No.
Is
it done out of need? Yes.
So you may ask yourself what possible need
could there be for some to be an underdog in our society today? What oppressive force is being waged on
people in our society?
If you live in Montana I could see the confusion and not
totally understand what I may be talking about and it would be great if what I
was writing here was more of a novel than the truth. There are needs NOT being met
in our society that is unfair due to the reasons of why it’s happening.
In the city of Chicago we live under the code of
neighborhoods so it comes down to what Hood you from and everyone plays that
game because if you live in the Gold Coast that will be your answer when some
asks you ‘where do you live?’ Because of
this behavior the younger crowd that cannot afford being trendy in their living
status will always go to the “seedy” part of the city, here’s the definition of
“seedy” from Merriam-Webster dictionary: inferior
in condition or quality: as a : shabby, run-down <seedy clothes> b :
somewhat disreputable <a seedy district> <a seedy lawyer> c :
slightly unwell : debilitated <felt seedy and went home early>
I believe they do this to feel more “gangster” or like the “underdog”
that we all admire because they might feel like they are taking on the system
and proving that anyone can live anywhere and survive…I got this impression
from several people that I spoke to about living in “seedy” neighborhoods…
What does it mean to be “gangster” or an underdog, was the
Cosa Nostra an underdog movement? Well
maybe not in its final form but the genesis of why they started is because at
their time in history they were the immigrants that were being oppressed as
well as the Irish and the Jewish. They
were not the only ones but they did set the bar on “How to be gangster” in our
society. One thing that we do not
acknowledge in our society is that Germans were not welcomed either even though
there was a strong heritage of Germans in the colonies and they were so much not
welcomed that Benjamin Franklin wrote on how he didn’t like the Germans in Pennsylvania. Ben Franklin is known as “The first American”
and that creates an image, that I would like to believe, that may be unacceptable
by our society today because of his rants about immigrants of that time. I know that it is unrealistic to expect
anyone to apologize for his remarks of well over 200 years ago and that’s not
the expectation but what can be expected is a release from old standards that
is truly not inclusive of who we are today as a society.
As a society we have glorified the Prohibition era by
styling ourselves in the image of some of those “gangsters” from what we wear to
how we do our hair (this is mostly men I am talking about.) Then it is supported by the idea of having a “bad
boy” or an “edgy background” type of guy as a quality when searching for a
boyfriend or lifelong partner. I did my research and read some of the
postings that are looking for this “type” of guy and it truly is amazing on how
we are OK with someone that might have committed a crime for the wrong reason
as long as that is brought into the bedroom!
Really!?! I’m not condemning anyone
here it’s just the expectation of someone having that experience is a twisted reality.
We are fascinated by the “gangster” type just as long as it
remains away from where "I" live and this is impossible because it comes down to
having your cake and eating too. I’ve
even seen how levels of “bad boy gangster” are created by people some want the
guy that did a lot of time, others want the guy that might have embezzled money
and never got caught, then you have the ones that want “the gangbanger on the
corner is so hot his stare makes me want him more!” and it’s not a select few
there are plenty of those.
So when is it OK to be “gangster” or the “underdog?” We have
TV shows like Sons of Anarchy (SOA) and Empire Boardwalk that really helps the
feel good “gangster” dose we need in our daily lives and the one TV show that
showed non-whites with some sort of power is OZ but they are all behind bars!
Again, I’m not saying this to create anger but it is the fact that we are
living in. Should I expect that by the
time I am in my late 80’s TV shows will be created around the lives of Latin
Kings and shown in the same respect as “gangsters” from the 1920’s? I would hope not because these TV shows are
based on the resulting outcome of a group of people there were oppressed and
denied at some level based on who they were.
I’m not too sure if that is the same with SOA but they have their place
as well in terms of the group of people they are representing in the show.
So back to being “gangster” or the “underdog” and what that
means…I’ve covered as far back as 1776 and mentioned recent events that show
the underdog movement of people in this country and all of those movements have
a similar message:
DO NOT OPPRESS ME! Sounds very American doesn’t it?
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
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