For years I have believed that socialism would cure the majority of the world’s ills. I remember in my third year of college, I was increasingly frustrated with history and society. I could not reconcile the life of poverty I had seen in high school with the life of wealth I saw in college. Why are some places saturated with drugs, violence, and death, and others not? I was frustrated with the raw ignorance to poverty of the majority of the college population that had come from privilege and wealth. This is when I started studying Marxism. I joined a revolutionary party and was down for revolution. I loved the idea of socialism; the idea of increased democracy, real redistribution of wealth and land, and economic equality. I studied other philosophies too, and tried to form my own collection of values (which I still use to guide my life). It was during this time that I decided to go into the education field as well. The need for revolution still is abundantly clear to me. The inequalities in wealth, education, and almost every other measure point to the inadequacies of this capitalist system. Fixing these symptoms will not fix a corrupt foundation built off of the greed of slavery and colonization (and continued with the greed of Wall St. and the banks today). Coming from the hood, I believed socialism would fix these problems. Now, after coming back to the hood, and being able to see it with a different perspective, I believe that socialism will not work here at this time due to a culture of entitlement that has developed, a capitalist mindset which is so prevalent, and the severe family and mental health issues which cripple the community.
Most of the students have entered high school with a capitalist mindset. They have a pre-occupation with name brands and money. Much of this is encouraged through a variety of sources, such as family and music. Although it might seems like this would encourage motivation for the education which is required for high-paying jobs, it has the opposite effect. Many young people are looking for short-term “anything for money” solutions. This may be a result of what they have seen and not seen. They have seen many people make fast-money through both legal and illegal hustles. Many of the youth have not seen some one make a large amount of money through a long-term hustles, such as a doctor or a lawyer. This capitalist mindset leaves them pre-occupied with having products and brands, and uninterested in intangible things such as stable relationships or education. Socialism would call for a rejection of this mind-set. Having brand name jeans would be indifferent because economically everyone would be on an equal footing. There would be nothing to prove economically. Most students are not ready to reject that mindset.
Another factor that would debilitate socialism in the hood is the culture of entitlement that permeates the hood. In my opinion, this is primarily the result of welfare. In of itself, the idea of welfare is not bad; a temporary support for those that need it. However, it was never backed up by proper social programs that helped people get back on their feet. Instead, it became a cash hand out on the 1st and 15th. There are some restrictions in place today, such as required job training, but there is not a comprehensive education and training program that goes along with the money. Because many of the youth have grown up with welfare or hand-outs, they have a sense of entitlement. This is different than the entitlement that is traditionally associated with the upper class. Instead this is the idea that they should just get stuff with no work or reason. If we were to establish socialism today, they would not have developed the work ethic necessary to keep the system afloat. In college I would have completely argued against this point. I would have said that the people will work if there is something to work for. But after several years back in the hood, there is a serious work ethic problem. The root cause may be the lack of reason to work or the racist conditions, but it does not change the fact that we have a large amount of people that are content with doing nothing with their lives.
The family and mental health problems of the hood prevent great progress forward in the conditions of the hood. Many of the youth are coming from broken families. Not just families that are single-parent households, but families that have severe problems. It might be drug abuse, it might be physical or sexual abuse, it might be general dysfunction, it might be a situation where the child is basically raising themselves. Just about every imaginable family problem exists in the hood. This leads to the mental health of the youth being unstable. The pain of being a young person and having to deal with adult issues and adult situations is tremendous. Most of these young people do not know how to deal with it. They are angry, confused, and emotionally damaged. Their medication may be drugs, alcohol, sex, food, or any other addition or escape. There is large number of youth that are in desperate need of therapy. These mental health issues are preventing them from furthering their education and themselves. It would be near impossible to fight for socialism when you can barely deal with your own emotions and situation. These young people need help to deal with these problems as they also take strides to achieve greater consciousness.
In conclusion, the dominance of the capitalist mindset, entitlement, and mental health issues is not a description of every youth in the hood. Further, these are not the only problems in the hood. But many of the problems in the hood develop out of these conditions, especially the issue of mental health. Many of the youth take out the pain they have endured on others, leading to the cycles of violence and destruction. More specifically, these are problems that make socialism impossible in the hood today. Many organizations and groups push for socialism, but socialism is years away from ever existing. These problems need to be dealt with first. The question is; how do you deal with these problems? This I do not know. It would make my existence more meaningful if the answer were education, but I don’t know if that is true. I do know that more education will lead to more stability overall. Further, I hope that through education, I am able to make an impact on the youth in relation to these issues. However, I think that teachers and others that work with the youth need to develop comprehensive plans to address all of these problems. Of course, not every teacher or youth advocate agrees on what the end goal should be, but in the short term, I believe everyone agrees that the youth need to abandon an “anything for money” capitalist mindset, develop a great work ethnic, and get therapy.
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