Notebook entries on "Ghetto Nation" by Cora Daniels

p. 63 -- “About the only thing these books tend to be missing is the services of a copy editor to fix the grammar, spelling, and typos.”


Here, Cora Daniels is speaking to ghetto lit, such as “The Coldest Winter Ever”, which happened to be on a list of my sophomore year and junior year recommended independent reading list. True there is crude violence, “foul language, bullets, drugs, and in-your-face sex”(63). However books like these show the realities to people that haven’t seen these horrors. I believe these are stories that need to be told, just as the novels “Night”, “Lucky”, and other graphic tales. “Night” has a scene in the book where babies are being thrown into the air and shot, which people need to know, no matter how graphic it is. I feel that it is unfair for Cora Daniels to bash such an established person as Sister Souljah for her literary work. Yes, Sister Souljar profited off her very realistic account of a “drug dealer’s daughter”, but Cora Daniels is now getting money off the fact that she is bashing the book, which I believe is worse.

I disagree with Cora Daniels in how she discredits many artists whether it be rappers or novelists. Yes, I believe that people do have their right for their own opinions, but I feel as though her whole book is based on other people’s ideas or works of art that she completely disgraces.

Notebook entries on "Ghetto Nation" by Cora Daniels

p. 2 -- I’ve spent more than three decades becoming an expert on ghetto, both ghet-to and gh-e-e-e-e-e-et----to-o-o-o--o-o. My training? My life.”


I find it interesting how Cora Daniels would describe her life as “ghetto” and then bash the lifestyles of many who would also consider themselves ghetto. Cora Daniels tells the reader on pg 13. “I am ghetto. The running joke among my friends is that the only stuff to drink in my fridge is a Crayola-bright color and comes in two-liter bottles”. In that sentence Daniels stereotypes herself into that persona “I’m ghetto and I drink kool-aide, eat chicken, and watermelon.”

Throughout the novel, Daniels discredits many of those who profit off the idea of “ghetto”. People like 50 cent, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube. However, she is also profiting off the idea of something being “ghetto”, whether she agrees with it or not. If she wants to write a book about her ghetto-ness or non-ghettoness and make a profit off that, why can’t 50 cent write a song about being shot 9 times? Both are similar in the way that they make money off of the idea of “ghetto”. Her book is titled, “Ghetto Nation”. People will buy the book because of the ghetto Uncle Sam on the cover and the words “GHETTO” in bold red. She is making a profit off each book she sells because of the concept of ghetto. I think her book is filled with her hypocrisy. “I am ghetto. / I am not ghetto” (22).