Bourgois Arguments Against Apartheid

Bourgois titled the chapter "Violating Apartheid" because the majority of the population that lives in El Barrio are Latinos and African Americans. A few mechanisms that Bourgois describes are: the poor and dangerous Latino and African American neighborhoods, the police, and the lack of "cultural capital". The poor Latino and African American neighborhoods are seen as too dangerous by the middle and upper- class citizens, which keeps the poor citizens secluded. Society has put a label on them, which is used to identify them as a whole. Another mechanism is that the police is constantly around the neighborhood to bust any drug dealers and to deal with violence. Many people in the neighborhood lack "cultural capital", or the basic knowledge/fundamentals to rise from the poor to the middle class. For example, Ray tries to start a business, but fails since he is unable to comply with the legal requirements. These are mechanisms that maintain apartheid in the US.

Some barriers that Bourgois encounters while conducting his fieldwork/collecting data is that he seen as an undercover police officer by the residents in the neighborhood and a crack head …show more content…
Americans spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on education. However, the idea presented is swept away. So much money is already being spent on the military, yet it still needs more funding. Furthermore, the more money invested into the military, the more powerful it becomes. This allows the United States to maintain its dominances around the world. In this article, it shows how Americans spend most of their money on its military compared to any other world powers. It is absurd how one third of the budget is used for the military instead of the education system and other government programs. Many individual's future depends on