Frank's Reading Reponse 09/21

Structural violence is introduced in Philippe Bourgois' book, entitled In Search of Respect, as he points out the difficulties Puerto Rican individuals had during the 1990s in New York City. When Bourgois explains his experience growing up downtown, we get one of the best example of structural violence of the novel. Bourgois explains the outcast feeling he felt while growing up downtown as "neighbors do not have nicknames, and when one shares the elevator with them, they usually do not even say hello or nod an acknowledgement of existence" (Bourgois, 35). Although in the eyes of the general public this isn't a crime, however, living in a place where one feels unwelcomed forces people to leave and stay around their own kind. Bourgios, unfortunately, was one of those individual that after growing up had no choice to move to East Harlem where he felt welcomed and everyone made one another feel safe despite the constant violence happening. Ultimately, moving to a Puerto Rican based neighborhood and drugs being the means of survival, Bourgios, in order to feel appreciated and united with others, had no choice but to join the drug world that East Harlem represented. This type of structural violence might not seem like a crime but when one analysis it, one can see that depriving others from living in their nice neighborhood in order to achieve success just creates more crimes and violence in other communities.

A structural violence that I see today aside from the novel is the educational system. I've attended New York City's public schools most of my life and I've noted that the ways classes in middle school and high school are broken down is by the level of "intelligence" one child bears. Which in my opinion is a horrible way to keep students who did not do so well one year to continue to fail in their education. Why not disperse these student with those who did do well and see if the hard work of those who do well can inspire them to do the same but placing all these "rotten apple" in one room is not going to help to better the education of these students.