Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Great Socio-Economic Divide

I feel terrible about this Jennifer Hudson thing

We have celebrities in this country. And from what I've seen, most of the current Hollywood Glitterati have been spawned from other Hollywood big shots. Not to mention the useless children of the rich and famous whose existence we have the misfortune of even knowing about, such as the Paris Hiltons, Nicole Ritchies, and any other washed up, has-been or never-been star on any reality show you may be subjected to if you have the misfortune of turning on the tv.

These days it seems to be really rare to find an actual talent that arises from an abyss, based solely on their talent. Most of the people we come across in magazines, tv, moveis, etc. can give thanks to their parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc for paving the way for them.

I am not incredibly well versed in Jennfier Hudson's body of work. I don't watch American Idol, and haven't seen Dreamgirls. I did see her in "Sex In the City" movie. And have seen her in a fwe interviews and appearances and have found her style, and lack of pretension completely refreshing.

So despite Jennifer Hudson's rise to fame, and despite what her personal worth might be on this date, she and her family and not immune from the cycle of crime that plagues the lower-income neighborhoods of major cities.

For work, I deal with lots of families who live in these areas, such as the Englewood area where Jennifer Hudson's mother lived. I've been in these neighborhoods and in people's homes. But let's be honest, I'm a white girl from the suburbs. I might be exposed to these areas a hell of a lot more than anyone I know, but I can't pretend to know or understand it. Or to have an idea on how to solve the problems of poverty, racism and violence that are absolutely intertwined.


So it doesn't really matter how far she has risen. This poor woman and her family have been reduced to a terribly too prevalent stereotype in Chicago of African American families torn apart by gun violence.

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say about this, except, this shit doesn't happen to Angelina Jolie's family.

And while I'm sure Jennifer Hudson has made lots of friends in Hollywood, I'm sure none of them can udnerstand what she is going through. She will probably have to go back to her neighborhood for that.

1 comment:

Rosemarie said...

And to think that if she wasn't a Hollywood actress, this would just have made the news locally as another tragedy...