What Is the Definition of a Ghetto

The word ghetto comes from the Jewish quarter of Venice, the Venetian ghetto of Cannaregio, which is attributed to a particular use of the Venetian ghèto, which means “foundry”, since there was one near the ghetto of that city in 1516. [5] By 1899, the term had been extended to the crowded neighborhoods of other minority groups. In 1975, FBI Deputy Director James Adams testified before the Senate that the bureau had three times as many “ghetto informants” as confidential sources within the Klan—an index as good as all of the agency`s priorities. Contemporary African-American or black ghettos are characterized by overrepresentation of a particular ethnicity or race, vulnerability to crime, social problems, state dependence, and political marginalization. Sharon Zukin explains that the company rationalizes the term “bad neighborhoods” for these reasons. Zukin points out that these circumstances are largely related to “racial concentration, abandonment of residential areas, deconstitution and reconstitution of communal institutions.” [23]:516 Many researchers diagnose this unrelieved and fragmented view of the United States as the “age of extremes.” This term argues that inequalities of wealth and power reinforce spatial separation; For example, the growth of closed communities may be linked to the continued “ghettoization” of the poor. [24] Recently, the word “ghetto” has been used in slang as an adjective rather than a noun. It is used to indicate the relationship of an object with the city center and also more generally to designate something that is shabby or of poor quality. While “ghetto” can be used pejoratively as an adjective, the African-American or black community, especially the hip-hop scene, took the word for itself and began using it in a more positive sense that goes beyond its pejorative origins. [43] In his 2018 New Year`s address, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced his government`s intention to “end the existence of parallel societies and ghettos by 2030.” [61] [63] The government has since proposed measures to address the integration problem, including measures such as 30 hours of compulsory childcare per week for “ghetto children” from 1 year old, reduction of social assistance for ghetto residents, incentives to reduce unemployment, demolition and reconstruction of some buildings, doubling the penalty for certain crimes such as theft and vandalism in ghettos, rights of landlords, denial of accommodation to convicts, etc.[63][64] While some proposals such as restricting “ghetto children” to their homes after 8 p.m.

were rejected as too radical, most of the 22 proposals were adopted by a parliamentary majority. [58] [60] The policy has been criticized for undermining “equality before the law” and portraying immigrants, particularly Muslim immigrants, in a bad light. [59] [65] These sample sentences are automatically chosen from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “ghetto”. The views expressed in the examples do not represent the views of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. A Mellah (Arabic: ملاح; probably from Arabic ملح, “salt”) is a fortified Jewish quarter of a city in Morocco, an analogue of the European ghetto. The Jewish population in Morocco was confined to the mellahs from the 15th century and especially since the beginning of the 19th century. In cities, a mellah was surrounded by a wall with a fortified gate. Normally, the Jewish quarter was located near the royal palace or the governor`s residence to protect its residents from recurring riots. In contrast, rural mellahs were separate villages inhabited exclusively by Jews. [ref.

A number of songs and films were written about the ghetto. During World War II, ghettos were established by the Nazis to imprison Jews and Roma in densely populated areas of Eastern European cities. The Nazis most often referred to these areas as the “Jewish quarter” in documents and signs at their entrances. These Nazi ghettos sometimes coincided with traditional Jewish ghettos and Jewish neighborhoods, but not always. On June 21, 1943, Heinrich Himmler issued a decree ordering the dissolution of all ghettos in the East and their conversion into Nazi concentration camps. [9] In June 2019, a new Social Democratic government was formed in Denmark, with Kaare Dybvad becoming Minister of Housing. He explained that the new government will stop using the word “ghetto” for vulnerable residential areas because it is both inaccurate and derogatory. [66] The etymology of the Italian ghetto has been the subject of much speculation, but today there is little doubt that the word comes from the Italian dialectal form ghã ̈to, meaning “foundry.” A cannon foundry was once located on an island belonging to Venice, where the Venetians restricted Jewish residence in 1516.