Hood Ornaments

No, this isn’t about the holidays.

What is it about, then?

Read on.

I was on my way to prison work Monday morning and I saw a hot pink car sitting on 26s at a gas station. I then started to wonder if people who drove those kinds of vehicles ventured outside the hood much (you can say I’m stereotyping, but follow along for a second). My thoughts then turned to other styles that people often associate with the hood: neon-colored hair, huge earrings and such, out-of-pocket spandex, and so on.

I started wondering if there was a certain logic or psychology when it came to these styles, fashions, or modus operandi; and that wondering led to a few questions.

1. Do people wear – or even act – as ‘hood’ when they leave the hood?

I think the answer depends on the people involved. Some people might “look professional” (even though I’m not talking about a work environment) or “straighten up and fly right” while others may go to Red Lobster with their shirts off eatin’ on shrimp.

*No, I do not consider Red Lobster to be particularly upscale. It’s a reference to a rather famous tweet from Plies.

I wouldn’t say either approach is better than the other, although one is obviously more convenient. I also would – well, will – refuse to say that either approach is indicative of the individual who chooses it. Neither acting “ghetto” nor “stuffed shirt” tells anyone too much about a person. That stuff is learned. A person’s identity is more basic than that. Of course, we let those lessons get to us…but we’re more than our surroundings.

2. Do people go out within the hood to avoid being typecast when they leave?

This is probably the question I really wish I knew the answer to. Oddly enough, I’m now thinking of the scene in Shaft when Peoples asks Walter to front for him and get him some upscale customers. For those who haven’t seen it, Peoples goes through how he runs his neighborhood but feels uncomfortable in other parts of town. He wants Walter to sell for him because Walter is “one of them”.

I wonder if people stay in certain areas because they feel others will look at them strangely if they venture out. I think part of it is human nature, but I wonder if part of it is an intentional desire to stay where one feels particularly welcome or wanted. If people wear their Brooks Brothers and Oscar, maybe it’s a bit uncomfortable to someone who doesn’t exactly care what brand they’re wearing.

Now sometimes it’s just far. I get that. I wouldn’t drive ten minutes to go someplace when I can have just as much fun at a place that’s half the distance. I just wonder to what degree people are wary of going certain places, and the degree to which those places wish to make them so.

3. How much of a factor is (code) switching? How does this stuff affect other areas of peoples’ lives?

Do people with the cars on 28s have other vehicles that they drive to work? I’m just trying to imagine what it’s like going to a Bank of America parking lot with ‘Killa’ on your dashboard. If you’re a dope boy, then I guess this doesn’t matter very much. However, if you have a 9-5 with benefits then I could see some issues. Society is mostly allowing of the characteristics it will allow people to display, but we all know that consideration narrows rapidly in a professional environment – especially if that environment is white-collar.

Many of us are faced with the question of whether to accept it, confront it, or stay away from it. Those of us who do not choose the first option then must choose sides between the other two.

Which side is more comfortable? Which side is more for the benefit of others? Doesn’t it get hard after a while to carry two personas? Is it more costly to only carry only one at all times? I just wonder how far that hood badge stretches, and what people do when they’re outside said jurisdiction.

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I guess it's a chicken and egg thing between the custom and the environment...not that we know which of those begat the other either.