Good & Ghetto

When I first moved to Detroit and started discovering what I liked—how I wanted to do my nails, the way I styled my hair, the clothes that made me feel good—I started hearing a word thrown at me that I wasn’t used to: ghetto.

People in my life, and even some strangers, would use it to describe me, my style, terms I used when I spoke. At first, it caught me off guard. Then, it made me uncomfortable. It felt like the word was being weaponized, like people were using it in a negative context to describe traits of me they didn't like.

But the irony? The things people called 'ghetto' made me feel more like myself than ever before. I’ve had curly hair my entire life, and growing up, people would tease me about it, calling it nappy. So, I spent hours every morning straightening it before school, trying to fit in. When I moved to Detroit, my new friends introduced me to salons that specialized in curly, textured hair. They taught me how to care for and style my curls, and in the process, helped me learn to love my natural hair again.

I’ve always been someone who makes it a mission to educate myself on things I don’t fully understand, so I did what I always do—I asked questions.

I sat down with my friends who grew up in the city, people who understood the term in a way I never could from my own upbringing. I wanted to know what it meant to them, and if it was okay for someone like me to even say it. They told me straight up: the way the word is used today often carries a negative weight, but at its core, it’s real life. People live in areas labeled as "the ghetto," and most of the time, not by choice. The problem isn’t the word—it’s the way people use it to demean rather than understand.

Since then, I’ve had a hard time hearing people describe me as ghetto, because I know what they mean when they say it. But instead of running from it, I’ve made it my mission to shift the narrative. To educate people who use it negatively, to challenge their perceptions, and to show that it’s possible to be both good and "ghetto." Because at the end of the day, being true to myself is the most important thing, and no word—no label—is going to change that.