Making It Out of the Projects

            The kind of circumstances that a majority of inner city dwellers face can be depicted in the film, Legacy, which had been viewed in this week’s lecture.  Through watching this film, one is able to observe the certain problems that some families in these areas encounter.  Nicole, the main person whose family was followed throughout the film, grew up as a child supported by welfare.  She grew up as a fatherless child, raised under a female-headed household.  Her circumstances may be similar to a majority of other kids who grew up in the inner city’s projects.  She depicted the effects that living in these impoverished neighborhoods can have on a child, and her family demonstrated the way that certain hurdles are difficult to overcome when trying to successfully move out of the projects, let alone survive in one. 

           

One thing that stood out to me about this film is Nicole’s emphasis on having hope.  As cliché as it may be, having hope and confidence in being able to get out of the projects was shown in the film as being a detrimental factor to how successful someone in this area ends up.  But it is difficult to preserve this optimistic way of thinking when there are often times obstacles that get in the way of living a better life elsewhere.  For example, according to the film, Nicole’s mother had her at the age of 16 and had her other siblings not too far after.  Her mother was unable to finish high school, and there was no father involved with the childcare.  So one can see how there can be a domino effect to this.  Because of her mother’s lack of education, she is more inclined to remain in poverty.  Since today’s higher paying occupations require college degrees or a GED at the least, her mother would only sink deeper into poverty especially since she raised her family as a single mother.  The film showed how difficult it was for Nicole’s mother to find a job, and if she did find one, balancing the time to watch over her kids almost always got in the way of her being able to keep that job.  Seeing how Nicole’s mother struggled with finding work and managing her family is one problem that many single mothers in the projects also go through.  This could also be the main factor to why many female-headed homes continue to seek support through welfare. 

            The film had mentioned that Nicole’s cousin, Tyrell, had been shot and killed at the time this video was filmed.  As her family coped with his death, there was a scene showing Tyrell’s brother explaining how he had been dealing with the death of his brother.  He said that his mentality on this death would change into something more positive when he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and that when the high went away, his suffering came back as well.  I feel that this form of coping is one that many residents in the projects lean to, especially since gun violence and violent crime is so common in the inner city.  Because violence is so common, many families are inclined to experiencing a death in the family, and this may explain why many turn to drug use as a means of coping with the high occurrence of death.  Though there may be people in the streets who use drugs for the sake of getting high, there are also those who start using drugs because of being afflicted with a death of a loved one.  Not to say that the latter is more beneficial, but it is another perspective to why drug use is so common in the streets of the inner city.

            Although Nicole grew up without a father, the film showed that she had a mentor in her life that became somewhat of a father figure for her.  This mentor had helped her during her high school years in her after school programs that involved helping other kids.  He also provided her with a job in his own small business.  I think that without his presence, Nicole would have had a different outlook on the way she wanted her life to be.  Nicole’s perseverance and hope in becoming something greater than what her neighborhood set up for her to be was greatly influenced by her mentor’s supervision.  Not many kids growing up in the projects, under a female-headed household, have the access to such positive male role models.  Nicole’s mentor helped in showing that work and education are matters that are truly valuable in life, which encouraged her to use her resources wisely in order to make it out of the projects.