Urban Gangsters
What Would the Godfather Think of Today’s Pimps and Hustlers?
Gangsters depicted in films such as The Godfather and Scarface have become iconic among black youth. But what would Don Corleone think of today's would be gangsters?
A cursory viewing of the film suggests that the Godfather and his companions had a less than complimentary opinion of urban blacks. There are only few brief references to black people in The Godfather. A couple where which blacks are referred to as niggers. Maybe we could dismiss this now legally unacceptable slur as a sign of the times; Godfather is far from unique in this respect of films released in the 1970’s.
The most telling reference occurs in the scene when the heads of the five families have finally called a truce to discuss the introduction of drugs to the criminal underworld. The Godfather, Vito Corleone, is still against the idea. He, along with some of the other gangsters, think selling drugs is “a dirty business.” Moreover, he is concerned that the politicians he has in his pocket will no longer stay that way if they are involved in the drug business because it is destructive and fundamentally different from their current rackets, gambling, prostitution etc.
Eventually, however, practical morality concedes to economics and the families decided that selling drugs will be permitted as long as it is kept away from the schools and not sold to children. Ironically this proposal comes from a don who has tried to keep his family away from the drug business with financial incentives, but who has resigned himself to controlling the business and “keeping it respectable” because he feels that he’s fighting a losing battle.
His conclusion is as follows: “In my city, we’ll keep the traffic in the dark people, the colored. They’re animals anyway so let them lose their souls.” It is a tragic irony that the destruction of the inner-city we are now all too familiar with was predicted by the gangsters today’s youth so revere. Yet, one wonders how black youth so readily turn a blind eye to the flagrant prejudice they evidently had against black people.
Even more perplexing is the failure to recognize the moral of The Godfather’s story. Drugs will lead to the destruction of the community, but it’s okay as long as it’s the black community. In this respect these gangsters, in their blatant disregard for black life, foreshadowed the attitude of the governments that followed the release of the film, who obviously shared the same sentiments. But more disturbingly they also prefigure the lack of concern for black life that pimps, hustlers and others who fashion themselves on these gangster ideals apparently have.
No one would suggest that we take moral guidance from the criminal underworld, but maybe we should have listened to the Godfather discuss his field of expertise - the outcomes of criminal operations. Drugs destroy communities; avoid them at all cost!
