The Brothers vs. The Hallway Hangers

The tale of the Brothers and the Hallway Hangers is an interesting yet somewhat surprising one. In this story based around low income housed families, Jay MacLeod chronicles the educational differences between the families of the Brothers, and those of the Hallway Hangers. His analysis is quite unexpected and very telling of our flawed racial stereotypes.

MacLeod goes deep into the family backgrounds of both these groups. In doing so we begin to notice that the African American families (those of the Brothers), are trying with everything they have to escape the prison that is 'the projects'. We also start to get a sense that many of the white families (the families of the Hallway Hangers), have resigned to their fate as permanent 'project' dwellers.

This analysis struck me quite profoundly, because my previously naive notions were to the contrary. Being a white semi-motivated, semi-spoiled, middle class college student I had perceived that other white people were like me. I had never been exposed to white ghettos. Or heard about areas where people of white skin were trapped in this downward cycle towards poverty, which is public housing.

The other deeply intriguing point that MacLeod brings about is the utter discipline and motivation amongst the African American 'Brothers'. We are constantly bombarded with these pictorial generalizations that lead us into a false trap(the media). This trap generally leads us to believe that all African Americans in 'the projects' are lazy and unmotivated members of society.

MacLeod's method of disproving racial and societal stereotypes is proving to be quite effective. He tells us what we rarely hear, and supports it with the factual information and data he has collected. The 'Brothers' are trying to make their way out of the projects through hard work, and most importantly lofty dreams. The Hallway Hangers have accepted their fate as the bottom dwellers of society, and it is no one's dream to live in such a nightmare.