Fresh Dressed - CNN Special

CNN just aired a special program entitled "Fresh Dressed." The show highlighted the role fashion among minorities. It began showcasing the history of The Bronx and other New York areas which were plagued with youth gangs.

These youth gangs composed of Blacks and Puerto Ricans were in response to the troubles of the day. The Bronx was labeled as the "arson capital of the world" due to greedy landlords who hired people to burn down their tenements in order to profit from insurance.  The Bronx was a mess of burnt crumbling buildings.  Some of the buildings which were not destroyed only had one or two families still living in them.

As with any society, clothes became a form to identify to others one's personality or if they belonged to a specific gang or neighborhood. Eventually commercialization would take hold and begin to profit from the desires of young minorities looking to be "different."  Today, young minorities are slaves to this type of marketing. They spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on sneaks and clothing which they will use briefly and then replace with newer clothes.  It is a cycle that keeps minorities in poverty.  The show demonstrated how minorities are still kept in slavery by rich people luring them with sneakers and clothes that keeps them poor.

Many youth people in The Bronx and urban areas of New York City are unemployed and waste the little money they have on these articles of clothing. In their need to impress others, they depress their financial status.

I found that the documentary "Fresh Dressed" was well made.  Hopefully, young minorities will wake up and pay more attention to fixing their neighborhoods and saving for the future instead of spending for the present.