Gangsters are Dreamers

This picture displays hardworking people earning money the right way. But as a society have we not put pressure on everyone of all back grounds to be like these people. A group that come from a certain type of circumstance.

The American Dream, anyone can be anything, is what parents tell their children as they grow up. America the land of opportunity is the motto for immigrants. Yet, when children grow up and immigrants arrive they learn that the opportunities to be anything are limited to those that have the means to make dreams reality. The means are capital, the “correct” upbringing, knowing how to say the right thing at the right time. There is a select group that have all these things, but there is a majority that don’t. That leads to the question, what is the dream for the majority that don’t have the necessary means to complete the American dream. Do they simply give up on the dream or do they create a new dream. In the case of the American Gangster, they hold the American Dream near and dear to their heart. However, to succeed at that dream they must do things a little differently.

            Organized crime is viewed automatically as horrific, awful, and the worst part of American society. They feel that the people involved (i.e. Gangsters) are taking the easy way out of life. People believe that as citizens of a great country they should be ashamed for what they do. But are Gangsters not just businessmen trying to sell a service or product. Are they not like the CEOs of fortune 500 companies. When “legal” businesses operate outside the law in the purpose of making more money the government and society are there to apologize to the billionaire. However, the gang that operates outside the law, in the intrest of the people are seen as criminals. Makes a person think why is it that money overrides what is right. Why is society so focused on morals and ethics when it’s a group of people wanting to help those around them, but those same morals leave the room when a big enough pocketbook enters.

            People say that gangsters don’t follow the law and therefore should be punished. But you can be a known gangster produce an album, be known to do drugs, and yet win the heart of the same people the depose the people that operate on the outskirts of the law doing what they can to help the people around them.

            Organized crime is seen as good and bad. Who are we as people to determine what is considered ok and what is not. For if we set a double standard on right and wrong are we not in the wrong ourselves. Time can only tell the future for the American gangster, if there might be time where they can be understood without preconceived biases.