In his essay, "Looking to Get Paid: How Some Black Youth Put Culture to Work," historian Robi n D. G. Kelle y explore s th e way s youn g peopl e i n economicall y depressed urba n area s generat e incom e fro m variou s form s o f cultura l play. H e offers an interpretation o f ghetto youth that counters the predominant depiction of them a s menacing, lazy, immoral pleasure-seekers. Kelley suggests that sports, sex, and th e creatio n o f music, dance, an d visua l ar t ar e forms o f play that constitut e labor as resourceful youn g people transform practice s of consumption int o sites of production. Capitalism, Kelle y writes, has com e t o b e youth's greates t frien d an d greatest foe: Although th e economic restructuring characteristi c o f post-industria l capitalism ha s le d t o permanen t unemployment, th e eliminatio n o f critica l cit y services an d publi c recreatio n space, th e decimatio n o f the publi c schoo l system, and the militarization o f the inner city, it has also created spaces for young people s "entrepreneurial imagination s an d thei r 'symboli c work ' t o allo w the m t o tur n something of a profit, an d to permit them t o hone their skills and imagine getting paid."1 Thoug h h e acknowledge s tha t th e opportunitie s fo r upwar d mobilit y through play-labo r ar e limited, h e assert s that i t has "provided young people with a wider rang e o f options fo r survival, spac e fo r creativ e expression, an d a t leas t a modicum o f contro l ove r thei r ow n labor. " Rathe r tha n polic e thei r play, Kelle y asserts, we need to "change the streets themselves, the built environment, the economy, and the racist discourse that dominates popular perceptions of black youth."2.
