Assignment #8: Gang Leader for a Day

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1

The most standout part of this chapter was obviously Sudhir's survey and the responses to it. Sudhir is obviously very oblivious to persons outside of his own social class, and has very little tact. I also found it pretty shocking that J.T. accepted him so quickly.

Chapter 2

I was very surprised by the fact that J.T. had actually attended college, and had a fair bit of business sense. It was interesting to begin to see the relationships between those who lived in Robert Taylor and how they seemed to rely on one another. 

Chapter 3

The door to door vote solicitation was a very funny portion of this book to me. I found it so amazing  that these foot soldiers were asking the residents to do something that they had no intention of doing themselves, and knew absolutely nothing about. This is also when you begin to see just how paranoid J.T. is about losing his position in the gang. 

Chapter 4

This is the chapter that lends the book it's name, and also perhaps the one that shocked me the most. I found it hard to believe that Sudhir would accept the challenge of being gang leader for a day, as I would think that he should be a silent observer in his research role. By making decisions about the goings on of the gang, he could have really altered the culture of the entire organization. 

Chapter 5

This is when Sudhir's focus shifts from J.T. and the gang to the other residents of Robert Taylor, and specifically Ms. Bailey. I was surprised by Ms. Bailey's obvious favoritism of certain residents and willingness to take bribes. While she did do her best to care for all of the children in the building, their parents were subjected to the need to bribe her.

Chapter 6

In this chapter, Sudhir interviews the prostitutes of Robert Taylor, and I found this section almost comical because of Sudhir's basically nonchalant attitude toward the women. Many of the residents of Robert Taylor are quite angry with Sudhir throughout this chapter and he spends much of it attempting to regain their trust, but failing to do so. 

Chapter 7

The drive-by shooting in this chapter was very eye-opening to me. I had just become distracted from the very violent nature of this area when it popped up and reared it's ugly head again here. I was appalled by the attitude of some of the cops.

Chapter 8

The conclusion of this book sees J.T. as a senior member of the black kings and then attempting his hand at things like being a barber, Sudhir moving on to be a professor, and Robert Taylor being torn down. J.T. seems to be more aware of the fact that Sudhir is not actually writing about him at this point, but is actually attempting to be helpful regardless. 

Book Reaction

Not many professors or PhD scholars enter a poor, black, gang infested neighborhood for seven years to ask the question, "How does it feel to be poor and black?". Most studies are carried out in the safe and quiet libraries where academics address the root causes of criminality. This book is different, and that is absolutely what made it so great. I found myself relating to the "characters" in the book as if they were the non-fiction heroes and villains that I so love to read about on my own time. The scary part is that the villains are real and the stories of injury and death are not just words on a page. 

Even though the book occurs during the height of the crack/cocaine epidemic in the US, it was surprising to learn that mo one really gets rich selling drugs. Most of the foot soldiers barely make the minimum wage and still live with their mothers. But the street is the only place where they can get consistent work. That amazed me. I was also taken aback by all the scenarios in which Sudhir suggested that someone should call and ambulance and was immediately met with the words "They won't come here". I just can't imagine an America where that is a possibility. Today, if such a situation occurred, there would undoubtedly be some consequences for those who refused to act.

When it was mentioned that the solution to poverty in public housing was the destruction of the entire housing project and the forced removal of the poor from their homes, I was also shocked. It was called "the transformation plan" and involved replacing the projects with "mixed income" developments. In practice this made people from those areas refugees in their own city. It is a barely disguised land grab by property developers. How can it be acceptable to just force people out of their homes like that?

I would also like to mention that Venkatesh is best known for his contribution to the best selling book Freakonomics, which exposed the underground economy of the urban poor. He provides compelling evidence that drug gangs are a product of US capitalism. I absolutely love Freakonomics, personally, and was extremely excited to hear of this connection.

This book is an excellent read that I would recommend to anyone at all, and not just those interested in ethnography or anthropology.