Gang Leader for a Day: Final Post

      In Gang Leader for a Day, Sudhir Venkatesh takes us through six years of his of life from his graduation at UCSD to his teaching job at Colombia University.  Sudhir was a sociology graduate student at the University of Chicago looking for a way to better his research of the underground economics and poverty of the inner city.  What he got was a whole lot more.  He created friendships that will last a lifetime will simultaneously conducting his research and managing his unofficial position as the "Director of Communications" for the crack dealing gang, the Black Kings.
     Sudhir was put to the test many times during his life with the gang.  He has seen drive-by shootings, dragged an injured man to safety amidst a gunfight, witnessed countless drug deals as well as the inner workings of a well organized gang.  Many people would have stopped long before Sudhir did.  The FBI had been investigating the Black Kings in Chicago for a couple years and although they never approached Sudhir, they knew of him and his notebooks where he had been keeping all his experiences with the gang.  Sudhir's car was broken into and many cops knew of what he was up to.  Sudhir knew that he could get his friends arrested side with the cops but after he saw the ways the crooked cops got their share of the gang's revenue as well, he realized that no matter what he does, drug dealing and gangs with never cease.  Through his experiences, he also realized how everyone is protected by the gang and to disrupt everything wouldn't just hurt the gang, it would hurt their families and everyone living in the projects and most of the inner city.  He saw balance in the projects and aside from the fact that his research has never been matched by any sociologist with regards to inner city poverty and gang life, Sudhir at all costs did what he believed in.

Gang Leader for a Day #5

Sudhir has been hanging around the projects with J.T. for 6 years now.  It is 1996 and Sudhir is realizing that he is not going to have much more time to spend with his friends from the projects and thoroughly enjoys the last year he will spend with J.T.
Sudhir is relaxing at a small get together outside the Robert Taylor Homes, talking with an old man who has lived in the projects his whole life.  Out of nowhere, a car flies by with two men in the back firing machine guns blindly at the gang members.  Everyone outside hits the deck and the few gang members try to run inside for cover.  However one of J.T.'s closest friends, Price, gets shot in the leg.  Without thinking Sudhir runs over to Price and drags him in the lobby. J.T. says that he needs to use Sudhir's car to drive to the hospital because if he pulls up in a nice sports car the hospital won't want anything to do with them.  Not to mention if they called an ambulance, it most likely wouldn't come.  J.T. is thrilled with Sudhir's bravery and his offer to let them use his car.
Later that week, J.T. threw a party for the local leaders for their success.  While they were celebrating, four men with masks on break the door down, rob the place and all of the people there.  J.T. knew that they were cops, jealous of the fact that gang leaders make a lot more money than them.
After a few months, J.T. invites Sudhir to attend a meeting between all of the head bosses of the Black Kings.  The bosses are interested with Sudhir and even want Sudhir to interview them.  After a few meetings, which are simply men going to get drunk and high with each other without discussing the well-being of the gang, Sudhir is offered a job teaching Sociology at Colombia University.  He has trouble breaking the news to J.T. but he knew it was coming.
    Meanwhile, J.T. is having a lot of trouble with the gang because the Robert Taylor Homes scheduled to be demolished which would cause a large decrease in the amount of customers.  After the projects are demolished, J.T. manages a dry-cleaning store, opens a barbershop and other various things but the money he earned as a gang leader is still plentiful.
         After Sudhir moved he visited Chicago a couple times a year to see J.T. but their relationship was never as strong and they couldn't converse about the same things anymore.   

Gang Leader for a Day #4

        Finally, Sudhir is given the opportunity to partially run the gang for a day.  He is not given full control for a day because J.T. is afraid of what he would do and he doesn't want his elders reprimanding him for letting Sudhir run the gang.  However, just because his powers are heavily restricted, it doesn't mean he won't have some decisions to make.  They start the day early and make the normal runs to all of the corners where the soldiers are dealing.  For the first couple hours, Sudhir has no issues.  His first decision of the day, however, is a tough one.  They drive up to one of the corners where there had been some issues lately.  Otis is a soldier, a college basketball star at SIU that dropped out because of his lust for dealing, and Billy.  Billy is the leader of the corner.  Otis says that Billy hasn't paid him in a week and Billy says that Otis was a hundred dollars short for his one hundred pack of the crack he sold.  Sudhir analyzes the situation and comes to the conclusion that Otis is not lying because he kept the money that Billy owed to him from now paying him for a week.  Billy never denied not paying him so Billy is the one that must receive a consequence.  Sudhir is much too weak and scared to carry out a punishment so J.T. tells everyone to go to the car while he knocks out Billy.  Nothing else that exciting happens but Sudhir has a newfound respect for J.T. and all gang leaders.
        In the next chapter, Sudhir focuses his research on the underground economy of the projects.  He interviews anyone and everyone.  Anyone who makes any money "hustling" in the projects.  Hustling doesn't just mean selling srugs and prostitution.  It can mean selling food, apartment space, clothes, any services really .  Everyone gets their cut and everyone owes a percentage to J.T. and/or Mrs. Bailey, the tenant leader who is also very corruptible.  After Sudhir collects all his research,  J.T. and Mrs. Bailey innocently ask for the numbers behind it.  Without thinking Sudhir tells them everything and the next day when he arrives at the projects, everyone is giving him a dirty look and he can't figure out why.  Then finally someone tells him that J.T. and Mrs. Bailey started taxing everyone much heavier because they figured out, through Sudhir's research, that they were lying.  Everyone will eventually forgive him but living and surviving in the projects is an organized business.

Abortion

     When a woman is deciding to get an abortion, there are a lot of things on her mind.  How will the procedure go? Did I make the right decision in getting an abortion? How will this decision effect my life and my family's life? It can be a very stressful time for a woman and more burdens could compromise her decisions with the possibility of being hurt emotionally and physically.  If any burden directly threatens the well-being of the patient it should be done away with.  More restrictions and burdens would only hurt the woman and possibly the baby. 
      Abortion services should not be covered under all health care plans.  If it is proven that a woman is raped, then I think health care should cover it.  However, when a women knowingly has sex without protection and gets pregnant, it is her fault and the American tax-payer should not have to cover for her mistake.  There are over one millions abortions in the America each year.  Abortions are at minimum $350.  That means that the massive deficit America is already in would incraese by a minimum of $350 million each year.  If health care plans cover all abortions, what message are we sending?  It is okay to get pregnany and have your health care bail you out every time?  I don't think so.
     I think abortion should be legal in some circumstances.  If a woman is raped and becomes pregnant, she should have the option to obtain an abortion.  However, in all other cases, abortion should be illegal.  No matter how you look at it, abortion is taking a human life.  People like to make the excuse that the child won't have a good life because of money.  Who are we to judge that? There are Foster Homes open for anyone who can't fully support their child and if not plenty of success stories have begun with a poor child who fought adversity and succeeded.  We should give the child a chance to make something of his life, rather than make the decision for him. 

Gang Leader for a day #3

       Sudhir has been hanging around J.T. and his gang for around three years now.  He has met many new people since J.T. has had less time for him because of the growth of the gang.  Next to J.T. Sudhir's best friend is Autry.  Autry is a 35 year old man who runs the kids clubs in the projects.  Autry is an ex Black- King and has spent some time in jail and hoping to turn his life around.  Sudhir and Autry started spending a lot of time together around the projects when J.T. was gone.  It was surprising to see that Autry had a lot of power as well in the gang.  Autry would act as a mediator for many disputes within the gang and was always searching for ways to make the community a more comfortable place.  Autry held a meeting with all the local gang leaders to see if he could start a local midnight basketball league.  A few nights a week, basketball games would be held late at night in an effort to decrease the amount of young gang members dealing drugs.  Autry said he would need $5000 from each gang leader to make it happen.  The league was started and it kept people off the streets.
      A constant theme in this book is that almost all the issues in society are handled by each other or within the gang.  Although it may seem dangerous, it is very effective.  No one ever thinks about calling the cops.
      A few weeks after the gang leader meeting, Sudhir, J.T. and his bodyguards are driving around doing their normal routine.  When they sit down to eat Sudhir says something that gets of J.T.'s nerves.  "I don't see what's so difficult about your job, I mean you say how hard it is to do what you do, but I just can't see it being that difficult." J.T. responds, "Okay, well, you want to give it a try?"  Sudhir is given one day to be a gang leader.  Predictions?

Gang Leader for a Day #2

Sudhir was a nervous wreck while entering the projects.  He didn't know what to expect and had heard a lot of stories about the crimes committed in the projects.  When he went into the lobby, he was finding his way through a large crowd of black men from teenagers all the way to forty or so.  There was an awful smell of urine, alcohol and drugs as well.  One of the men asked Sudhir where he was going and he told him the numbers of the apartments and the black man responded, nobody lives there.  Sudhir did not feel like challenging the man when he knew he was lying because no one from the projects likes talking to community workers.  He then headed to the next building where he was met by a small group of guys drinking beer and playing cards.  The men thought he was a Mexican from the rival gang (Latin Kings) and were about to assault him when J.T. stepped in.  J.T. was one of the leaders of the Black Kings, a notorious gang in Chicago that sold crack all over Chicago, and in the projects.  After they got to talking Sudhir told him about the surveys that he was supposed to ask the inhabitants of the projects but J.T. said there would be no need for that.  They sat and talked for hours before Sudhir went home.  While he was at home Sudhir couldn't get his mind off of what he had just experienced.  At five in the morning he headed back to the projects, this time with some beer, to hang out with his new friends.  A bond was formed and J.T. liked Sudhir as well as respected him.  Over the next year or so, the Black Kings would show Sudhir around the city of Chicago and take him in.  All of the young blacks now knew and respected Sudhir since he was J.T.'s friend.  Sudhir would see countless assaults and non-stop crack dealing but it was in the best interest of his graduate sociology class at University of Chicago.  Truth is, he liked hanging with the gang.  There was a lot of structure and J.T. was the boss of the projects.  J.T. said, "Everyone is in on everything here" referring to the projects.  Anyone that was using the projects as a safehouse would pay a fee.  Any prostitutes hanging around the projects would pay a fee.  This may sound unfair but everyone was protected by the gang and everyone respected J.T. Without the structure of the gang all havoc would break loose. 
J.T. is moving up the ladder in the gang and is hoping to expand their profits by increasing the amount of crack they buy.  Sudhir knows this and is fed up of witnessing dozens of crimes on a daily basis.

Renovations

Although I am usually one to disagree with any increase on taxes, I think in this situation it is beneficial for the school, and the community to go through with these renovations.  There is no doubt that Deerfield is an impressive school academically. It is in the top five in the state behind only Magnet schools.  The teachers obviously know what they are doing and things seem to be going well at Deerfield and Highland Park.  However, the facilities at Deerfield are weak.  The heating and air conditioning is from the stone age and it needs renovating.  Deerfield's athletic facilities are also pathetic.  To start off the PERC is tiny and the workout room next to it is somewhat empty.  The football field drains right onto the baseball field which cancelled some of our games last year.  Also the field house would be and important addition to the athletic facilities.  There are simply too many positives to these renovations.  If we hold out this year, then we would simply have to so the exact same thing 1,2 or 10 years from now.  We are all struggling with the economy but in order to bring more people into the town, our facilities need to be top notch just like our academics.