Recent Reads - Gang Leader for a Day

Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh is a truly amazing, frightening read. Venkatesh spent almost ten years visiting Robert Taylor, a housing project encompassing 28 high rises, 16 stories tall, with more than 27,000 residents total. At times more than 95% of the residents were unemployed, and there were various turf wars for gang members.

The author chronicles his attempts to get a sense of how people lived in this home, how the gangs functioned (they were at a very high level of organization and business-sense because of the high concentration of people) how people were in finding ways survive; barter, scrambling for ways to earn extra income, stay safe, get things fixed when you didn't have the ability to pay bribes in order to get things fixed, etc.

The title actually applies to only part of the book, specifically the time that he spent with J.T. He examines the business and violence of gangs, disects the community benefits and well as the harm caused by the gang activity, as well as the amazing poverty of many of the lower level gang members - and the high level of obedience expected by gangs.

Other sections examine the hustlers, how people make money by repairing things, finding ways to steal electricity, fix cars, etc. in order to survive. It also examines the way many women work together, sharing baby-sitting, cooking, etc - often sharing several apartments since one may have hot water, another cable, a third heat, and a fourth a working stove.

It is hard not to question the author as his observations are so amazing, that said he shows us (he makes no conclusions himself) that all too often those in power cause harm by igoring the problems of the low-income people, then compounding the sin by ignoring what they have built when tearing it down. The demolishing of Robert Taylor removed any support system these people had.

A powerful and painful book to read, but an important one.