Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012
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Gangleader  for  a  Day:  A  Rogue  Sociologist  Takes  to  the  Streets   follows  Dr.
Sudhir  Venkatesh,  a  graduate  student  at  the  University  of  Chicago  during  the  time   period  of  the  activities  in  the  book.  In  order  to  form  a  bond  with  a  faculty  member  at   the  university,  Venkatesh  ventures  into  gang  territory  to  collect  data  in  a  survey
(poorly)  designed  to  gain  insight  into  black  people  living  in  poverty.  However,  he   found  more  data  than  he  could  ever  imagine.
Against  the  advising  of  the  university,  Venkatesh  ventured  into  territory   deemed  “unsafe”  and  eventually  found  himself  in  the  stairway  of  a  building  right  in   the  middle  of  the  Black  Kings  gang’s  turf.  Fortunately  for  Venkatesh,  the  local  gang   leader  J.T.  started  to  take  an  interest  in  him.  Over  the  next  few  years,  they  developed   a  rapport  that  gave  Dr.  Venkatesh  an  insight  into  the  gang  culture  and  the  workings   of  the  Robert  Taylor  public  housing  unit.  J.T.  allowed  Venkatesh  to  attend  senior   gang  leaders’  meetings,  tenant  president  Ms.  Bailey  invited  him  to  building   meetings,  the  Boys  and  Girls  Club  let  him  volunteer,  and  Ms.  Mae  cooked  him  a  lot  of   food.
During  his  time  collecting  stories  and  data,  Venkatesh  spoke  with  pimps,   prostitutes,  squatters,  corrupt  officials,  foot  soldiers,  and  high  up  leadership  within   the  Black  Kings  gang.  He  spoke  with  all  sorts  of  different  types  of  hustlers,  and   proceeded  to  reveal  too  much  information  on  them  and  their  finances  to  people  who
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012   used  and  abused  it.  He  helped  to  write  grants  to  aid  in  programs  for  the   underprivileged  youth  that  he  grew  to  know  and  love.  He  gained  access  to  the  Black
Kings  accounting  records,  the  most  detailed  of  any  gang  records  up  to  that  point.  He   incurred  his  car  being  broken  into,  survived  several  drive  by  shootings,  and  even   more  importantly  came  out  alive  from  speaking  with  the  leaders  of  a  gang  known   for  violence.  Even  his  main  connection  had  violent  streaks  in  from  of  him.
Without  a  doubt,  this  is  the  saddest  book  I  have  ever  read.  Growing  up  in  a   rural  Kansas  town,  I  have  seen  my  fair  share  of  poverty.  I  wish  I  could  say  it’s  due  to   the  one  on  one  interaction  and  better  education  at  small  schools  that  are  the  big   draw  to  towns  like  mine,  but  it’s  not.  My  hometown  is  bombarded  by  people  who   are  attracted  to  the  lower  living  costs  and  sometimes  because  of  the  complacent   police  force  and  access  to  drugs.  Even  I,  as  the  town  goody-­‐two-­‐shoes,  know  the   drug  houses  in  town.  But,  from  my  perspective  of  this  book,  things  get  a  little   different  when  nearly  every  home  is  a  drug  house.
Funnily  enough,  when  I  was  a  sophomore  in  high  school,  I  went  to  a  Students
Against  Drunk  Driving  conference  with  ten  of  my  fellow  classmates  in  order  to   explore  interest  in  starting  our  own  chapter  of  the  organization.  During  the   conference,  we  had  a  break  out  session  in  which  we  had  a  member  of  the  Norwich   chapter  met  with  the  Stafford  kids  in  order  to  create  a  game  plan.  After  about  ten   minutes  of  uncomfortably  talking  with  the  member,  she  asked  us  what  we  felt  were   the  biggest  problems  in  our  town.  We  replied  with  the  usual  underage  drinking  and
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012   drug  usage.  She  prodded  us  for  more  issues,  and  we  could  think  of  only  a  few  more,   and  still,  she  seemed  unsatisfied.  She  finally  blurted  out,  “What  about  the  gangs?”
After  a  few  seconds  of  awkward  silence  followed  by  laughter,  we  all  realized   that  it  was  a  serious  question.  She  told  us  that  her  advisor  had  warned  them   specifically  about  our  school,  because  from  what  she  had  heard,  we  had  serious  gang   issues  in  our  town  of  less  than  1,000  people.
This  is,  fortunately,  was  the  closest  I  have  ever  run  into  gang  activity.  I  was   blessed  to  be  born  into  both  my  family  and  community,  even  with  the  issues  that   they  both  may  have.  But,  there  are  millions  of  people  who  are  born  into  situations   like  Sudhir  Venkatesh  experienced.  One  thing  that  really  stuck  out  to  me  was  the,   albeit  dysfunctional,  sense  of  community,  Dorothy  and  her  “Stick  Together  Gang”,   for  example.  Even  after  living  in  essentially  inhumane  conditions,  these  women   found  ways  to  rely  upon  themselves  even  in  the  direst  of  situations.  This  aspect   reminds  me  a  lot  of  my  own  hometown’s  sense  of  community.  There  are  older   members  of  the  community  who  essentially  adopt  entire  families  and  help  them  to   get  back  onto  their  feet,  a  constantly  filled  food  bank  at  the  Methodist  Church  and   benefit  dinners  almost  every  week  for  a  member  of  the  community.
The  surprising  aspect  to  me  is  that  J.T.,  the  local  gang  leader,  claims  that  his   gang  is  a  “community  organization”.  While  the  mainstream  says  that  the  drug   trafficking  is  dangerous  and  that  its  takes  money  away  from  the  poor  people  who   live  in  that  community,  J.T.  argued  that  it  instead  took  the  most  money  from  the   useless  drifters  in  the  community  and  helped  to  support  the  income  of  everyone
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012   else.  In  addition,  the  gangs  give  thousands  of  dollars  to  youth  programs  and  require   that  all  gang  members  have  received  their  high  school  diploma.
During  a  two  week  long  Chicago  teacher  strike,  the  Black  Kings  and  the  Boys   and  Girls  Club  helped  to  sponsor  what  was  supposed  to  be  an  informal  school  for   the  gang  members  in  Robert  Taylor.  Unfortunately,  it  looks  like  when  you  get   twenty-­‐fifty  young  gangsters  in  a  room,  it’s  not  a  particularly  conducive  learning   environment.
However,  J.T.  never  elaborated  on  the  dangers  of  the  gang  life  in  the  book.  T.
Bone,  one  of  J.T.’s  senior  officers,  longed  to  get  out  of  the  gang  life  and  start  his  own   business.  T.  Bone  knew  that  the  industry  was  dangerous  and  would  eventually  lead   to  imprisonment  or  death.  Unfortunately  for  T.  Bone,  both  of  those  eventualities   came  true.  During  the  Venkatesh’s  time  in  the  projects,  he  survived  at  least  three   drive-­‐by  shootings.  Corrupt  police  officers  raided  apartments  for  money  and   anything  else  of  value  and  routinely  beat  people.  Violence  plagued  the  street  and   domestic  violence  plagued  apartments.  Many  of  these  issues  can  be  directly  traced   back  to  the  gang’s  activity  in  the  area,  and  I  think  disproves  J.T.’s  claim  of  being  a   community  organization.
After  reading  about  the  disruption  in  Venkatesh’s  “classroom”,  I  grew  curious   to  see  just  how  well  Chicago’s  school  districts  do  in  national  testing.  According  to
2011  results  from  The  Nation’s  Report  Card,  Chicago  scored  four  points  lower  (270)   than  the  national  urban  school  district  average  (274)  in  mathematics  during  the  8 th   grade.  This  is  13  points  less  than  the  national  public  school  average  (283).  However,
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012   this  is  a  vast  improvement  from  2003  when  Chicago  8 th  graders  only  scored  254   points.  This  trend  was  also  seen  in  the  newest  available  reading  (253  Chicago  score,
255  urban  average  score)  and  science  (121  Chicago  score,  134  urban  average  score)   scores  for  8 th  graders.  However  Chicago  8 th  graders’  2007  average  scores  in  writing
(146)  were  slightly  higher  than  the  urban  average  score  of  145.
Another  part  of  the  book  that  caught  my  eye  was  after  Clarisse  stumbled  into
Ms.  Bailey’s  apartment.  Venkatesh  took  her  back  to  her  apartment  and  she  told  him   that  Ms.  Bailey  wouldn’t  give  them  food.  In  order  to  make  sure  that  Clarisse’s   children  had  food,  he  took  them  to  a  “grocery  store”.
“When  I  told  Clarisse’s  girls  that  we  were  going  to  fill  up  a  shopping  cart,  they   looked  like  I’d  just  given  them  free  passes  to  Disney  World.  While  they  grabbed   candy,  I  tried  to  sneak  in  a  few  cans  of  spaghetti-­‐alas,  one  of  the  most  nutritious   items  on  the  shelves-­‐  and  some  milk,  cereal,  and  frozen  dinners.”
After  being  actively  involved  in  the  FFA,  working  with  Hunger  U,  heading   up  SWIPE  Out  Hunger  and  being  an  agriculture  major,  I  have  heard  all  about  “food   deserts”.  Food  deserts  are,  as  defined  by  the  Centers  for  Disease  Control  and
Prevention,  areas  that  lack  access  to  affordable  fruits,  vegetables,  whole  grains,  low   fat  milk  and  other  foods  that  make  up  the  full  range  of  a  healthy  diet.  As  much  as  I   had  memorized  statistics  on  food  deserts,  I  had  never  thought  about  the   implications  of  them.  That  is  until  I  pictured  two  young  girls  piling  candy  into  a   dingy  shopping  cart  in  a  crowded,  dirty  grocery  store  as  a  young  Indian  man  threw   various  cans  in  under  the  piles  of  candy.
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012
Most  people  think  of  the  United  States  an  entirely  food  secure  country,  but   this  is  simply  not  the  case.  Again,  I  decided  that  I  wanted  to  follow  up  on  this   realization  with  some  research.  According  to  the  USDA,  the  area  that  the  Robert
Taylor  Homes  were  once  located  in  is  now  food  secure.  But,  that  was  expected  since
Venkatesh  said  that  the  area  was  now  middle  class  condos  after  the  last  building   was  demolished  in  2007.  But  scattered  around  the  area  are  small  areas  where  food   is  still  scarce.  A  little  southeast  of  the  former  Taylor  homes  there  are  three  clustered   zones  with  100  percent  of  people  having  low  access  to  safe,  nutritious  food.  That   small  area  accounts  for  4,243  people,  which  is  over  four  times  the  amount  of  people   in  my  hometown.  This  is  astonishing.  Go  a  bit  further  south  and  there  are  massive   chunks  of  area  where  food  is  scarce.  This  is  right  in  the  middle  of  a  bustling,   metropolitan  area,  and  we  are  failing  to  feed  tens  of  thousands  of  people.
But  as  shocking  as  that  realization  was,  I  decided  to  do  some  investigating   in  my  own  backyard.  After  typing  in  my  hometown,  I  learned  that  it  is  right  in  the   middle  of  a  massive  food  desert.  Although  I  don’t  understand  how  many  hometown   city  limits  are  included,    (we  have  a  local  grocery  store  that  carries  a  lot  of  fresh   fruits  and  vegetables,  some  of  which  are  locally  grown)  I  do  understand  how  the   remote  homes  in  the  county  would  be  considered  for  this  unwelcome  category.  It’s   thirty  miles  to  the  nearest  Walmart  from  my  town’s  outskirts,  so  the  people  in  more   rural  areas  may  have  harder  access  to  those  grocery  stores.
Another  important  aspect  of  the  story  line  was  the  drug  culture.  From   what  I  understand  from  the  book,  customers  had  easy  access  to  drugs  in  the  Robert
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012
Taylor  Homes  area.  It  was  also  convenient  for  people  in  other  areas  of  Chicago  to  get   to  because  of  it’s  close  location  to  a  major  Chicago  traffic  artery  and  popular  because   of  the  lack  of  police  intervention  in  the  area.  Once  customers  arrived,  they  could  just   pull  up  and  have  either  roadside  service  or  head  near  an  apartment  building  to  find   a  dealer.  Products  ranged  from  marijuana  to  crack,  with  the  Black  Kings  main  focus   being  crack.
In  contrast,  despite  my  naivety  in  the  Manhattan  drug  market,  many   people  at  K-­‐State  have  experience  in  these  areas.  One  popular  illegal  drug  when   taken  without  a  prescription  is  Adderall.  Apparently  I  don’t  look  like  I  struggle   enough  in  Hale  Library,  because  dealers  approach  students  to  see  if  they  want  pills   to  study  with.
Another  popular  drug  in  the  Manhattan  area  is  marijuana.  According  to  an   anonymous  source,  the  first  interactions  are  usually  done  through  friends  and  their   friend’s    “person”,  unless  you  know  a  dealer  personally.  From  there,  the  dealer  will   usually  make  a  house  call  where  you  walk  up  to  the  vehicle  and  pay  for  it  or  they   will  ask  to  meet  somewhere  remote.  Another  anonymous  source  said  that  her  ex-­‐ boyfriend  back  in  California  used  to  do  drugs  and  would  support  his  usage  and   income  by  dealing  as  well.  In  order  to  keep  the  heat  off  of  himself,  he  would  ask  her   to  deal,  too.  She  would  make  house  calls  and  even  enter  into  people’s  apartments  in   order  to  collect  money.
Another  main  staple  of  the  Black  Kings  operation  was  prostitution.  One  of   the  central  women  in  the  book,  Clarisse,  was  a  prostitute.  She  claimed  to  only  do  it
7

Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012   when  she  needed  money  to  feed  her  kids  and  that  she  didn’t  hustle  for  drugs.  This   was  disproven  when  she  wandered  into  Ms.  Bailey’s  apartment  drunk  or  high  as  a   kite.  One  would  not  think  of  the  sleepy  Little  Apple,  as  having  issues  with   prostitution,  but  that,  too,  is  false.    Just  two  years  ago,  a  prostitution  ring  was  busted   in  Manhattan  and  one  of  the  main  customers  was  an  RA  in  the  dorms  on  campus.
This  was  eye  opening  for  many  students  and  parents  at  K-­‐State.
I  believe  Venkatesh’s  main  objective  when  he  first  started  to  experience   this  was  to  win  favor  with  his  advisors.  His  father  encouraged  him  to  do  so  in  order   to  gain  opportunities  both  during  and  post  graduate  school.  But  soon,  this  project   developed  into  his  thesis  and  ultimately  became  an  area  of  personal  investment
(which  has  positive  and  negative  impacts).  I  think  he  wrote  Gang  Leader  for  a  Day  in   order  to  bring  attention  to  the  issues  found  in  impoverished  areas  scattered
throughout  the  United  States.  And  he  did  so.
As  demonstrated  by  the  early  parts  of  this  paper,  it  garnered  enough   attention  in  my  mind  for  me  to  do  actual  research  and  compare  it  to  what  I  know.  I   have  never  been  in  a  real  “ghetto”.  The  largest  city  I  have  been  in  was  Washington
D.C.,  but  our  school  tour  guides  weren’t  chomping  at  the  bit  to  take  us  into  these
“dangerous”  areas.  Doing  the  research  also  opened  my  eyes  to  problems  in  my  own   backyard.  I  always  knew  that  I  grew  up  in  a  rural  area  that  was  plagued  by  poverty,   but  I  didn’t  realize  how  bad  it  was  until  I  researched  it.
It  makes  me  feel  like  I  have  failed  my  own  people.  To  not  recognize  their  true   disparity  when  I  see  it  all  the  time.  But  the  fact  that  there  are  thousands  of  people  in
8

Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012   areas  where  literally  millions  of  people  pass  through  everyday  astounds  me.  I  can’t   imagine  that  many  people  in  an  area,  let  alone  that  many  people  not  doing  anything   to  help  their  neighbors  just  a  few  blocks  away.
The  author’s  literal  first  question  was,  “How  does  it  feel  to  be  black  and  poor?”
But  fortunately,  his  interest  soon  developed  further  into  the  workings  of  the  Robert
Taylor  Homes,  the  gang  culture  that  thrived  within  the  area  and  the  survival  of  the   tenants.  He  found  that  the  public  housing  survived  on  extortion,  bribery,  and   tenants’  feelings  of  community  and  gang  muscle.  Throughout  the  years  that  he  spent   nearly  everyday  in  the  projects,  he  talked  to  countless  people  in  order  to  find  out   how  they  lived.  People  survived  by  any  means  possible,  from  selling  candy  to  selling   their  bodies.  He  immersed  himself  into  the  culture  of  the  projects  and  the  only   things  that  were  off  limits  were  items  that  he  could  be  in  trouble  with  the  law  for   knowing.
To  be  honest,  the  only  reason  that  I  chose  this  book  is  because  it  was  the  only   one  that  I  could  buy  on  my  Kindle.  I  wasn’t  expecting  to  enjoy  it  at  all,  but  when  I   started  to  read  it,  I  had  trouble  putting  it  down.  I  didn’t  necessarily  like  the  style  that   it  was  written  in  sometimes,  but  the  content  was  incredible.  I  knew  that  poverty  was   a  major  issue  in  metropolitan  areas,  but  I  had  no  clue  how  they  survived.  Who  knew   that  some  squatters  helped  residents  fix  appliances  and  get  free  electricity  and  gas   and,  more  importantly,  where  could  I  get  one  to  help  me  out?
I  typically  don’t  even  like  to  read  non-­‐fiction  books,  but  this  was  an  exception.
I  think  it’s  because  I  may  not  have  had  experience  with  metropolitan  poverty,  but  I
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012   do  have  the  experience  with  poverty  in  my  own  community.  Although  the  root   problem  is  the  same,  people  survive  in  different  ways.  In  my  hometown,  the  school   system  and  the  churches  are  vital  parts  in  helping  impoverished  people.  In  Robert
Taylor,  however,  it  seems  like  they  rely  on  their  literal  neighbors  very  heavily.  In   addition,  they  also  barter  with  anything  they  have.  People  exchange  child  care  for   food  and  do  other  crafty  things  just  to  get  by.
When  the  Robert  Taylor  Homes  were  built,  they  were  supposed  to  be  a   beacon  of  hope  for  the  poor  people  who  would  inhabit  them.  Soon  enough,  this  hope   was  squashed  when  corruption  and  violence  began  to  take  over  the  area.
Supposedly  the  predominately  African  American  gangs  of  Chicago  were  based  on   the  improvement  of  the  community  through  civil  rights  movements  and  lobbying  for   tenant  rights.  However,  soon  enough  the  “gang”  format  started  to  be  used  for   financial  gain  through  hustling,  drugs,  and  prostitution.  So  the  basis  of  these  violent   gangs  truly  do  have  roots  in  the  past,  and  will  most  likely  continue  to  flourish  in  the   foreseeable  future.  The  former  tenants  of  Robert  Taylor  would  argue  that  their   impoverishment  was  rooted  in  the  oppression  of  the  African  American  race.  It’s   widely  accepted  in  public  housing  that  the  reason  why  these  housing  units  exist  is  to   segregate  races.
I  would  be  interested  to  see  where  all  the  residents  of  Robert  Taylor  Houses   moved.  Venkatesh  mentioned  where  some  of  the  residents  ended  up,  but  to  see  a   statistical  analysis  of  where  the  residents  moved.  All  in  all,  this  was  a  fascinating   book.  To  know  that  there  are  huge  social  problems  like  this  in  our  own  American
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012   backyard  is  truly  disturbing.  I  believe  that  Dr.  Venkatesh  wrote  this  book,  continues   his  studies  and  shares  his  knowledge  with  students  in  order  to  change  the  status   quo  in  regards  to  poverty.  Americans  have  grown  complacent  in  the  fight  against   poverty  in  their  own  nation,  and  I  think  sharing  Venkatesh’s  story  can  inspire  action   to  save  communities  and  lives.
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Jordan  Hildebrand
Social  Problems
Final  Project
Monday,  December  3,  2012
"USDA  ERS  -­‐  Go  to  the  Locator."  USDA  ERS  -­‐  Go  to  the  Locator.  USDA,  23  Aug.  2012.
Web.  02  Dec.  2012.  <http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-­‐products/food-­‐desert-­‐ locator/go-­‐to-­‐the-­‐locator.aspx>.
"Trial  Urban  District  Assessment."  NAEP  -­‐.  U.S.  Department  of  Education,  n.d.  Web.
02  Dec.  2012.  <http://nationsreportcard.gov/tuda.asp>.
Venkatesh,  Sudhir.   Gang  Leader  for  a  Day:  A  Rogue  Sociologist  Takes  to  the  Streets .
New  York:  Penguin  Press,  2008.  Kindle  file.
"A  Look  Inside  Food  Deserts."  Centers  for  Disease  Control  and  Prevention.  Centers   for  Disease  Control  and  Prevention,  24  Sept.  2012.  Web.  02  Dec.  2012.
<http://www.cdc.gov/features/fooddeserts/>.
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