Street Wars

by Hayden, Tom

• ISBN13: 9781595580306
• ISBN10: 1595580301
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-01
• Publisher: New Pr

Summary

The renowned activist's impassioned look at gangs and youth violence in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. A gripping and honest account of the culture of gangs,Street Warsis essential reading for anyone concerned about cities, violence, and the future of urban youth. Though never officially acknowledged, over 25,000 young people have died in America's gang wars since 1980. In cities across America, members of the Crips, Bloods, Mara Salvatrucha, 18th Street, Latin Kings, Blackstone Rangers, and Gangster Disciples are like traumatized war veterans with no way home. Drawn from ten years spent as an activist and public official working to understand and prevent gang violence in Los Angeles,Street Warsis Tom Hayden's searing indictment of the neo-conservative politics of law and order that dominate current policy and suffocate inner-city youth. Weaving together cutting analysis and numerous firsthand stories from gang leaders, Hayden shows how the prison industrial complex reinforces gang identity through humiliation and punishment, and reveals how globalization has created a force of unemployable men and women around the world who are defined as incorrigible, outside law and community. The final chapters advocate an internal peace process based on ideas of the New Deal to address the devastation of America's urban youth.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition	ix
Foreword: Adelante	xxi
1. These Dead Don't Count	1	(17)
2. Roses in Concrete	18	(19)
3. The Peace Process	37	(24)
4. The 1998 Santa Monica—Culver City Gang Truce	61	(25)
5. The Demonization Crusade	86	(67)
6. Hidden Histories: The Watts Truce Between Crips and Bloods	153	(46)
7. Fruits of War: Homies Unidos and the Globalization of Gangs	199	(58)
8. Restoring Community Action	257	(53)
9. Education, Politics, and the Future	310	(37)
Afterword: Looking for Miracles	347	(12)
Notes	359	(44)
Index	403