The Bandana Republic A Literary Anthology by Gang Members and Their Affiliates

by Rivera, Louis Reyes; George, Bruce

• ISBN13: 9781593761943
• ISBN10: 1593761945
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-05-28
• Publisher: Soft Skull

Summary

This collection of writings on and by members of urban youth gangs gives voice to an American subculture far richer and more complex than the headlines indicate.

Urban youth gangs are typically viewed as no more than training grounds for thugs and felons. This breakthrough anthology presents a far different picture, revealing present and former gang members' and street activists' artistic impulses, emotional sensitivities, political beliefs, and capacities to assess the social conditions that created them.

The Bandana Republic contains powerful writing: fiction and essays, poetry, and polemics written by adolescents from gangs like the Crips and Bloods and the Mexican Mafia. There's also creative work by ex-gangbangers who have become activists, artists, musicians, and movie stars. J. Sheeler's "Seven Immortals" finds grim poetry in a young girl's gang initiation. Jaha Zainabu's "The Jungle (Blood Territory)" is a lacerating portrait of an LA Blood. Commander's "The Brothas Gunnin'" piercingly profiles a neighborhood--and a world--under siege.

Author Biography

Louis Reyes Rivera was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Puerto Rican parents. He earned his BA from the City College of New York. His collections of poetry include Who Pays the Cost, This One for You, In Control of English, and Scattered Scripture, which won the Poetry Award from the Latin American Writers Institute.

Rivera’s many honors and awards included a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, a Special Congressional Recognition Award, and the CCNY 125th Anniversary Medal. Committed to the progressive and political power of jazz as well as poetry, Rivera appeared at dozens of jazz clubs and festivals and was inducted into the Brooklyn Jazz Hall of Fame. He died in 2012.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction	p. 1
Battleground	p. 7
We Are Born Into This	p. 9
Super Tramp	p. 9
Set Tripping	p. 10
Initiation: Seven Immortals	p. 12
Self-Made Man	p. 14
The Night Gotti Died	p. 15
king of ghettosphere	p. 16
Racial Conflicts	p. 18
Untitled	p. 20
Maria	p. 20
Machine in Mo-Shuuun!	p. 23
Riverside Outlaw	p. 25
Catch You at the Crossroads	p. 26
I didn't know	p. 27
Shooting the Rabid Dog	p. 29
Ethnic cleansing	p. 30
These Hands	p. 32
Esoteric Rhetoric	p. 33
Battle	p. 36
Partners to the End	p. 37
Recess Time	p. 37
Refugees	p. 38
Kasper	p. 39
I ran from, and to, home	p. 40
Homeboy	p. 42
Writing Inside Time	p. 43
Dead Angels	p. 44
Where the Luv At	p. 45
The Pariah	p. 46
Telling the Tale	p. 47
Flexing for Turf	p. 49
Absence of Choice	p. 50
Untitled	p. 54
From Gangs of the Ghetto to Gangstas of the Inner City	p. 56
Ghetto Nostalgia	p. 64
Our Children Are Screaming	p. 66
Todo Por Mi Familia: An interview with Chino Familia	p. 70
With all due respect to Big Tookie	p. 79
18th Street Showdown	p. 80
Inner City Disease	p. 86
What Blood Means	p. 88
D.T.K. (Down to Kill)	p. 88
Big Tommy, Little Tommy	p. 98
The Darkest of Knights	p. 103
Eloquent Hypocrisy	p. 106
On the Count	p. 111
I am what it is to be	p. 113
As I lay in my lonely and cold bed	p. 113
A Letter from the Inside	p. 115
A Prayer from Hell	p. 116
Where'd He Learn It From	p. 117
The Cage!	p. 118
Have You Seen the Sun	p. 119
Jailed	p. 119
The Game	p. 120
Excerpt: "Down for Revolution"	p. 121
Mind Games	p. 140
They gave me twelve years on the wake-up	p. 141
I'm Just Waiting	p. 142
Behind Prison Bars	p. 144
Letter to My Son	p. 146
Leaving Death Row	p. 149
I Am/I Am Out	p. 150
The Politics We See	p. 153
Old Lines	p. 155
Para Los Latinos y Federico Garcia Lorca	p. 158
From the Gut	p. 160
Introduction to Life	p. 160
On the Lifestyle of Gang Culture	p. 161
Gangbanging the American Way	p. 163
Original Garvey (OG)	p. 165
Kun Fieya Kun	p. 166
The N Word!	p. 168
Political Poetry	p. 170
Gangs R Us	p. 171
Brooklyn! Downed Town!	p. 172
Break Your Chains	p. 173
Fear of a Bandana Republic	p. 175
Can You Tap Into the Mentality	p. 178
What do R.B.G. Mean?	p. 181
Born Identity	p. 182
Gangs	p. 184
The Brothas Gunnin'	p. 185
SinCity (For Springfield, MA)	p. 186
Tupac	p. 188
Uhuru (a revolutionary carol)	p. 190
Hard Love	p. 193
Without Pretense	p. 195
What are we having	p. 195
Dangerously in Love	p. 197
Dancin' at the Printz Grille	p. 198
She's Just Modeling	p. 199
Eyes Open Wide	p. 199
Inside Out	p. 200
Progress	p. 202
The Dinner	p. 203
Family Ties	p. 204
Untitled	p. 204
Home Street Home	p. 205
English Only Spoken Here!	p. 206
In the Name of Love	p. 209
Visiting Day at Elmwood	p. 211
Ghetto Haikus	p. 212
Degree of Separation (part 2)	p. 214
Tribute	p. 217
Elegy: in hot pursuit	p. 220
New Leaves Turning	p. 223
What Is a Gang?	p. 225
Scarface	p. 228
It Seems Like Yesterday	p. 231
Diverse and Wild	p. 233
The Process	p. 234
On Some Freedom Shit	p. 235
Michael Jackson's Actions	p. 237
Patience of the Spider (An interview with Spider Loc)	p. 241
Truth and Honesty	p. 247
An Open Letter	p. 247
Youth and Community	p. 248
The thoughts of a man, the words of a Crip	p. 249
To Whom It May Concern	p. 251
On David	p. 251
50 Clip Reincarnation	p. 255
Simply Give	p. 256
The Deal Is Done	p. 256
Gangs	p. 258
America doesn't have a gang problem	p. 258
We Shine	p. 260
The Ghetto Manifesto	p. 61
Code of Conduct	p. 262
The Directive	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.