Analysis Of The Book ' Straight Outta East Oakland ' By Harry Louis Williams

The objective of obstacles is often undervalued; however, Robert White once stated, “If we accept the reality that life is difficult, demanding, and often painful, then the day-to-day living is no longer so onerous. In accepting life as is really is, we transcend it” leading to the conclusion that with the absence of obstacles it prevents people from experiencing the harsh reality of life consequently preventing them from maturing. In the novel, The Illegal by Lawrence Hill, the author examines and emphasizes how an individual must experience obstacles in order to understand the harsh reality of life and to mature. The protagonists Keita and Viola struggle through several obstacles such as discrimination, identity loss, and abuse;

Prior to being assigned the reading of the memoir “Always Running”, by Luis Rodriguez, I had never given much thought on juveniles involved in gang life. Rodriguez achieved success as an award-winning poet; sure the streets would no longer haunt him - until his own son joined a gang. Rodriguez fought for his child by telling his own story in the vivid memoir, “Always Running.” “Always Running” is the compilation of events Luis experienced during his youth in San Gabriel. The theme of the book is to always strive for the best things in life and to always take a stand for what you believe. Lured by the seemingly invincible gang culture of East L.A., he witnessed countless shootings and beatings, as well as senseless acts of street crime against his friends and family members. As a Latino in a poor neighborhood, Luis struggled through criticism, stereotypes, and mistreatment. With the help of his mentor, Chente, Luis saw a way out through education and the power of word to successfully break free from years of violence and desperation.

Culture in urban communities, also referred to as inner-cities, are growing increasingly violent. In the article, The Code of the Streets by Elijah Anderson, he begins to take an in-depth look at the root of the evil. He deduces that economic factors, parenting and the troublesome environments largely influence the violent norms within this culture.

In the Rusty Belt of America there a minority group of people whose income level has surpassed the poverty line. Inside the state of Ohio lies the poorest white American which describes themselves as hillbillies as they reside in the eastern Kentucky. In his personal analysis of culture in crisis of hillbillies, J.D. Vance tries to explain, in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, what goes on in the lives of people as the economy goes south in a culture that is culturally deceptive, family deceptive, and in a community, whose doctrine of loyalty is heavily guarded. Like every poor Scot-Irish hillbilly in his community, Vance came from being poor, like the rest of his kind, to be a successful Law graduate from Yale Law school. As result of this transition and being the only child in his family to graduate from a highly respected intuition in the country, Vance thought out to analyze the ostensible reason of why many people are poor in his community.

The " Code of the Street" written by Eljah Anderson is an explanation for high rates violence among African-American Adolescents in Philadelphia. He wrote about poverty, lack of job, racial discrimination, rampant drug use and trafficking that leads to anti-social attitudes, violent behavior, alienation, and lack of hope for the future of the African Americas in Philadelphia.

Inner city violence is a subject of great importance to the social work community in that it severely impacts the quality of human life, and there are still substantial improvements that need to be made in order to solve this epidemic. Essentially inner city violence, like that displayed in “The Interrupters”, suggests dilemmas through all levels of work, from micro to macro. On a micro level, it is clear that interpersonal conflict both creates and sustains the violence in these communities. From a mezzo level standpoint, it is clear that the violence does not only affect the individuals involved, but the community as a whole. Lastly, inner city violence can greatly be looked

Throughout the article “The Code of the Streets,” Elijah Anderson explains the differences between “decent” and “street” people that can be applied to the approaches of social control, labeling, and social conflict theories when talking about the violence among inner cities due to cultural adaptations.

On the HAVEN of Oakland website (https://www.haven-oakland.org/) under the “What We Do” tab it goes on to explain that their mission is “To elimate sexual assault and domestic violence and to empower surviovers through advocay and social change in and around Oakland county” (CITE) HAVEN of Oakland is a non-profit organization meant to better the community and make everyone; all age ranges aware of the impact domestic violence has on all of us. HAVEN provides shelter, counseling, advocacy, and educational programming for no charge to the survivors and citizens of Oakland county. The website is very informative, well organized, has visuals on every page, and is extremely easy to get involved which has a very positive effect on the HAVEN organization.

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie tells a story about how a boy switches schools to try to better his life, and learns that violence isn’t how everyone deals with things. This is shown when Rowdy punches Arnold when he touches his shoulder, to help calm him down (210). While people at Wellpinit are kind and welcomed him (192). This shows that violence depended on how you were raised and how your community is, this is shown because of Arnold experience at Rearden and Wellpinit and how different they were.

Karen Abbott, a New York Times Bestselling author of “Sin in the Second City” and “American Rose”, Abbott reveal in her book “Lair, Temptress, Solider, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War” was published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins in 2014 contends that four major powerful women had endangered their lives to become a soldier spy during the Civil War. Karen Abbott analyzes based on a true story of how women 's roles are portrayed to accommodate political work, used primary sources including dairies, letters, newspaper. The author describes the individual women in varied personality in a way of lair, temptress, a solider and a spy who all shared the same challenges that involves in risk-taking decision in America history.

There is no denying that violence can impact a person in harmful ways, however, that is not always the case. In Yasmina Khadra’s The Attack, characters experience different kinds of violence, but its impact can be positive. The attack that Amin Jaafari’s wife, Sihem, executed allowed him to learn many life lessons and gave him the ability to see things in a new perspective. Also, the violent attacks that occur in Amin’s country make public service workers essential to helping the community. Furthermore, violence in society encourages people to fight for their beliefs. Thus, the violent acts that happen to people can impact them in such ways that they discover their purpose in life.

Violence and war is notable throughout history. However, it is lazy to say that this proves humans are naturally violent. Rather than using nature as an excuse for those who chose to act violently it’s important we recognize that we have a choice to decide how we act. In Howard Zinn’s, “Violence and Human Nature” He shows that violence is not an instinct but that the environment in which they live in provokes them to act violently or peacefully depending on their choice (43). In City of God, a film concentrating on the gangs of Rio de Janeiro during the 1960’s to the 1980’s, specifically the township of Cidade de Deus, we are introduced to various characters who all make different choices under different motivations. Rocket, the little brother to a member of the Tender Trio, who are essentially the Robin Hood’s of the City of God, to act non-violently despite his environment and the influences around him.

Between 1890 and 1906, Black people were rejected from the area of politics, as southern states amended their constitutions to deny Black American citizens their voting rights that had been ratified by the Fifteenth Amendment. The beliefs of racial uplift, was an idea that placed responsibility on educated Black people for the well-being of the majority of their race. This was a reaction to the assault on African American civil and political rights, also known as “the Negro problem (Washington 8).” During this era, there were opportunities for Black people to become leaders of Black communities everywhere. African American leaders combated stereotypes by highlighting class differences among Blacks that believed in the stereotypes themselves. In 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois published the book, The Souls of Black Folk. He criticized "the old attitude of adjustment and submission" that had been expressed by Booker T. Washington in the Atlanta Compromise Address (Hill 734). Washington addressed that Southern Black people should work and submit to White political rule, while Southern White people guaranteed Black people the reception of basic educational and economic opportunities. Du Bois believed that full civil rights and increased political representation, would uplift the Black community during this time. African Americans needed the opportunities for advanced education to develop this sore of leadership, titled the “Talented Tenth”, an African-American intellectual elite

Violence can be described as a behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Violence has been around from the beginning and can be seen through history in writing and events that occurred. In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, violence’s jarring effects on societal members are evidenced through various relationships and partnerships, portraying society’s corrupt ideologies and ethics.

Wolfgang and Ferracuti furthered the subculture of violence theory from the insights of cultural deviance theorists before them. Basing their theorizations entirely upon inferences from available statistics on homicide at that time, which illustrated a concentration of violent crime in primarily poor, racialized neighborhoods in Philadelphia. Through these statistics, the authors deduce that subcultural violence is a uniquely marginalized male phenomenon. Wolfgang and Ferracuti argue that violence is a