Phillipe Bourgois Selling Crack In Spanish Harlem

In Randol Contreras’s The Stickup Kids, Contreras explores the South Bronx through the lens of a sociologist. He describes the lives of the stickup kids such as Gus, Pablo, and other teenagers living in the South Bronx. Contreras uses the research method of ethnography to provide a sociological analysis of the drug trade and business in the South Bronx. His research shows how social factors impact the lives of these stickup kids to become active in the drug trade. Through his field notes and interviews with the stickup kids, Contreras examines in depth of how social factors such as, socialization, social class, the thrill of crime, deviance, and culture affect the individual.

Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, explained how our treatment of criminals has created a new racial caste system, and the only way to make change is by massive social change and Civil Rights movement. The criminal laws often focus on psychoactive drugs used by the minority populations. Minorities are disproportionately targeted, arrested, and punished for drug offenses. For instance, Black, Latino, Native American, and many Asian were portrayed as violent, traffickers of drugs and a danger to society. Surveillance was focused on communities of color, also immigrants, the unemployed, the undereducated, and the homeless, who continue to be the main targets of law enforcement efforts to fight the war on drugs. Although African Americans comprise only 12.2 percent of the population and 13 percent of drug users, they make up 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses causing critics to call the war on drugs the “New Jim Crow”(drug policy). The drug

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.

It is not a coincidence that many of our society’s drug dealers come from impoverished areas. With fewer and fewer well-paying jobs available to untrained or uneducated workers, drug dealing has become a very attractive source of income for those in poverty-stricken areas (Lai, 2013). Furthermore, even though so many attempts have been made by law-abiding citizens in neighborhoods, which have high incidence of drug dealing, to aid the enforcement of anti-drug laws, the already less ordered and community-oriented neighborhood have made huge obstacles for putting law into

Contributing to these drug issues throughout America are multiple street gangs, drug cartels and drug lords. These groups to transport illegal drugs into America, to sell them illegally on the streets, for a very hefty profit. High crime profiled states and cities such as, New York, Baltimore, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Chicago host some of America’s most notorious gangs, cartels, and drug lords. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the life of a notorious Baltimore drug lord, by the name of Anthony Ayeni Jones, and how a life of drugs effected his personal life, caused criminal actions, and resulted in court trials and a life sentence in prison.

Domingo’s essay, “Gift of the Black Tropics,” also paints a complex picture when it comes to the life of African-Americans. Throughout his essay, Domingo explores the diversity of Harlem’s (let alone New York’s) African American population. Domingo analyzes the statistical data of African-Americans and touches on the various types of foreign-born “Negro” immigrants, specifically focusing on individuals from the West Indies throughout the rest of his essay. Mimicking the optimistic outlook, Domingo touches on the fact that foreign-born African-American immigrants, specifically from the West Indies, refuse to comply with informal segregation. For example, Domingo states, “Skilled at various trades…many of the immigrants apply for positions that the average American Negro has been schooled to regard as restricted to white men only…[thus] West Indians have in many cases been pioneers and shock troops to open a way for Negroes into new fields of employment” (Domingo 345). Consequently, Domingo argues that foreign-born African-Americans are making great strides in helping to dismantle informal segregation when it comes to jobs, simply by refusing to comply. This, in turn, helps to provide both American- and foreign-born African-Americans with more occupational opportunities than before by showing that the engrained restriction in jobs is just a ploy that can be overcome with persistence. While many may feel that this is a good thing, Domingo

Victor Rios is not only an author of a book called Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys, but he is also an ex-felon. Rios holds a PH.D. in sociology and is now an assistant professor at the University of Santa Barbara. Victor Rios has published on juvenile justice, masculinity, and race and crime in scholarly in journals such as the Critical Criminology. He has not only lived the life he preaches about, he has shown to be extremely knowledgable in this life he has once lived and is also considered an expert in his field of sociology among his peers . Rios grew up in the streets of Oakland, California and found himself in the midst of trouble when he joined a gang at the age of 13. Victor Rios lived the life of the typical stereotypical hispanic young male, living in high crime poverty neighborhoods. As a young boy, he began dealing drugs, participating in the killings of people, and violence. Throughout his life, he has witnessed a great deal of horrific tragedies that not many thirteen year olds experience ever in their whole life. Throughout his experiences, he was able to live and tell his stories through his book, Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. Victor Rios has used his past experiences for the good, he has mentored many kids who are going through what he went though as an adolescent. Throughout the many obstacles he has faced, it has opened up the opportunity for him to write this book about his life and the gang

Marc D. Perry writes “Who Dat?: Race and Its Conspicuous Consumption in Post-Katrina New Orleans” in an attempt to paint out the social and economic state of New Orleans, and how it worsened for African Americans post-Katrina. Judith M. Anderson’s article “Will the Real Negros Please Stand Up? Understanding Black Identity Politics in Buenos Aires, Argentina” calls attention to how the Afro-Argentines are trying to gain recognition for their presence in Argentina. The articles are similar in which that they both illustrate the ongoing obstacles blacks have to face where they are discriminated against, seen as incapable of being successful, and have to deal with white privilege. And although there are contrasts within black identity, most

By the age of 16, Santana’s worldview and identity is well established. He exhibits a strong internalization of his Chicano (a Latino subculture) heritage and has begun to experience and establish an awareness of what Peter Bohmer describes as “internalized colonialism:” the socially and economically structured practice of securing the labor of non-Whites for the least desirable, "dirty and servile" jobs that are unwanted by Whites (Bohmer, 1998). Forming his own gang seemed to be a “natural” alternative to becoming a “pawn” in the well-established system of internalized colonialism. His Latino gang became a sub-cultural “vent” for relieving much of young Santana’s social, economic, and personal hardships, as well as a means of developing self-respect through the illegal and coercive powers made possible by gang activity and gang unity.

For the past few weeks in this class, we have discussed the strategies of navigating poorer urban neighborhoods and the scholarship that has been done on the populations in those communities. We have discussed gang formation, policing, gendered interactions with gang life and the code of the street. For this paper, I plan to synthesize all of these topics into a cohesive analysis of the importance of these works, especially as it pertains to racial and ethnic tensions. I have selected two pieces to go alongside Streetwise by Elijah Anderson: “Disorderly community partners and broken windows policing” by Ana Muniz and “Dreams Deferred: The Patterns of Punishment in Oakland” by Victor Rios. While the focus will be on these three readings from this class, I will make casual reference to the other readings as they become relevant.

The drug war has formed overwhelmingly unequal outcomes across racial groups, which are recognized through racial discrimination by law enforcement and disproportionate drug war misery suffered by communities of color. Although degrees of drug use and selling are similar across racial appearances, people of color are far more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, prosecuted, sentenced and imprisoned for drug law violations than are whites. Higher arrest and imprisonment rates for African Americans and Latinos are not reflective of increased commonness of drug use or sales in these communities, but rather of a law enforcement focus on urban areas, on lower-income communities and on communities of color as well as unfair treatment by the

I argue that the police ultimately led Rodriguez and many others to join a gang. The racism faced by Mexicans from the police drove people to be involved in gangs and promoted the idea that racism towards Mexicans was acceptable. I also argue that education provided Rodriguez with a path to a new life away from gangs. I argue the prospect of power and protection made gangs appealing to those feeling like they had no other way to survive the barrios and gang activity that surrounded them.

In quite a few lower-class communities, phrases like “your mom is a crack head,” or “shut up crack baby” are said jokingly to make fun of someone during what we call a “rip session.” Although said as a joke, some are very offended by the comments. Why? because for some, crack addiction hits too close to home for comfort. Seeing how easy it is obtained in lower class and poverty stricken neighborhoods, many find themselves falling victim to the powerful substance, crack cocaine. Low sociable economic systems are just one of the many factors that can lead to the use, and addiction of crack cocaine, others include movies, music, peer pressure, alcohol and cigarette ads. In this report I will discuss

The book traces the devastating effect that the drug war has had on minority Communities, classed as ghettos where predominantly black or brown people reside. This group of people have suffered from years of harassment and biased law enforcement. Frankly the War on Drugs is a racist cause, an excuse to discriminate against African American communities in order to achieve

This article is about a research that Philippe Bourgois underwent in the 1980s about the drug trade happening in Harlem, New York City.