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Black Crime By Sudhir Venkatesh: Book Review

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Not many PhD scholars or professors are able to get in a black crime neighborhood which is poor, stay for seven years and fail to answer this question: “how does it feel when a person is black and poor in addition?”Most of the studies done in this book were done in safe, sanitized ivory towers. This piece of writing portrays neoliberal capitalism on the lives of working class people among the blacks (Venkatesh, 2009). The community views government leaders such as social service workers, Chicago Housing Authority, government agencies and the police differently. Most of these government officials are perceived negatively. The police for instance are viewed by the community members as people who cannot help when a need arises. For instance, …show more content…

Leaders such as Mrs. Bailey and J.T show how those in authorities misuse their position and promote drug abuse, sexual intrigue and violence. For instance, Mrs. Bailey could pay young men to have sex with her (Venkatesh, 2009. C- Note is used to as an example of how the hustlers struggle with life as he does different types of jobs so as to earn some dollars for life. The author also shows how the police department is corrupt and how they are violent themselves instead of helping fight violence. This means that there are no appropriate measures in place to curb drug trafficking, crime and violence. He documents various incidents in which the police rob the citizens. For instance, where a police gang in which Officer Terry was involved, rob a CHA home. He himself was a victim of this violent crime when he was with JT. The head of the neighboring Girls and Boys club is also used to show the real image of the Chicago police. Autry convinces Sudhir not to write about the police although it is a gang just as Black Kings, the one led by JT, as the police had power and could put anyone in jail. The police also controlled the how openly the gang could operate and where (Venkatesh,

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