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Gang Leader For A Day Summary

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Reflective Paper on Gang Leader For A Day When comparing male and female you will notice they are in fact extremely similar. Both genders share a common trait: powerful. However this is not how society always views it. Unfortunately, the reason we have grown to believe that this is not true is unknown. In this paper I will discuss how Gang Leader For a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh displays the male and the female role in American’s urban poor. America’s poor community, especially within the projects in large cities, is growing rapidly. Obstacles including poor heath outcomes, high crime rates, failing schools, and fewer job opportunities makes it much harder for an individual to escape poverty. Oscar Lewis argues that a “culture of poverty” exist among Americas urban poor. This …show more content…

After reading Venkatesh’s experience I can conclude that living in poverty is almost an impossible situation to escape. Often members of a gang become each others family and they are all one another has. Chapter 8 proves this when Dorothy explained the purpose of “the Stay-Together Gang.” These select few families were determined to live near one another after being relocated to another neighborhood. They thought staying near one another was their best chance of survival (264). It is also common within projects that the only work you can find is selling drugs which would mean you don't have a choice but to do illegal activities. Another common activity within American’s urban poor is prostitution. Often a women will have no money to supply her children with food and will have no other choice then have to earn money through sex. For example Coco, who was 16 years old, was sleeping with the local store owner in exchange for diapers and other necessities for her baby (93). This book enlightened me to many situations that I was not aware of and opened my eyes to situations going on throughout

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