Gang Leader For a Day

Venkatesh tells us that after recuperating at a friend’s house for a couple of weeks, C-Note eventually returns to Robert Taylor. Venkatesh is not sure how J.T. will react to him, so he stays away from the projects until J.T. calls to invite him to his daughter’s birthday party. Despite this invitation, Venkatesh notes that J.T. is fiercely protective of his private life and tries to keep Venkatesh away from his family. The party is uneventful and their relationship returns to normal.

On another visit to Robert Taylor, Venkatesh witnesses a squatter named Brass being punished for refusing to pay his “tax” to the Black Kings. J.T. orders his head of security, Price, to beat Brass. Afterwards, no one helps him. Venkatesh feels ill and J.T. leads him away, explaining “It’s just the way it is around here” (49) and assuring him that he’ll get used to it. Venkatesh doesn’t want to get used to it though, he doesn’t want to be that kind of person. 

Venkatesh finally gets up the courage to ask J.T. about C-Note. According to J.T. C-Note had challenged his authority and had gone back on his word. J.T. couldn’t let him go unpunished in case other people started disrespecting him too. Venkatesh realizes that J.T. is constantly worried about how to maintain his position as leader.

It’s now 1990 and Venkatesh has been hanging out with J.T. for about a year. It is also the height of the crack epidemic in Chicago and politicians and law enforcement are struggling to deal with the drug trade and its consequences. Venkatesh notes that traditional liberal strategies of education and employment are ineffective, because gang members can earn more through the drug trade than they can in a regular job. Conservatives supported mass arrests of gang members and long prison sentences but the people arrested were quickly and easily replaced with new recruits. The government started treating gangs as organized criminal groups and the police were given extra powers to deal with them. 

J.T. is more concerned that these new measures make it difficult to earn as much money as he’d like, but not about the possibility of the gang being shut down. As leader of a Black Kings gang, J.T. has to supervise the sale of crack cocaine around the clock; he loves the challenge. His success has brought him to the attention of the Kings’ board of directors and they ask him to “help the gang with its foray into Chicago politics” (51), they want to make connections that will help them to launder and invest their drug money.

Venkatesh is skeptical about the gang’s chances or making political connections but J.T. assures him that it’s possible. He explains that if the Kings make a donation to an alderman, he can “take the heat off of us” (51). For J.T. the Kings’ involvement in politics isn’t just financially motivated, it’s about their larger goal of helping their community. To this end, the BKs work with several other community-based organizations (CBOs), and they also demand that all of their members graduate high school and register to vote. By maintaining good relations with these organizations the gang hopes to stop them disrupting their drug sales. J.T. compares the Black Kings to the gangs of the 1960s, who worked for political change for their communities; as Venkatesh points out, however, these gangs weren’t involved in the drug trade.

One of these CBOs, Pride, is run by an ex-gang member named Lenny and aims to teach young people the value of voting. Lenny instructs the young BKs to register themselves to vote and then to register everyone in their building too. Venkatesh accompanies a group of young BKs, led by Shorty-Lee, as they try to register tenants in their building. Many tenants refuse to come to the door and those that do sign up just to get them to go away. During an exchange with one woman, it becomes clear that the young men don’t really understand the voting process—they’re just doing what they’re told. This door-to-door canvassing is just one part of J.T.’s political strategy: he also arranges rallies in high schools where politicians such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson urge students to use their vote.

While J.T. is busy working on the gang’s political ambitions, Venkatesh has a chance to get to know some of the other tenants, including Kris and Michael Johnson, brothers, former Black Kings, and car mechanics who work in the building’s parking lot. The Black Kings allow the Johnsons to work there in exchange for free car washes and one day, T-Bone, one of J.T.’s senior officers and the gang’s treasurer calls by and laughs to see Venkatesh helping out. While he’s there, Kris gets into a fight with a customer and T-Bone intervenes. Michael explains that the gang settles customer disputes and provides protection as part of their arrangement. Paying taxes to the Black Kings protects them from the police and from the city alderman. Michael tells Venkatesh that the gang “makes your life hell, but they’re family” (59).

On another day, Venkatesh is hanging out outside J.T.’s building when he hears a woman shouting in a nearby grove of trees. There he finds a woman named Boo-Boo being restrained by Price and some other men. Boo-Boo is claiming that a local shopkeeper has given her teenage daughter, Coco, an STD. A group of curious tenants and Venkatesh follow Price and Boo-Boo to find the “Ay-rab”. When they arrive at the store, Boo-Boo starts to trash the place while Price looks on; a middle-aged, Middle-Eastern man runs out, gets into his car and drives away while Boo-Boo accuses him of raping her daughter. Price, meanwhile, is negotiating with the store’s manager, who starts bringing out boxes of beer and soda and leaving them on the sidewalk for people to take. Outside, Price is talking to Ms. Bailey, the tenant president of J.T.’s building; Ms. Bailey tells the crowd to go home and to leave the manager alone. Price explains to Venkatesh that Coco had been sleeping with the store owner in exchange for diapers and other provisions for her baby—a very common practice that’s almost impossible to stop. Price promises Ms. Bailey that he’ll sort things out tomorrow.

While tenants like the Johnson brothers are happy to talk to Venkatesh, his association with the Black Kings mean that many others won’t say more than hello to him. One exception to this is Ms. Bailey, who introduces him to Autry Harrison, a director of the Boys and Girls Club in another area of Robert Taylor Homes. Because that area is controlled by another gang—the Disciples—Ms. Bailey walks Venkatesh over there herself. Autry is a tall, thin man who immediately gets Venkatesh involved in the Club’s activities, having him read to a group of young children. Autry grew up in Robert Taylor and while he is currently studying Criminal Justice at Chicago State University; he used to be a pimp and a gang member. He and Venkatesh become friends, with Autry providing useful information about how the community views gangs. Autry feels that the gang does do some good in the community but that people are often left to clean up its mistakes. The club plays something of a peacekeeping role in the community; the staff work with schools, police and social workers, and sometimes help to settle disputes between gangs.

Autry invites Venkatesh to a meeting to discuss setting up a midnight basketball league, an initiative that aims to keep young gang-members off the streets at night. In exchange for free sneakers, t-shirts and the chance to compete for a trophy, these men would have to attend a motivational or educational presentation before each game. Each organization—or gang—involved would have to contribute five-thousand dollars and filed four teams. Autry’s idea eventually caught the attention of the Clinton administration and was rolled out nationwide; more immediately it represented his chance to gain entry into the elite group of community leaders. 

Autry mentions that J.T will be attending the meeting and because Venkatesh hasn’t asked his permission to attend, he decides to wait for J.T. outside before it begins. J.T. is surprised to see Venkatesh and is not pleased to learn that Autry invited him; he sees Venkatesh’s friendship with Autry as a betrayal and asks him to choose between them. Venkatesh chooses J.T. and doesn’t attend the meeting. Instead he returns to J.T.’s building and waits for him there. J.T. is disconcerted by the new relationships Venkatesh is making and wants to know exactly what he’s doing in Robert Taylor; what is he going to be writing about? When Venkatesh explains that he wants another perspective on the gang’s activities J.T. takes this to mean a perspective on how others work with him. He’s happy with this explanation, as he thinks Venkatesh is writing his biography.

Shortly after this, two children are shot accidentally when The Disciples do a drive-by shooting in Black Kings territory. One of them, a little girl, dies. The possibility of a gang war has a widespread effect on the community, with parents taking time off work and rearranging their schedules so that they can protect their children; people are too scared to go to the store for food. A meeting is called at the Boys and Girls Club to try and resolve the situation and J.T. agrees that Venkatesh can attend. The meeting consists of police officers and tenants and achieves very little. However, when it’s over, Ms. Bailey tells him to come back in two hours. When he returns he finds Ms. Bailey, Autry, two police officers who grew up in Robert Taylor—Officer Johnson and Officer Reggie—and Pastor Wilkins, an expert in forging gang truces; also there are J.T. and the leader of The Disciples, Mayne, and their senior officers. Ms. Bailey orders all gang members except for J.T. and Mayne out of the room and invites Pastor Wilkins to speak. Venkatesh is surprised by the calm tone of everyone involved and notes that “pragmatism seemed more important than moralism” (71). They eventually come to an agreement and shake on it, ending the conflict. Afterwards, Venkatesh talks briefly with Autry, who’s exhausted. When J.T. leaves he is aggressive towards Venkatesh and tells him that he won’t always be able to protect him.