Racism In Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader For A Day

In the story of how “A Rouge Sociologist Takes to the Streets”, Sudhir Venkatesh finds himself in the projects of Chicago documenting his first hand experiences of his journey on how he is introduced to the black culture. Sudhir, a first year college student in the University of Chicago, decides to participate in a research project regarding “how young blacks were affected by specific neighborhood factors”, when he realizes how ineffective these questionnaires are, he decides to proceed in unconventional ways to retrieve his answers. Sudhir’s accumulated a growing fascination with the housing projects in Chicago the longer he spent in the community. Before long Sudhir had befriended a gang leader, by the name of J.T., who had given him a powerful

In “Gang Leader for a Day”, racism is used to understand and comprehend the everyday basis in which the people of the Robert Taylor community lived. Sudhir’s exposure into the black community began when he was first introduced the the old black men that would spend their days in the park in which he would run. One of the men, who was often referred to as Old Time, believed that no matter what happened whites and blacks could never coexist peacefully. In more ways than one, biological determinism had a major role in the impact of racism. Many of the whites believed that it simply was in the nature of a black to affiliate in crime and unmoral behaviors. This created a social construction of blacks in which till this day continues to have a hold on many African American everyday lives, from complex areas such as the workplace to simple social situations such as social stereotypes. These social constructions set by society towards the blacks within this community, had taken a considerable impact on the fate of the Robert Taylor homes. When the Robert Taylor homes had first been built, they were constructed on the hope of mixing the black and white community. Chicago politicians allegedly viewed this as a stepping stone for the blacks towards racial equality. Many black activists were infuriated by the idea that the homes had been placed in the center of a predominately ghetto

More often than not it is not the crime the people choose to engage in, but the reason why they have to turn to such drastic measures. Due to these negative public opinions many of the men and woman of the Robert Taylor homes were unemployed leading to crime which further discredited their cause. In the Chicago projects, many of the black folk within the community were unemployed. This created a major problem when it came to having to provide the necessities for themselves and their families. In result of this, many of the men and young boys turned to gang affiliations, such as the Black Kings. Women on the other hand were not allowed to be members of the Black Kings or any gang of that matter, which left only so many ways to survive. Many women often put their trust in non gang affiliated figures in power, such as Mrs. Bailey, who was seen as a provider and protector of women. This of course did not always work out considering it was quite expensive to afford this peace of mind. Therefore, it was not uncommon for many women to turn to the ways of prostitution or stealing as a means of providing for their family. As Sudhir began to expand his research farther than the closed biased views of J.T., he came to an understand how much it really took to survive in the projects of Chicago.