In Gang Leader For A Day, Sudhir Venkatesh dives into the world of drug dealing, poverty, and the many aspects involved in both. Venkatesh was born in India but moved to and lived in California, where he attended college. When he graduated, he moved to Chicago, IL and began school at the University of Chicago. Upon beginning school in Chicago he was quickly made aware of the separation of the good and bad part of town, and he was warned to not travel outside of the area that the campus police patrolled. He did venture out at times and he came across a group of old African American men that would always come to the park to fish, eat, and drink. When Venkatesh began talking to them he was very bluntly told that whites and blacks will never get along and be able to live together. One of the men went on to say that there are two types of whites and two types of blacks. For the whites there were the ones that would beat you just for walking into their neighborhood and the ones that would not beat you but would also not let you into their house and would call the cops. The blacks are either trying to figure out how to achieve and get somewhere in their life or they have realized it will not happen and have given up all together. Their words made him realize that his life in California at a predomenty white university blinded him to an entirely different side of life.
At the University of Chicago Venkatesh became a student of Bill Wilson, who encouraged him to take a questionnaire out into the projects. Using a census, he chose a project that had been registered to have many African Americans from age 16-24 and then he chose a random building within that project. When he attempted to go to this building he was told that no one lived there, he learned that that is what they tell people when a place is used for dealing drugs and they don’t want people asking questions about it. He ended up going to an area within that project that he saw some teenagers occupying. While there he met a guy named JT. JT left Venkatesh in a room with a bunch of other guys that stayed there all night long. Later on, after becoming friends with and following JT around, Venkatesh realizes that JT was seeing how the boys handled the situation he gave them. He used these types of situations to judge which guys will be good to move up in the gang. Even after being held overnight by JT and his guys, Venkatesh came back the next day. He wanted to learn more and dwelve into the life that so many have judged, he wanted to learn the reality of it all.
Venkatesh became friends with JT and they would frequent a diner, sometimes without even talking. He learned that the projects JT lived in were being torn down and he was having to move back to his old area, Robert Taylor. This area was great for dealing drugs as it attracted everyone, even the white folk from surrounding suburbs. JT had Venkatesh over frequently to be with his family, and his mom became fond of having him around and always told him that they are not projects, they are communities. She told him that these communities had a stronger bond and were closer than the suburbs would ever be. Around this time he also learned that not all gang fights were violent, sometimes they would just play basketball or softball and then celebrate afterwards. This was a polar opposite of what most news reports describe. Upon Venkatesh spending more time with JT and traveling to Robert Taylor with him he came to the conclusion that crack is the equivalent of alcohol to white people. He also came to notice that there were two types of drug users, the hardcore users that needed to have drugs to function and then the casual users that used drugs when they wanted to and had the extra money.
Things take a turn when one of the squatters refuses to leave the courts after JT insists that he moves. When C-Note continues to refuse JT starts to beat him, he was then joined by other members of the Black Kings. It was then that Venkatesh decided that maybe he needed to see Robert Taylor from other views as well as JT’s. Venkatesh begins to see a more violent streak coming from JT and the Black Kings on a more frequent note. As they did to C-Note, they began beating on a squatter that got in JT’s face. Venkatesh, at this point, had had enough of sitting back while the Black Kings were beating up on these people, he talked to JT about the purpose of beating these guys up with so little motivation behind it. JT had a simple answer for him, these guys both challenged JT’s authority and that was something that would not be tolerated.
Venkatesh continues to learn more and more, especially the behind the scene details. The Black Kings spend a lot of time protecting their income from being able to be stolen or taxed by the government. JT begins talking about the Black Kings as a group that is good for the community, and even helpful. Venkatesh quickly becomes aware of the corruptness that occurs between gangs such as the Black Kings and political leaders in the community. One major one was getting people to register to vote so that they can keep a particular party in office, in exchange for that party helping the gang. With JT focusing on the political part of the Black Kings, Venkatesh is able to explore Robert Taylor separate from him which began to give him the different view he was interested in. He begins working with some of the other guys in the community, seeing the hustling side of things instead of only the side of the gang leader. Venkatesh continues seeing violence throughout the Black Kings and comes to realize that because the police do not react to issues that occur at Robert Taylor, the Black kings are the main source of security and protection for those in the community. Venkatesh’s wandering for different views of the community seems to backfire when he shows up to a basketball organization with Autry. When JT shows up followed by the Black Kings, he looks at Venkatesh as a traitor. When Venkatesh explains the reasoning behind him being with someone other than the Black Kings JT understands but continues with caution, as any good leader would do. The most violent event that Venkatesh witnesses was a shooting that occurred between the Disciples and the Black Kings. Meetings with the Chicago Police followed the shooting, around this time Venkatesh realizes he is on his own and showing up to gang events by himself. With that occurring he knows, and JT agrees that he is slipping away from him.
This whole time, Venkatesh is still in contact with Professor Wilson and continues to take his advice on ways to further his research. Wilson suggests learning more of the behind the scenes work, so Venkatesh begins to press JT for more information revolving around the finances of the Black Kings.