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What Gangs Taught Me about Violence, Drugs, Love, and Redemption
Beacon Press
March 2012
On Sale: March 6, 2012
240 pages
ISBN: 0807044563
EAN: 9780807044568
Kindle: B005JT1TG6
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
When Jorja Leap began studying Los Angeles gang violence in
2002, she encountered a myriad of proposed solutions to the
seemingly intractable “gang problem” and set out to discover
what was really going on. The stakes—then and now—could not
be higher: a child or teenager is killed by gunfire every
three hours—and homicide is the leading cause of death for
African American males between the ages of fifteen and
thirty-four.
In Jumped In, Leap brings us stories that reach behind the
statistics and sensational media images to the real lives of
those stuck in—and trying to escape— "la vida loca.” With
the eye of an anthropologist and a heart full of compassion,
this small, tough woman from UCLA travels some of the most
violent and poverty-stricken neighborhoods, riding along in
police cruisers and helicopters, and talking with murderers
and drug dealers, victims and grieving mothers.
Through oral histories, personal interviews, and eyewitness
accounts of current and former gang members, as well as the
people who love and work alongside them, readers come to
understand both the people pulled into gangs and those
trying mightily to forge alternatives and help their
community. In delving into the personal lives of current and
former gang members, Leap aims not only to find out what
leads them to crime and how to deal most effectively with
gang activity, but also to hear the voices of those most
often left out of the political conversation and to learn
from leaders who offer a different kind of hope, through
community outreach and jobs programs.
As she forges lasting friendships in this community and
becomes immersed in others’ triumphs and tragedies, Leap’s
personal and professional lives intersect in sometimes
incendiary ways. With a husband in the Los Angeles Police
Department and a daughter in adolescence, she faces plenty
of family dilemmas herself. Ultimately, Jumped In is a
chronicle of the unexpected lessons gang members taught her
while she was busily studying them, and how they changed her
forever.
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