All Sudhir Venkatesh, a first year grad student, hoped was to impress his professors with his project about urban poverty survey. But he never imagined to befriend JT, the gang leader to the Black Kings.
In the beginning, Sudhir thinks he could just walk into one of Chicago’s most notorious housing projects and start asking questions. He was actually held hostage for 24 hours because the gang members thought he was from a rival gang. When they decided it was safe to let him go, they told him his questions won’t get him anywhere and what he needs is to see their lives from the inside out. Sudhir spent 7 years with the gang learning how they operated their crack-selling business. It’s also the story of a complicated friendship between Sudhir and JT, who are a universe apart. Do you think if you had a relationship like Sudhir and JT, would it last? Why or why not?
