Gang stories calls it quits

It’s easy to understand why the author of gangstories has found dredging up his past to be too painful to continue, but it’s sort of a shame. You don’t often get this kind of clear-eyed gripping depiction of life in poor neighborhoods, let alone honest portrayal of gangbanging without all the “gangsta” glamour shoveled on top by many popular movies, videos, and music.
Here’s an excerpt:

Dealers are respected for two basic reasons: dealing in cash makes them appear richer than they really are, and always packing heat makes them physically untouchable. The threat of robbery makes it hard for dealers to store much wealth. So they wear it, drive it, and stuff rolls of it in their pocket, and that makes them look like “ballers”. And always packing heat for protection means dealers never get their asses kicked, at least in public. That combination of apparent wealth and toughness was the holy grail of social status, and was something we all looked up to.


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4 responses to “Gang stories calls it quits”

  1. The Universal Church Of Cosmic Uncertainty Avatar

    Gang Stories

    Gang stories calls it quits .

  2. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    What makes people want to join gangs and what respect do it bring for them…

  3. Sander Avatar
    Sander

    People want to join gangs because they don’t get love and recognition at home, so they seek it out in other parts of their life. It doesn’t really bring you “respect” at all.

  4. […] to Gang Stories. The site was originally launched in Summer 2003 as a fiction blog. After it got some attention and a few hundred emails I killed the site to rethink the […]