Blue Rage, Black Redemption (Stanley Tookie Williams)

You must be wondering how something so uncharacteristic made its way onto my reading list. Frankly, I wondered several times in the middle of the book myself, times when I would rather have closed it, put it down and used it as a doorstop. But sadly, I had to read this memoir of Stanley Tookie Williams (the co-founder of the Crips gang) as part of a work assignment.

Not that the man is uninteresting--hardly. He grew up mean and tough and, if you can't tell from the picture, built like a brick shithouse. As he liked to say, he was "yoked." Regardless of several chances to reform his criminal ways in his youth, Tookie made himself King Crip and took pride in his recruiting and leadership abilities within the gang. Then, he was jailed for two separate intances of murder--four lives total--and sentenced to death.

So ended the "Blue" portion of his life and his "black redemption" phase dawned. After a long stint in solitary, separated for the first time in his life from his peers, he began to educate himself and came to see the error of his ways. In fact, he became an avid anti-gang activist, wrote several childrens books and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Thankfully, in my opinion, he did not win.

Again, I am not saying anything negative about the man himself. His story is rather inspirational, probably more so to someone who has more gang exposure than I. What drove me nuts was the way in which the book was written. The self-educated vocabulary peppered with 1960s slang and the obvious pride Tookie still had for the power of his youth turned me off. If you are interested in the life of Williams--or are forced to read about him for work or school--flip to the center for the pictures. By far the most enjoyable part of the book were the unbelievably bulging muscles and the foot tall Afros in those photos.