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A Thread*
1/ So I finished @ForrestDStuart Balled of The Bullet and definitely the best book I’ve read this year!! Many times I read ethnographies or critical historical pieces where the authors take up way more space then needed. But this book was a perfect blend.
1/ So I finished @ForrestDStuart Balled of The Bullet and definitely the best book I’ve read this year!! Many times I read ethnographies or critical historical pieces where the authors take up way more space then needed. But this book was a perfect blend.
2/ I appreciated the parts of the book where Dr. Stuart would mention where his assumptions may have lied when engaging with the guys and how he learned from it I want to share two passages that honestly made me think to myself: this is why I want to be a researcher!
3/ First: “The Loudest Calls For Verification are Almost Always Leveled at Scholars Who Expose Injustice and Give Voice to the Powerless. Why For Example Do Critiques Always Seem To Require Extra Proof Of Abuse At The Hands Of Police, Boarder Agents and Other State Bureaucracies.
4/ As We’ve Heard This Verification Is Typically Sought From The Very Parties Doing The Harm, As If An Official Position Automatically Makes Someone’s Account More Objective And Reliable. But How An Account Becomes Official Is Inseparable From Existing Structures Of Power......
5/ And Privilege. Society Awards Certain Sources Authority By Denying It To Others. I’m Reminded Of This Point Nearly Every Time I Share My Work With Journalist And Public Audiences.
6/Of All My Findings, The One That Receives The Most Skepticism Is My Observation That These Young Men AREN’T As Violent As Their Videos, Photos, and Common Stereotypes Suggest. I’m Repeatedly Asked to Provide Additional Evidence, Including Official Police Statistics to Somehow..
7/ Prove That Urban Black Youth AREN’T Trigger Happy Super Predators Willing To Kill One Another Over The Slightest Insult On Twitter. I Leave These Interactions Convinced That We Need Even More Ethnographies Highlighting The Voices Of Marginalized Communities.
8/ If For No Other Reason Than To Contest The Often Erroneous Narrative Of Police Chiefs, Politicians, And Other Traditional Sources Of Expertise.”
9/ Second: “I came to realize that a responsible account required directing even more attention to the agency and ingenuity of these young people as they try to cash in on their stigma. It also forced me to continually remind listeners that these online...
10/ performances are often just that, performances. I repeatedly emphasized that not all utterances about criminality online are associated with criminal behavior offline. In fact, many displays of violence on social media are techniques for avoiding it in the streets.
11/ I don't deny that these young men engage in violent sometimes horrible acts. They do, I don't sanitize their wrongdoing or excuse the pain they cause others. But explaining why they, or anyone might behave in these ways requires that we think about the broader structural...
12/ and emotional contexts that surround them. To this end, my approach does what the media, the public, and even drillers themselves so often refused to do. That is publicly acknowledged that these are complex and contradictory young people. Despite the sticky monolithic label..
13/ of gang member, they move through the world inhabiting multiple roles that shape their decisions and experiences. They may sometimes be offenders, but they are also victims. Their enforcers of a violent street code but they're also sons, fathers, friends and lovers.
14Their drillers but they’re also teenagers trying to survive amid deplorable social conditions These additional identities may not be as sexy or exciting but they are equally if not more important if we're truly committed to reducing violence and improving neighborhood outcomes”
Moral of the story go read the book!!!
