Publisher's Synopsis
When we think of gangs, certain images spring to mind: teenagers too young to vote carrying guns, women forced into prostitution, men who sell drugs in broad daylight, business owners paying fees for their own safety, constant street warfare. They are images of fear and violence, lacking in hope or security. However, there is another reality alongside these images. It is the reality of civilian peacekeepers, also called interventionists, who devote their lives to making and keeping peace in gang territories around the USA. They work within gang communities, forming relationships with gang leaders, organising and mediating negotiations between opposing gangs and, ultimately, striving to break the cycle of revenge-driven bloodshed that fuels so much inner-city violence. These peacekeepers are often former gang members themselves, who have given up their previous lives to stop the violence they once supported, and maybe even incited. PEACE IN THE HOOD takes readers inside this dual world of violence and intervention, evoking the reality of gangland warfare but, also, acknowledging the possibility of peace in these war zones. Written from the perspective of Aquil Basheer, a pioneer of the interventionist movement, it documents the lessons Basheer has learned over his 40 years of working in inner cities and passes these lessons on to readers so they too can know what the job of peacekeeping entails.
