Recent Read: Ghettoside by Jill Leovy

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy

What an eye-opening look into the so-called inner city of my own hometown. It's true that those of us outside of it are mostly ignorant of what goes on there. Though my high school had a few gang members in the student body (we even had a shooting at the gas station across the street once), it was still a foreign world I knew nothing about. My only real exposure to it was as a librarian assigned to a library in an area of LA right next to the 77^th. I remember going to that community a little scared. But what I found was lots of well cared for single family homes adorned with bars on every window and fences around the yard. The people I met and worked with from the community were nice and pleasant. Don't get me wrong; it was still the ghetto. I never left the building. We had to call the graffiti cleanup hotline on a regular basis. But it put a different, more personal face on this neighborhood that I had only seen through news reports, television, and movies.

It’s an important and timely book that delves into the multifaceted problem of homicide in South Central Los Angeles and, by extension murder in America. The statistics alone are staggering: Blacks make up 6% of the population and 40% of homicide victims in the US. Leovy focuses on the story of one such homicide: Bryant Tennelle, a good kid, from a good home, with a bright future, was gunned down one afternoon a few blocks from his house. Leovy takes us the through the investigation of his murder and the ensuing trial, often using events or people involved to tell us about other stories in the community, describe the state of law enforcement in LA, give historical background on homicide patterns, explain gangs and their role in the community, debunk isconceptions, and much more. It's a complex kaleidoscope. The detective work, the crimes, the organization of the LAPD--every last bit of it was fascinating. I was glued to the pages. I gained a real appreciation not only for the relentless and difficult work that detectives in such areas face on a daily basis, but also for the

Leovy's depictions are straightforward and real, though her opinions are clear. Her thesis: “where the criminal justice system fails to respond vigorously to violent injury and death, homicide becomes endemic.” Whether you agree or not, the book is still invaluable. I personally was sold.