What are the motifs in Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned by Walter Mosley?

Friendship is a recurring idea in the book. Socrates has far more acquaintances that he does friends, but he is fiercely loyal to and protective of those few friends that he does have, and will do whatever he needs to do to take care of them even if it is hard for him. In the case of Darryl, while Socrates would have preferred the boy continued to live with him, he instead arranges to have him live in a neighborhood an hour away rather than have him subjected to the risks posed by the gangbangers who have been bullying him.