Summary

Sudhir began hanging out with J.T. on a regular basis. They’d often cruise around the South Side as they talked. J.T. filled Sudhir in on his life growing up on the South Side and his admiration for black Chicago gangs. They ate at soul food restaurants which J.T. always paid for. Sudhir explained to J.T. that some sociologists believed in a culture of poverty in which poor blacks didn’t work because they didn’t value employment and that this attitude was passed down to subsequent generations. J.T. blamed low minimum wage for the reluctance that black men had in taking jobs. J.T.’s gang numbered in the 200s; he knew what each man made in the jobs they held. J.T. explained how he figured what good deals were in their...