The Territory, A Bloodstained Banner Summary

The scholar Cornel West theorizes that gangsterism arises from the frontier myth and the myth of the gunfighter in American history. He believes that both gang members and police officers operate under the influence of these myths. Gunfighters were heroes because of their guns. Being a gunfighter meant you were tough. On one level, West says, this kind of force allowed those in power to expand their markets and utilize the resources of the land by subordinating the people who lived on that land. Gang members with guns are tough like soldiers and think of themselves as military men. When they fight the police, they can be tougher than the police; their brutality can be greater than police brutality. Gangs play the same game as the police, according to West.

He sees racial reasoning as...