The Bandana Republic

<p>Urban youth gangs are typically viewed as no more than training grounds for thugs and felons. This breakthrough anthology presents a far different picture revealing present and former gang members' and street activists' artistic impulses emotional sensitivities political beliefs and capacities to assess the social conditions that created them. <em>The Bandana Republic</em> contains powerful writing: fiction and essays poetry and polemics written by adolescents from gangs like the Crips and Bloods and the Mexican Mafia. There's also creative work by ex-gangbangers who have become activists artists musicians and movie stars. J. Sheeler's "Seven Immortals" finds grim poetry in a young girl's gang initiation. Jaha Zainabu's "The Jungle (Blood Territory)" is a lacerating portrait of an L.A. Blood. Commander's "The Brothas Gunnin'" piercingly profiles a neighborhood -- and a world -- under siege. These writings give voice to an American subculture far richer and more complex than the headlines indicate.</p>