Chapter Summaries Part 1
A breakdown of “In These Streets” chapters 1 through 3
We are one month away from the release of “In These Streets.” I’m all out of positive reflective points to make without regurgitating things I’ve already said in the past. To be honest, I got some real sh*t I want to get off my chest about this entire process, but I’m gonna wait a little bit to do that.
Overall, I’m just grateful that I’ve gotten the chance to write this, thankful to all of you who are showing support, and thankful to everyone who’s helped me with this journey1.
Over the next few weeks, I will give more insight into what specifics you can expect from the book, chapter by chapter. The week before the book is out, I’ll run an excerpt here! This post covers Part 1 of the book, "The Drastic Rise,” which includes chapters 1 through 3. Part 1 of the book focuses on the rise in gun violence that began in 2020 and what drove it.
To capture everything, the book follows the life of a violence prevention worker in Brooklyn — Roy Alfonso — and his journey growing up in Bed-Stuy and going from a kid who shot at other people to an adult who wants to stop all the shootings in his neighborhood. The beginning of each chapter starts with him, giving the book a bit of a narrative arc. Then, as the chapter continues, more characters and settings are introduced, along with tons of data and analysis from community leaders, residents, law enforcement, experts, academics, and myself.
Chapter 1: A Surge like No Other
The opening chapter introduces Roy and his work. Here, the reader will learn exactly what violence intervention is and how someone like Roy can get in the middle of dangerous conflicts happening on the street. He discusses how, in 2019, he felt like gun violence was headed in the right direction. It was going down. Then, everything changed in 2020.
I introduce a handful of voices here who all experienced varying levels of gun violence from 2020 - 2022, the years when the numbers increased, including someone who got into a shootout in his own home and a mother who had the most tragic fourth-month stretch you can imagine.
This chapter also gets into ALL the numbers that show just how bad shootings and killings were for those three years, from 2020 to 2022. I had to get that stuff out of the way early. Chapter 1 was the toughest to write because of all the data and how much it can shift over time.
Chapter 2: The Perfect Storm
This chapter begins with how Roy grew up. He started his childhood on a nice communal block in Bed-Stuy but had to move to the projects as an early teen due to some horrible circumstances. That’s where the anguish of the hood grabbed him, and he turned to robberies, beefs, and shootouts with rivals. The circumstances of Roy’s new neighborhood heavily influenced his decision-making. Those circumstances include poverty, easy access to guns, gang conflicts, people constantly on edge, and over-policing.
Later, I explain how those same circumstances exist in other poor communities all across the country and that they’re clear drivers of gun violence. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, all of those drivers got worse. More characters are introduced in this chapter who explain that themselves—from a teenager who witnessed it in California to a community leader in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who said much of the progress made in the city vanished when the pandemic hit.
Chapter 2 is all about the factors that drive gun violence and how those factors worsened during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, furthering gun violence in areas where it was already a problem.
Chapter 3: Defund
Chapter 3 starts with Roy in the summer of 2020, just after George Floyd was killed. In Brooklyn, about a week after Floyd’s murder, another Black man was killed by multiple police officers in Crown Heights. At the time, Roy was on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, gun violence, and now unlawful policing. This became a difficult period for him and his fellow anti-violence workers.
The chapter pivots to the role “defund the police” played around gun violence. I spoke with hundreds of residents, community leaders and activists to get their perspective on the issue. I also got context from police officials — both officers on the ground and law enforcement leaders. The consensus I walked away with and explained in the book is that no police department lost funds in a meaningful way. However, because of the contentious energy aimed at the police and the political pressure that departments felt, there was likely a pullback of proactive policing that can be effective against gun crimes. With that, violence went unchecked in many major cities2.
I’m not blaming the defund the police movement for the rise in gun violence. What readers should walk away with from this chapter and the previous two is that no one factor drives gun violence. It’s a combination of issues, so it will take a combination of solutions.
“In These Streets” hits shelves on May 28th, 2024. You can pre-order a copy here.
Special shoutout to my cousin Christina Santi, who edits these posts every week.