Read Recently #6: “G Dog and The Homeboys by Celeste Fremon”
G Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles by Celeste Fremon
Backstory: I heard Father Greg Boyle interviewed on "Fresh Air" and ordered the book immediately. I’ve been interested in gangs since I saw Colors as a diluted white, suburban teenager in 1988.
Notes: I cannot say enough about what a fabulous book this is. And not just because the subject (Jesuit preist devotes his life to ministering to latino gangs in East L.A.) yanks at your heart. It’s fabulous because, in quiet defiance to the commandments of New Journalism, Fremon speaks openly about her own investment in her story. A lesser writer would come off as self-indulgent. Fremon comes off as both politically strident and heartbreakingly honest. She argues that gang policy based on crackdown and lock-up not only doesn’t work but erodes community trust in law enforcement. Investment in at-risk-youth, while expensive, time consuming and politically inefficient, works. Greg Boyle now runs Homeboy Industries, a jobs and business program staffed entirely by ex-gang members, the largest of its kind in the world.
Verdict: Lovely, lovely, lovely. Read it immediately. Then re-read Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, my favorite book of 2003.