“A Rose out of This Cement”
Chapter 5 tells the story of Jay, one of several young men that Eric and his group tried to support shortly in his efforts to break free from the criminal justice system. I first met Jay when he was in his early twenties. He was just beginning to construct the kind of narrative and life that would lead him away from the street. Five years after our first meeting, I found myself speaking at Jay’s funeral. This chapter reveals the limitations of buffer-and-bridge work when it comes to changing the life trajectory of young men like Jay and highlights the limitations of the crime-fighting community when it comes to protecting Black youth from violence. The chapter provides a compelling illustration of how and why individualistic efforts at transformation or narrowly focused calls for the redemption of Black men in general and Black fathers in particular – narratives often embraced by a variety of community residents – will always fall short of delivering young people from the various forms of violence that shape their adolescence.