Blue Rage, Black Redemption
A Memoir
by Stanley Tookie Williams

From back cover:

"...In interviewing more than 5,000 gangsters over many years, I have been stymied by this question:  Why do young black men, most of whom come from dysfunctional families living in poverty, constantly attempt -- with too-frequent success -- to kill one another?

"[Stanley Tookie] Williams is the only person I know of -- gangster or criminologist -- who has come up with any kind of articulate insight into black-on-black gang violence. I quoted his answer in my book Gangsters:

I believe the core of it is an embedded sense of self-hate. What I mean by that is, an individual who has been spoon-fed so many derogatory images of his race will, after a period of time, start to believe those images. The images I'm talking about are stereotypes that depict the majority of blacks as being buffoons, functional illiterates, violent and promiscuous, welfare recipients, indolent criminals... Unfortunately, too many black people have been brainwashed into believing these stereotypes... So you end up lashing out at the individuals [other gang members] that you consider to be part of those stereotypes. In desperation, you're trying to obliterate that negative image to rid yourself of this self-hate monster that subconsciously stalks you.

"Based on his apparent rehabilitation and insights into the gang problem after his years on the streets and then on death row, Williams has something positive to offer criminology and society..."

-- Lewis Yablonsky, Emeritus Professor of Criminology, California State University of Northridge, Los Angeles Times, September 19, 2002

Blue Rage, Black Redemption
A Memoir
by Stanley Tookie Williams

ISBN: 0975358405
Publisher: Damamli Publishing Company
Publication Date: 2004
Format: Trade Paperback, 372 pages
Book Type: New