Alex Kotlowitz's "There Are No Children There": gang violence and family survival

¶ … Children There

Written by Alex Kotlowitz, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, the book There Are No Children There follows two boys' activities around the Henry Horner Homes, a low-income public housing project in Chicago, Illinois. The book covers the time period from the summer of 1987 through September, 1989, and follows the protagonists, Lafeyette Rivers (nearly 12 years old) and Pharoah Rivers (nine years old). This is not an ordinary American neighborhood. It is a heavy gang area, a war zone where shootings are commonplace, drugs are a catalyst for crime and death seems to lurk around every corner. This paper will review the book chronologically through five chapters then provide a closer critique of LaJoe Rivers, the mother of the protagonists.

The average American comes home from work in the evening, opens a refreshing cold drink, gets comfortable on the couch and turns on the evening news. One of the stories on the nightly news brings high definition scenes from the most recent gang violence in Chicago's near west side. The average American grabs the remote control and turns to something more pleasant, a reality cooking show or maybe Oprah. Americans that are not living in or near big city ghettos are understandably reluctant to be hit in the face with the daily dose of bad news involving drugs, violence, gangs, killings and poverty. But for those unfortunate enough to live in the "projects" in Chicago's inner city cannot simply change channels. They are locked in, stuck, and the scene they see every day.

The Literature / Critiques

According to New York City lawyer Adam Walinsky, visiting the Chicago ghetto known as the Henry Horner Homes "What it's Like To Be In Hell" (Walinsky, 1987, p. 1). Walinsky has published a piece in The New York Times using "What It's Like To Be In Hell" as his title. Walinsky describes the Henry Horner Homes as nineteen 10-story buildings, built with housing money from the federal government. Known as "projects," the Chicago Housing Authority and many manage these buildings if not most of the windows are smashed and have been replaced by "plastic sheeting," Walinsky writes. The gangs that control the neighborhood -- including the Blackstone Rangers, who have been in this part of Chicago for 30 years -- engage in what Walinsky calls "regular and constant warfare for control of the drug and vice trades" (p. 1).

The Rangers are well armed -- they have pistols, rifles, automatic weapons and they even use an "occasional grenade," Walinsky explains. The Rangers and other gangs recruit children down to the age of 8, muggings are just part of life for the stressed-out residents, fifteen-year-old girls are "recruited for prostitution," and beatings and killings are "common," according to Walinsky. The families that live in the Henry Horner Homes have to walk a long way to buy groceries because there are no stores in this ghetto. Cashing welfare checks is a challenge because the nearest bank is downtown.

People could move out of their apartments but according to Walinsky's article, the only way a tenant can be placed in another project is by bribing the housing officials. The only way to get repairs done is, again, to bribe housing officials, Walinsky asserts in his article. One woman quoted by Walinsky said she had her front door "smashed by an intruder." She asked for a replacement and the housing authority spokesperson said, "Move your icebox in front of the door" (Walinsky, p. 1).

This is the inner city setting in which Kotlowitz has written his book. The themes in this book are all too familiar to people who live in the violent inner city, and they are quite grim. Living in a veritable war zone is the norm for Pharoah and Lafeyette. For these young men saying they are "at risk" is a gross understatement. There is also poverty as a theme in this book, racism, and violence. It is an extremely well written book. The descriptive narrative is so excellent it brings the reader into each scene.

Chapters One & Two

Lafeyette and Pharoah are making their way on some railroad tracks; along with their younger cousin Porkchop and James Howard, a good friend of Lafeyette. This is a nice break from the ghetto because there are wildflowers, birds, butterflies, and the boys are hoping to catch themselves a garter snake. Pharoah loves this tranquility. That's the good news. The bad news is that the boys recall the death of their friend William, who died a violent death in their violent community.

In chapter Two the author describes LaJoe in detail, setting the stage for readers understanding what a mother goes through in a community like this. LaJoe's husband, the biological father of all her children (including her four-year-old triplets) but he has only a passing interest in his children, and shows up occasionally. LaJoe was a beautiful woman and still has quite a bit of beauty and charm because she hasn't become overweight, but the strain of raising eight children in a war zone shows.

Chapter Three

The author covers the history of how the high-rise projects were developed and how controversial the political situation was at that time. It was more like "urban separation" to put Blacks who were in the low-income category into a neighborhood. It was only one of 19 public housing projects in Chicago but it became notorious for violence and stagnation. Was that horrid smell the result of dead fetuses? In this chapter LaJoe takes a stand against allowing Lafeyette to be security for the boys playing basketball. She is a strong mother, a survivor, and readers come to like and respect her.

Chapter Four -- Five

Readers are introduced to Jimmie Lee, the evil head of a gang called the Conservative Vice Lords; they kill and maim when Jimmie tells them too. This is the realism that the author brings to this book, because Lee is a bad person but he has his good side. Paradoxes abound in the Henry Horner project. In fact Lafeyette had witnessed someone being killed when he was only ten years old. The dead person bled to death right outside the Rivers' apartment and his blood was still there years later. Good descriptions of what the gangs wear and what they do in these chapters. Bird Leg is a kind person that finds food for stray dogs. The kid was shot one time and his mother moves the family away but Bird Leg comes back for visits. When Bird Leg is shot, he is buried in a new jogging suit, because those were his wishes. The senseless killing is so commonplace that funerals and burials are part of the culture.

Chapters Six -- Seven -- Eight -- Nine - Ten

Increasingly the boys in LaJoe's family and their friends try to understand the violence. There are many passages in these chapters beyond just violence and fear that allow the reader to see the big picture. Racism, for example, is present. A study shows that teacher salaries in the Black community are only 85% of what white teachers receive. The school board president makes classroom policies that are obviously racially motivated, adding to the overall injustice of the situation. It is hard for a reader to imagine being in a classroom and hearing shotgun blasts echoing off the walls outside, but this is the reality of Henry Horner. When LaJoe's oldest, LaShawn, moved back into the apartment with her boyfriend (and his brother and two young children), it was an outrageously jammed apartment. But for LaJoe, as a caring, loving mother, "she had only to look around her to see what might happen if she didn't give her grown children shelter" (p. 79).

All the news about school is not totally depressing in this book; at Henry Suder Elementary School there is a great principal named Brenda Daigre. Pharoah has a teacher (Ms. Barone) who has to spend her own money on her classroom because of the city's tight budgets when it comes to African-American schools and other needs. Readers learn how intelligent and creative Pharaoh is, in writing, spelling, and problem solving. One of LaJoe's sons, Terence Rivers, is arrested for armed robbery. LaJoe asks the police not to snap on the handcuffs in front of her two young boys but they do anyway. This is a symbolic part of the ninth chapter. When the cuffs "clicked" behind Terence's back, his head "dropped as if it had been held up by a string" (p. 92). In fact the entire neighborhood was being held together as if by a string.

Focus on LaJoe

She was such a patient and strong mother that the word "hero" is as appropriate for LaJoe as it is for a firefighter that rescued someone from a burning building. The author uses juxtaposition to compare LaJoe with Sandifer's mother. Compared to other cruel mothers, LaJoe is an angel from Heaven. Sandifer's mother administered burns to his neck, his buttocks and "cordlike marks on his abdomen" (Grace, 1994). The mother was under court supervision because her 16-month-old daughter was found with burns around "the genitals, buttocks, and thighs" (Grace, 1994).

Lafeyette was correct in believing that his mom was the only person he truly could count on day in and day out. LaJoe has to battle her way out of situations, like the time she was investigated for fraud with regard to her welfare check (she received $931 a month for all the bills she had to pay). When a meeting took place during which the welfare officials were questioning her about her tax returns and evidence that she had not filed accurate reports for money she received, she slammed the door after leaving the meeting room. "She would later apologize to her inquisitors for her impoliteness," the author writes on page 97. And if they took away her checks, she "didn't ask where she would get money to feed her children" and she didn't even ask for a "caseworker to come out and look at her home" (p. 97). This was a woman who was under tremendous strain, whose life consisted of trying to keep enough food on the table for her children.

She didn't have the "resolve to kick her older children out of the apartment… She gave and gave -- and then didn't get it back" (p. 99). How much can any woman take? With all those children and all the violence around her -- and a husband more interested in drugs and liquor than his own offspring -- she showed enormous strength and resiliency. When Pharoah nearly won the spelling bee, but slipped at the last moment on the word "endurance," LaJoe stroked his head and said "I love you." She told friends, "Pharoah is Pharoah. He's going to be somebody. When he was a baby, I held him up and asked him if he'd be the one…" to graduate from high school (p. 116). A mother of eight children would certainly hope to have at least one of her children complete high school, but in this violent, poverty-laden community, there was no certainty that a mother's child would even live through high school, let alone graduate. But the faith and love of LaJoe makes her very special and sets her apart from those around her.

On pages 141-142 the monthly trip by taxi to buy food for her family is presented. She didn't just buy stables, but tried to buy special things for each child, to make a dismal life existence a bit brighter. This was her style, her purposed in life, to try and not only keep her family alive but to make then happy whenever possible. She bought oysters for Lafeyette, ripe pears for Pharoah, and for "all the children, to celebrate the restoration of her benefits," she brought home grapes, apples, plums, peaches and Popsicles" (p. 142).

When Lafeyette was busted for shoplifting, LaJoe made him stay in the house for a week and a half but he didn't mind because he knew he did a dumb thing. It also shows that he knows his mother is correct in disciplining him; respect for his mother says as much about her strength as it does about his weakness. She made Lafeyette the beneficiary of her life insurance ($4,000), which she hoped the additional responsibility would help him grow up.

LaJoe wasn't afraid to stand up to belligerent men who tried to hurt her. When Keith (p. 233) threatens her from a car (he's high on PCP) he says "I'm going to bust your head." She answers, "Get out and bust my head now…Come on, get outta your car. Bust my head." She has a nail file in her hand that she was going to use to stab him in the eye if he got out, but he chickened out. Later LaJoe's son Weasel beat Keith mercifully while LaJoe watched. This is part of her personality that is defiant in the face of violence. Yes she is a wonderful, loving, nurturing mother to all those children, and to their friends. But when a person threatens her and her son drags the culprit back to the house, she is only too willing to watch the drubbing. "Weasel began punching him with short, powerful blows to his face and body. The crushing sound of flesh against flesh echoed in the narrow hallway…" (p. 233).

LaJoe was able to watch, but later she was "shaky and dazed" and she muttered "I ain't going to put up with this." Her voiced raised higher and "raged at no one in particular. "YOU HEAR ME? I AIN'T GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS!" (p. 233). She continued to be upset, her adrenalin pumping, and readers know this because when she was rude to her own children as part of her emotionally draining situation. A few weeks after having "lost control of herself" LaJoe slowed down and put on a party for Pharoah, who had never had a party (p. 250). A mother's love is rarely so appreciated as when she buys a nice surprise for her son, and gives him a party he didn't expect to get.

When Pharoah recited a poem from the stage at school, LaJoe was there in the audience, and when Pharoah finished, he looked over to his mother and she "winked" (p. 254). That little gesture meant a lot to LaJoe's son, just as his mother's constant love did as well. Part of her love was always to protect her children. On page 256 LaJoe and Rochelle are walking down Washington Boulevard and a very small boy behind them has a pistol, and fires at two teens that were wearing red. Later when LaJoe saw her son Lafeyette wearing a red baseball cap, she "ripped" it off his head. Obviously she figured out that red was a gang color and wanted to protect Lafeyette.

Oprah Winfrey played the role of LaJoe in a movie version of the book. LaJoe was an "advisor" on the movie and LaJoe said her "heart almost stopped" when she heard that Oprah cared enough about the situation in the projects to make the movie, and to play her, LaJoe (Levitt, 1993). "The story of her life is far more devastating than anything I could have imagined," Oprah said (Levitt, p. 1). LaJoe said that during the filming, "when a hand reached out, it was Oprah's," Levitt explained. The fact that Oprah played the role of LaJoe says a lot about LaJoe and her struggling life.

By the time Oprah made the movie, LaJoe had left the projects, according to Shelley Levitt, writing in People magazine. One of LaJoe's boys had been shot at while sitting in a car. At the time of this article, LaJoe was living in a five-bedroom town house "…she build for herself through a community development program"

Conclusion:

The People Magazine article reported that by 1993, LaJoe had been trained in grassroots organizing and Lafeyette was 18 and studying for his high school diploma and Pharoah was an honors student in high school. And while the gang and violence situation in Chicago's projects is not as hideously dangerous as it once was, there is still poverty and there is still violence in the ghettos. And as long as there are readers, and authors like Kotlowitz, the stories will continue to be told and read, and hopefully one day there can be justice and civil behaviors where there once was crime, abject poverty, gratuitous violence and hopelessness.