A Conversation With Uncle Wilford

A Conversation with Uncle Wilford is a power and unique book about how gangs come into existence and more. The setting for the book is a local impoverished neighborhood located in a severely depressed mid-western city teeming with violent gangs and social ills. The conversation between an 80 year- old liberal minded community sage, an ultra conservative middle aged customer, and a young 23 year- old barber. The young man is struggling to avoid the life of gang violence and make a brighter future for his young family. He has a fear of gangs and thinks eventually he might be lured into the gang lifestyle or be killed. Uncle Wilford (80 years old) comes to the barbershop for his usual haircut, but on this day he, a customer,and the young barber engage in a riveting, powerful, dynamic discussions about current political issues in America culminating in one of the most thought-provoking assessments of gangs ever written.. The conservative customer claims that there is no such thing as poverty, and that poverty is a state of the mind. For him gangs are the result of bad decision making and a ruthless desire to achieve power, riches and respect without working for it. TMan, the young barber thinks that gangs are merely a passing fad that young people go through and will come out of. He sees gangs as a necessary journey of development that young people go through and end up, some times tragically, learning what is really important in life. Uncle Wilford offers a more profound assessment of gangs and gang development. Starting the conversation off by being a social critic of the current Obama administration and Washington politics, Uncle Wilford examines the current economic landscape.i.e stimulus package,foreclosures, bank and automotive bailouts, and Iraq as a back drop for his theories about gangs. He contends that all gangs have a DNA structure which is sociological, psychological, and theological. Without recognizing this important fact about gangs there will be no way to stop them. In a very interesting twist Uncle Wilford makes the disturbing claim that modern American religion may also be a main culprit in gang development and violence. He takes aim at the mega church movement in America contending it is a dangerous competitor of violent street gangs. This is a must read for any parent, family, community, or organization seeking to understand and eliminate violent neighborhood gangs,