The violence involving young black males, he believes, occurs frequently at the intersection of poverty and the code of the street.
"When there's a lack of hope, of a future," Anderson said in an interview, "then people can go off in crazy ways."
ALSO SEE: Glossary: The Code of the Street
Nam Y. Huh, AP
Nadashia Thomas, 6, a cousin of Derrion Albert, takes part in a demonstration at Christian Fenger Academy High School in Chicago in September.
And the youth violence in the city continues a month later.
On Monday morning, many parents kept their children home after at least a dozen fights broke out at Fenger late last week, with five teens arrested, the Tribune reported. By Monday evening, 17-year-old Martel Barrett was killed by multiple gun shots about 10 miles away from Fenger as he made his way to another South Side high school.
"We're dealing with a war-zone mentality, and we're having these children transported into a war zone," the Rev. Al Sharpton said Monday during a visit to Chicago, where he joined parents pleading for city officials to help stop the violence.
Anderson said he has no first-hand knowledge of Albert's death, but he saw similarities to a 15-year-old named Tyree whom he wrote about in his book "Code of the Street" (W.W. Norton, 1999, 325 pp).
Tyree was new to the neighborhood when he encountered about 20 boys who took turns giving him a beating. Tyree survived, but he got the message: He had to fight back to get along. "This seems to be another case where you have a 'decent' boy who tries to abide by middle-class values," Anderson said. "But those kids have no 'cred.' To get street cred, you've got to knock a few heads; you've got to prove yourself."
Anderson grew up in South Bend, Ind., about 90 miles from Chicago. He received his master's degree at the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. at Northwestern. He wrote "Code of the Street" after almost 18 months of immersing himself in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.
The streetwise scholar first identified the code in a 1994 essay for The Atlantic, which led to the book. He wrote that inner-city poor define themselves as either "decent" people or "street" people. The "decent" people cling to middle-class values, but the "code" defines justice on the street and even "decent" people realize they have to adapt to it to survive. And the "code" teaches inner-city children that you have to act tough to get along.
"By the time they are teenagers, most youths have either internalized the code of the street or at least learned the need to comport themselves with its rules," he wrote. "Its basic requirement is the display of a certain predisposition to violence."
The book was widely praised, though it did draw criticism from both conservative and liberal blacks. Black columnist Gregory Kane called the code just an excuse for bad behavior. White columnist George Will praised the book as a "deeply disturbing, yet moving story of decency under pressure."
Sociologist Alford Young, a professor at the University of Michigan who has researched youths in Chicago's neighborhoods, said he respects Anderson's work, but thinks the labels "street" and "decent" are too simple.
"You've got 'street' people who view themselves as 'decent' and vice-versa," he said. "It doesn't always fit so neatly."
But it is clear, Young said, "that the kids who are not assertive tend to be an easy target."
And earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department validated Anderson's theory of urban violence after an extensive study that specifically cited his work.
"The stress of living in a poor and violent environment can cause young people to adopt the code of the street as a lifestyle guide," the report concluded. "This, in turn, is a powerful predictor of violent conduct, amplified by ... the lack of jobs that pay a living wage and a lack of hope for the future."
Anderson said he isn't frustrated that it took so long for the government to pay attention.
"It's very difficult for leaders to embrace the idea of a code of the street," he said. "And what to do about it is a lot more difficult."
He offers three starting points for breaking the code:
- The elder heads of the community, most of whom have moved on to better neighborhoods, have to help rebuild human capital, which is more than just improving education. "We need Little League, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts ... most of all the kids need to know that there will be a reward if they apply themselves."
- The justice system needs to be viewed as fair to both blacks and whites. "Black people need to believe that if they call the police, the police will come promptly," he said. "When you have an erosion of civil law, street justice fills the void."
- America had a Marshall Plan to rebuild the cities of Europe after World War II, he said. "Now, we need a Marshall Plan for our own cities. We need jobs ... the expectation of good jobs. ... People need to realize that when there's a recession in the rest of the country, it's a depression in poor, black communities."
Chicago police declined requests to comment on Anderson's theories. But he gets no argument from Young with any of those three solutions. And they agree on one more thing.
"We know it's going to happen again," Young said last week.
Unfortunately, it already has.
