Ghetto brother
Subtitle: warrior to peacemaker
By: Julian Voloj, Claudia Ahlering
Contributors: Ahlering, Claudia, 1972- ill
Publisher: NBM Comics Lit
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 127
ISBN-13: 9781561639489
Copyright date: 2015
Subjects: Community activists; Gangs; Puerto Ricans; Gang members; Sephardim; Biography; Comic books, strips
Description: "An engrossing and counter view of one of the most dangerous elements of American urban history, this graphic novel tells the true story of Benjy Melendez, son of Puerto-Rican immigrants, who founded, at the end of the 1960s, the notorious Ghetto Brothers gang. From the seemingly bombed-out ravages of his neighborhood, wracked by drugs, poverty, and violence, he managed to extract an incredibly positive energy from this riot ridden era: his multiracial gang promoted peace rather than violence. After initiating a gang truce, the Ghetto Brothers held weekly concerts on the streets or in abandoned buildings, which fostered the emergence of hip-hop. Melendez also began to reclaim his Jewish roots after learning about his family's dramatic crypto-Jewish background" --
Notes: "Based on true events" -- title page verso.