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Interlude & Chapter Four
Part II: Choices and Second Chances
Summary: Interlude
Moore reflects on his fundamental freedoms as he visits Wes in prison. The two discuss the nature of responsibility and both ponder at what point in their lives they felt like they became a man. Moore and Wes consider the struggles they faced in the past and how each received a second chance. Surrounded by men who were forced to face harsh realities in life before they were mature enough to deal with them, the two Wes Moores wonder if it is possible to tell the difference between a second chance to make things better and contribute to society and a final chance.
Chapter Four: Marking Territory (1990)
Summary: Section 1 (Wes)
Wes has been working as a lookout and drug dealer for three years when he is confronted by Tony, who asks him where’s getting the money to buy all of the sneakers piled up in his room. Mary thinks Wes earns his money working as a DJ, and Wes tells Tony the same lie. However, Tony knows Wes is lying and, aggravated that Wes ignored his advice, attacks Wes. When Mary breaks up the fight, Tony tells her how Wes has really been earning his money. Initially, Mary refuses to accept that Wes deals drugs, but she eventually goes through his room, finds drugs, and flushes them down the toilet. Angry that his mother flushed $4,000 worth of drugs down the toilet, Wes considers the endless need for drugs in his community and decides to earn it all back and more. After this incident, Wes hides his drug supply at his girlfriend’s house. Mary worries about both of her sons working as drug dealers, especially since Tony is about to be a father.
Summary: Section 2 (Moore)
Joy confronts Moore about his declining grades. She fears he suffers from a learning disability, but after listening to him recite a rap song in her car, Joy realizes that he’s capable and is simply not trying. After a teacher tells Moore that class runs better without him, Moore stops going to school. Shani, one of Moore’s sisters, who is doing well in school, gets into a fight with a girl named Lateshia. Infuriated, Moore and his aunt march down the street to confront Lateshia. Despite the presence of Lateshia’s tough-looking older brother, Moore warns Lateshia to never touch Shani again.
All the boys in the neighborhood have become obsessed with tagging, spray painting your street name on buildings, and Moore has developed his own tag—“KK” for “Kid Kupid.” One day, Moore is out tagging with his friend Shea, who deals drugs. Suddenly, the police approach Moore and Shea, handcuff them, and put them in the back of the squad car. Shea’s attitude toward the police is cold and uncaring. Moore, however, feels frightened about what his mother will do if he’s arrested. The police let the boys off with a warning, which Moore takes to heart for about a week before he starts tagging again.
Analysis: Interlude & Chapter Four
In this section, both Wes and Moore are given opportunities to make better choices after getting into trouble, but neither takes advantage of the chance. When Tony suspects Wes is dealing drugs and lying about it, he feels a duty to protect his little brother. This time, since his lectures have had no effect on Wes, Tony beats Wes in an attempt to change his behavior. When Mary discovers Wes’s stash of drugs, she destroys them. Both incidents are chances for Wes to give up dealing, but he does not, failing to realize that, as Moore puts it in the Part II Interlude, these second chances may be last chances. Moore, too, receives a second chance in this chapter, after he and Shea are arrested for graffiti. The arresting officer lets them go after warning them he will see them again if they don’t “get smart.” Like Wes, Moore does not heed the warning and returns to tagging a week later.
Also in this section, Moore explores the importance of hip-hop, which is extremely influential for him as a teen and helps him build a sense of identity. Hip-hop acts as a “validator” at this point in Moore’s life, giving him a way to reconcile the self he presents at his mostly white private school and the self he presents among other young men in his neighborhood. Hip-hop’s global popularity made its visions of Black life and messages of Black pride accessible to Moore’s white classmates, and at the same time, Moore’s devotion to the form and easy memorization of lyrics led his neighborhood peers to respect and trust him as one of their own. In this way, hip-hop formed a bridge between Moore’s two worlds and two selves. Moore broadens this idea from his individual experience to a collective one shared by his generation, arguing that hip-hop expressed his generation’s fears and dreams, helping them feel less alone.
In the 1980s, the emergence and popularity of crack resulted in unprecedented growth in the drug trade, which changed the relationship between Black communities and the police. As drug businesses expanded and became more powerfully armed, police work grew more dangerous, leading officers to distrust Black people living in poorer communities where drug dealing was prevalent. Black people were often caught between fear of rising crime and fear of increasingly aggressive and brutal policing. This double-bind left communities simultaneously reliant on and resentful of the police and often resulted in overly harsh responses to young Black men’s first brushes with the law.
