In search of respect

As I read in search of respect I quickly realize that this book is very interesting. The statistics and details given early in the preface and introduction set the platform to hear the voices of the people who will be featured in this book. This book was written by an ethnographer which is a person who lives in the communities they study and establish long term relationships with the people they write about. As I read chapter one I began to fear for the authors life! To actually read the details of the drug dealers he dealt with and him going back there after being somewhat threatened was too much for me. But in the same sentence to hear the same man(Ray) being described as a sensitive man is insane. I understand why the author was hesitant to write this book as in you may look down on these people not understanding that they are still people.
When the author talked about the time when he moved to el barrio and how he walked down the street and everyone scattered I thought that because of his skin and the cops would stop him because they thought he was an addict goes to show that in those times if you weren't in the right place no matter what your skin was you would get stopped and humiliated by the cops.
Because people thought the author was a federal agent or a drug addict. It's like they couldn't grasp the concept of a normal white male living in the "hood".
I liked how the author pointed out thy no matter where you loved you could be assaulted or mugged at anytime. He stayed that while living in el barrio he was mugged once while his friends living in a safer neighborhood was mugged atleast a half dozen times.
When the author talked about culture of terror he said that in order for him to be successful on street ethnography he had to be relaxed and enjoy himself of the street. He states that mainstream society "unconsciously" uses the image of culture of terror to dehumanize the victims and perpetrators to justify the unwillingness to confront