Ghetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker (Biographies) - Softcover

Voloj, Julian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1561639486 ISBN 13: 9781561639489

Publisher: NBM ComicsLit, 2015

Synopsis

Winner of:
2016 In the Margins Book Award
2016 Booklist's Top 10 Graphic Novels
2017 Maverick Graphic Novel List

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, a Bronx legend, 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. 

About this title

About the Author

Julian Voloj is a photographer and writer who explores aspects of identity and cultural heritage through his work. He lives in New York City. Claudia Ahlering is a painter and illustrator. She is the founder of the magazine Spring.

Reviews

Gr 9 Up—A graphic novel that aims to condense Benjy Meléndez's experiences growing up in the South Bronx as the son of island-born Puerto Ricans in a very hostile New York City. It discusses Benjy's involvement in gang activities, the creation of the Ghetto Brothers gang, his auspicious role in brokering peace among gangs in the Bronx, and how he was part of a short period of peace that fomented the creation of Hip Hop and its culture. During this journey of shifting his gang into a group that worked against police injustice and for tenants' rights and bilingual education, he also discovers the complexity of his own ethnic and religious identity. The book truly summarizes a complicated story of a young boy "coming of age" politically, socially, and personally during a very important period of black and Puerto Rican community building and political activism in New York City. The text is accessible and not afraid to show the complexity of Benjy's struggles and the bleakness of life in the South Bronx during that period. In that sense, the illustrations are rough but consistent, suiting the grittiness of the neighborhood and of Benjy's own experiences well. VERDICT A coming-of-age story that will expand graphic novel collections with its incorporation of the historical oppression, community empowerment, and identities of marginalized communities in 1970s New York City.—Sujei Lugo, Boston Public Library, MA

Edition details

• Publisher: NBM ComicsLit
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1561639486
• ISBN 13: 9781561639489
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Ahlering Claudia
• Number of pages: 128