Written
by Julian Voloj
Art
by Claudia Ahlering
I am
quite familiar with the story of Benjamin “Yellow Benjy” Melendez
and the Ghetto Brothers. IT was Jeff Chang's “Can't Stop, Won't
Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation,” hat bought this story
back from obscurity. It was also told by Melendez himself in “Ghetto
Brothers: How I Found Peace in the South Bronx Street Gang Wars.”
Netflix also released a wonderful documentary which goes on to
chronicle the gangs of New York in the Seventies called “Rubble
Kings.” When I learned that Melendez' story was going to be put in
a graphic novel form, I was excited.
Julian
Voloj puts the entire story together well. Voloj covers much ground
in the short space provided by graphic novel genre. While there is
but so much one can put into the graphic novel, Voloj leaves very
little out. Claudia Ahlering's pencils are amazing. Ahlering captures
the grittiness of NYC during that time. The black and white format
captures the burnt out buildings and the poverty vividly. Ahlering
gets the facial expressions right and pours emotion in the action
sequences.
Finally,
Voloj and Aherling provide a wonderful appendix that provides more
resources and sheds more light on the overal story of the gangs in
NYC. This is very crucial. I used this book with my students and plan
to implement it as a tool for mediation. My students are captivated
by this story despite the fact that reading is not something they
enjoy. It was a wonderful way to get them read something and
introduce them to a bit of history that might appeal to them. The
story of the Ghetto Brothers is an inspiring one and demonstrates how
people actually utilized tools discussed by notables such as the Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And Mahatma Ghandi into becoming agents
of change.
Being
from the Bronx makes me biased when it comes to this story. Yet it is
a story of triumph. It is one of young people putting their heads
together and claiming their own destiny. This story is also one where
people are claiming their right to have their story told. It is also
our duty to make sure those stories are heard. When I return to the
classroom in August, this one shall be on my shelf and will be
inserted into my lesson plans.
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