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A review by juliana_aldous
Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. by Danielle S. Allen
4.0
In Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A., Danielle Allen, political scientist and Harvard professor, tells the personal story of her cousin Michael’s incarceration, brief life and murder. She describes his upbringing in Southern California and being sentenced for carjacking at fifteen just as the State had instituted its Three Strikes Law, his time in jail—taking college courses, working as a firefighter, and then his eventual release. How the family worked together for his homecoming, housing and jobs, but Michael didn’t make it, fell back in with his transgender girlfriend from prison, who shot Michael and left him for dead.
There is plenty of heartache in this book. Allen goes back and forth in the book from Michael’s homecoming and attempts to right his life, to the story of his childhood. In addition, Allen gives a run-down of what created the societal conditions in Los Angeles in the nineties—the drug and gang culture, the increasing incarceration, and the poverty of the region. Also—this book does a good job of covering how difficult the prison system is for the families—the endless waiting, tight rules, and little to no communication by the prison.
For me, the saddest was the chapter written by Michael himself. It is an essay describing his work as a firefighter for the prison. You read that essay, and you begin to think of a different future that Michael might have had.
This book was very much in the vein of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. And unfortunately, we need more voices to tell these stories. The millions gone that Allen writes about.
If you are still not convinced to read the full book, then at least read Allen’s article for the New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/24/the-life-of-a-south-central-statistic
Another plug here…I actually read the acknowledgments and was delighted to see Allen thanks Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for inviting her to give a series of lectures which then became this book. I watch Dr. Gates show on PBS, Finding Your Roots. If you haven’t seen it—check it out. Talk about some fascinating history and family stories…
There is plenty of heartache in this book. Allen goes back and forth in the book from Michael’s homecoming and attempts to right his life, to the story of his childhood. In addition, Allen gives a run-down of what created the societal conditions in Los Angeles in the nineties—the drug and gang culture, the increasing incarceration, and the poverty of the region. Also—this book does a good job of covering how difficult the prison system is for the families—the endless waiting, tight rules, and little to no communication by the prison.
For me, the saddest was the chapter written by Michael himself. It is an essay describing his work as a firefighter for the prison. You read that essay, and you begin to think of a different future that Michael might have had.
This book was very much in the vein of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. And unfortunately, we need more voices to tell these stories. The millions gone that Allen writes about.
If you are still not convinced to read the full book, then at least read Allen’s article for the New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/24/the-life-of-a-south-central-statistic
Another plug here…I actually read the acknowledgments and was delighted to see Allen thanks Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for inviting her to give a series of lectures which then became this book. I watch Dr. Gates show on PBS, Finding Your Roots. If you haven’t seen it—check it out. Talk about some fascinating history and family stories…