A Redemptive Path Forward

December 1, 2021

Growing up in poverty-stricken East Dallas, TX, with his father incarcerated and use of crack cocaine and heroin on the rise, Lucky was a strong student but was pulled into the orbit of gang life. In the early 1990s, he formed the Dallas Bloods gang, riding a wave of illegal drug sales and retaliatory gun violence until his arrest and imprisonment. In prison, he renounced his gang affiliation and sought to unite rival gangs, and since his early release he has focused on mentoring Black men and boys, bridging the gap between community and police, and developing and launching violence-reduction strategies, criminal justice reform, and reentry initiatives for formerly incarcerated people.

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February 14, 2022
Activist Lucky debuts with a harrowing as well as hopeful account of how he turned his life around after founding the Dallas Bloods gang and surviving a stint in prison. Beginning with his 1980s childhood in East Dallas, Tex., Lucky recounts how growing up in a housing project “filled with drugs, alcohol, and violence” led to his hustling drugs as a teen, and to his establishing a Dallas chapter of the Bloods gang in 1993. At 20, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for drug possession. Recalling the “dismally reliable pattern in these courtroom dramas,” he writes, “a Black kid was charged, a white expert was brought in to explain how the drug world worked, an all-white jury listened and deliberated, and... they passed down a guilty verdict.” Fortunately for Lucky, several transformative encounters in prison—including with Imam Willie Fareed Fleming, who helped Lucky parlay his leadership skills into influencing fellow inmates to do good—led to his early release and a role with a nonprofit devoted to eliminating urban violence. While the redemption arc is immensely moving, it’s the unflinching way Lucky calls out systemic inequality—and the welcome corrective he offers to dehumanizing portrayals of those disproportionately affected by it—that cuts to the core. This should be required reading.

March 1, 2022
A Black man from East Dallas traces his path from gang leader to prisoner to activist. In the 1990s, Lucky helped found the Dallas Bloods, a gang that ran a bustling drug business in his dangerous neighborhood, where so many "succumbed to the inescapable pressures of poverty." After he was arrested in a drug bust, Lucky was sentenced to seven years of prison, separating him from his newborn daughter. At the time, he writes thoughtfully, "my deepest fear...was that I'd be swallowed by the beast; I would become irrelevant and forgotten or, worse, a memory of someone you hope not to be like, as my own father had been to me." In prison, Lucky converted to Islam, a decision that would inform his future life's work as well as his choice to quit gang life. After his release, he partnered with an activist named Omar to broker a peace between the Dallas Bloods and their rivals, the Crips. He and Omar continued working together with the backing of a community leader named Bob Woodson and, later, Charles Koch. After the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, Lucky and Omar taught an after-school program for Black youth about how to interact with the police. As a result of this work, Lucky and Omar also served as advisers to Sen. Paul Ryan when he was Speaker of the House. After his time in prison and significant reflection on the damage he caused during his previous life, the author now promises himself, "I will help change this community that I've had a hand in destroying." Lucky has led an indisputably interesting and difficult life, and he tells his story with compelling frankness. However, the author is often too focused on his own transformation, rarely tying his singular experience to systemic forces. This makes the book less revelatory than it could have been despite Lucky's important message. A fascinating and inspiring chronicle of transformation featuring cursory explorations of greater truths.

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April 1, 2022
Antong Lucky was born into a family with a tough reputation and became a founder of the Dallas branch of the infamous Bloods gang. Although he may seem like an unlikely candidate for becoming a nationally recognized, community-healing activist, his memoir charts his path. Following his first arrest at 13, he attended reform school only to return to his neighborhood and turn himself into a drug dealer and influential gang leader, eventually landing in prison. While incarcerated, he converted to Islam, which changed him and his perspective on the problems within himself and his community. He began to feel responsible for the damage he did and wanted to use his leadership abilities to effect change for the better. Lucky is insightful, nuanced, and honest about himself, social problems, and the work he does. He understands his community and builds bridges between rival gangs and their neighbors. Lucky resists simplistic ideas and stays focused on fixing root causes and working with partners who share his goals. In this engaging and illuminating memoir, Lucky shares his experiences, insights, and community program know-how.

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