911 is a Joke by Aaron Lebold

I was not expecting this to be a one sitting read but I couldn’t put it down. Lebold writes like he is telling a story and if you get up to use the bathroom, you are going to miss the best part.

Junior learns the hard lesson that gangs expect your loyalty, and cops expect you to be in a gang. His very existence as an African American on the streets of LA sets a series of events in motion that force him to think like a gang and play the “yes sir” game with the racist cops. He outwits them both when he uses the fact that no one cares when a young black man places a call in a “bad” neighborhood, by coming up with a scheme that leads to the downfall of both. A very quick, impactful read.