Sparrow Needy/ The City that Bleeds

Prior to reading The City that Bleeds, I didn't know about the Freddie Gray case. I found it really interesting to read about what it was like to grow up in Baltimore and the struggles that often came along with it. I think the city plays an important role to the story in the sense that it's where it all starts. The death of Freddie Gray, the trials of the police officers, and a place of reflection for the author. It was where his grandparents migrated and later more of his family members did too.I believe the quote about race and the future being, essentially, the same thing means a person's race will determine everything else, whether it'd be good or bad.

Sparrow Needy had similar themes as The City that bleeds (suspense, race, loss) and I felt for the author who lost his brother Paul due to alcoholism. Lynwood was definitely like a father figure to the author. He wanted him to get out of Harlem, going as for as checking his grades when he'd receive them. The essay shows two different outcomes of growing up in Harlem. One could get out of there successful, happy, different, like McClane later was, and Lynwood was a supporting factor throughout. However, it also shows the complete opposite. It showed how someone could lose themselves to things like drugs and alcohol like Paul had done to himself. He died before he could truly make something of himself. I get the sense that the author was purposely trying to show what could happen and in his fortunate case, in part thanks to Lynwood, what did happen.