Walter Bailey

Street Wars Walter Bailey

I was born and raised in the City of Philadelphia, PA. the City known famously throughout the world as the City of "Brotherly Love" But for me growing up as a young boy and countless others it was a City more infamously known as the City of "Brotherly Hate. It was during the late 60's a time that will live with me for the rest of my life. A time of great music the Temptations the Supremes Smokey Robinson and the Miracles just to name a few. A time world history was being made by men like Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11 landing upon the Moon. A time the world would suffer the tragic loss of three great men the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy. And also a time when street gangs of Philadelphia plagued the city with death and violence. I was a part of that gang culture I was a member of one of the largest gangs in West Philadelphia the 56th & Cedar Avenue gang. A violent gang of sociopathic drug addicts alcoholics and killers. They were my family my friends my peers my gang members and some my hero's. I make no excuses for my being a part of this violent gang culture. There were no Doctors lawyers or wealthy business men who lived in my neighborhood. The people who had the wealth the money the finer things in life were the Pimps the Hustlers the Drug dealers. They were the people I admired the most and I wanted to be just like them. And so I would spend the most part of my youth in a world of street hustling drug dealing and most of all in a gang of violence and death. This is not just my story it is the story of countless others who are no longer here to tell it. I by the grace of God did survive and I am compelled to tell this true story. Not just for myself but for the countless others who did not survive the violence of street gangs. And for anyone else my story may save from a world of violence and death.