Chapter 3 - Ghetto Heaven

Summary of the chapter
Michael's family had to move Old Colony from Columbia Point because they didn't have any money. They noticed that blacks children got along with white children. But it was not true. For example, a kid, Danny, told Michael's brothers that they couldn't mess with anyone and there weren't any snitches because it was the rules. Michael got beaten by a kid for fighting when Danny and he came out of liquor store. A boy beat him with sticks, rocks, and the beer cans. A lot people complained, protected, and in the fights between whites and blacks about busing. Mothers, in Southie, kept their kids home because the busing could cause them to get hurt and in fights.

Two Important Quotations
"When I (Michael) looked down the side streets of connected houses and concrete, I saw more groups of teenagers and kids hanging out in front of corner stores, keeping guard, popping their heads to inspect us and to make sure that we knew better than to come down their streets," (58).

"In Southie the worst thing you could be was a snitch," (67).

My Opinion
I felt sad because of the violence and snitch. People got hurt by getting in fights. People couldn't snitch even though they wanted to. They had to keep it by themselves or get killed. They got hurt, but couldn't tell anyone who did it to them. People were scared.