War of the Bloods in My Veins: A Street Soldier's March Toward Redemption [Hardcover]

DaShaun "Jiwe" Morris (Author), T. Rodgers (Introduction), Terrie Williams (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2008

By turns harrowing, moving, and ultimately redemptive, this is a war story -- a war that rages out of control on the streets of the United States, claiming the lives of our loved ones and neighbors. In this memoir, complete with child soldiers, unspeakable violence, and eventual salvation, we witness the journey of an East Coast member of the notorious Bloods gang coming to terms with the lost boy he was and the transformation into the man he wants to become.

Unlike the child warriors of Mozambique and Sierra Leone, gang members and the wars they wage are the United States' homegrown nightmare. Lacking protection, support, or any alternatives, Dashaun Morris is forced into battle for the first time at age eleven, in the streets of Phoenix, when a friend's older brothers put him in a car filled with 40s and weed smoke, put a gun in his hands, then make him point it at the men on the corner and squeeze the trigger. The targets are Crips, of course, and, as Morris writes, "In the darkness of the streets, my childhood is murdered.... I am reborn -- a gangster."

In this haunting, violent memoir, Morris takes us through an American childhood turned grotesquely inside out. In the fourth grade, he loses his first friend in a drive-by shooting. By high school he is the man, a champion on the football field by day and a reputable banger on his 'hood turf by night.

Living the life of a gang banger, Morris does it all -- drug dealing, jacking, and continuing the aimless war with rival gang members -- almost opening fire one night on a close friend, a cheerleader, as she hangs out with young men he mistakes for Crips.

He eventually makes it to college on a football scholarship, but on the verge of being drafted by the NFL, Morris can't escape his gang-banging mentality and gets caught up in crimes that snatch away all future hopes. Sitting in a prison cell, he anticipates the birth of his first child while counting the friends he's buried.

War of the Bloods in My Veins is part of Morris's redemption, a cry to his brothers that gang life is mental illness. It is a rare and brutally honest look into the relentless storm of abandonment, violence, crime, death, and the endless rush toward the complete and utter self-annihilation that plagues the lives of the young "soldiers" who die every day in our streets.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ayy Blood, we gotta take a ride. Hop yo' ass in the bawr, shouts a veteran gangbanger to Morris near the beginning of this disappointing work. Raised in poverty by a crack-smoking single mother, Morris spins a woeful tale of constant violence, serious crime and murder galore. Shuttled back and forth across the country as a boy, he quickly falls in with the Bloods—an African-American street gang whose thirst for inflicting pain on others seems rarely slaked. Attack breeds revenge in an endless cycle of death, with Morris placing himself at the center of it all. There's an adrenaline rush when I whip my burner out, he writes. It's a confidence-booster to see how the toughest guys cry for their lives when I cock that shit back. Obviously meant to be raw and from the street, this whole project reads as self-aggrandizing. Compounding the amateurish feel are clunky poems penned by Jason Davis preceding each chapter. If all this is meant to inspire African-American and Latino youth to turn their backs on the thug life, as Terrie Williams writes in the overwrought afterword, it fails miserably. What it does is reinforce stereotypes that already dominate the mainstream media. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

DaShaun Jiwe Morris tells an all-too-familiar ghetto story: wracked by emotional abandonment, lacking direction, and offered few options as a young, black male, Morris, at 10 years old, gives up on safer dreams and becomes a thug who sells drugs, gangbangs, and soldiers with fist and gun alike for the East Coast gang, the Bloods. Continuing gang life, Morris makes it through high school as an athlete, then, during his second year of college football, is named Black College All-American and first team All-American for all-purpose offensive yards. The NFL loomed. But he continued his gangster life, and ended up facing a 25-year prison sentence for attempted murder. The telling points of Morris’ tough narrative aren’t in the stereotypes (shockingly gruesome and, at times, oddly sexy), but in the sensitivity and intelligence of the characters. The gang episodes are interlaced with amazingly normal day-to-day events, creating a disturbingly morbid reality. A survivor, Morris is a smart writer who reveals the haunting aspects of gang life. --Mark Eleveld

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1 edition (April 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416548467
• ISBN-13: 978-1416548461
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making amends with the world ..., November 13, 2008

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War of the Bloods in My Veins: A Street Soldier's March Toward Redemption (Hardcover)

His mother's absence made him utterly miserable. The age of nine can be a critical one for a young boy. It's make or break time and for Dashuan, who already felt like no one could or would ever love him, it was break time. Dashuan, later dubbed "Jiwe," was ready to join the real world, the world of the violent, the world of the Bloods . . . a world that would fully embrace him as a brother. It was love at first sight and for many young men like Jiwe, it was until death do us part . . . literally

The chrome Saturday night special with black electrical tape around the handle felt smooth in his ten-year-old hand, yet if he could harness his fear with a bit of electrical tape Jiwe might have gone for it. Soul and Q-Tip urged him on as he emptied the gun. Bodies of the Crips began to litter the ground. Later that night, as Dashuan "Jiwe" Morris related in his stunning memoir, WAR OF THE BLOODS IN MY VEINS: A Street Soldier's March Toward Redemption, something snapped in him. "The confusion of regret and acceptance gives me a throbbing headache. In time, I realize this night marks my first recorded separation from self." Jiwe was growing up, growing up hard. By the end of the fourth grade his best friend, eleven-year-old Tray, was killed in a drive-by shooting. Blood is thicker than water and Jiwe would go on to avenge this death and any other slight a thousand times over. It was war.

Jiwe was a full-fledged Blood gangbanger. Nobody could call him a pussy or even dare to, but the lifestyle took its toll. Lives were torn apart by his fists, his gun and his anger and he knew it. His chances of getting a college education and a chance a berth in the NFL became nil once that gun and anger reared its ugly head on campus. Bloods weren't welcome in Delaware or much of anywhere else for that matter. "There are the moments when I am reminded that I'm trapped in a living nightmare." It was one he might never escape from and he knew that too.

Perhaps there was redemption for Jiwe somewhere. "What are you doing? You hurting her?," he anxiously questioned the doctor. A little baby girl was entering the world and no one would ever, ever hurt her. It was baby Da-Shana, Dashuan "Jiwe" Morris now had a chance with the birth of his own child. It was his time to redeem himself. Could he, can he?

I was heavily drawn into this book emotionally, empathetic for Jiwe's life circumstances and also for the people who were impacted by his lifestyle. Although unspoken, I feel that by writing this book Jiwe was trying to make amends with the world, while continuing to embrace his peers. Gangbanging is a lifestyle that is chosen for many simply by fate. Few would choose to live in fear every day of their young life, nor embrace the accompanying depression and suicidal ideation that often comes with it. I loved the feel of the book, the writing and its message. Kudos to Jiwe who poured his heart out to tell us his story . . . let's hope he makes an impact. Peace.

Deb Fowler (Roundtable Reviews)

5.0 out of 5 stars War of the Bloods in My Veins: A Street Soldier's March Toward Redemption, March 5, 2011

By 

Trent Merrifield - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: War of the Bloods in My Veins: A Street Soldier's March Toward Redemption (Hardcover)

A well written, fast reading book that chronicles a young man's heart beaking story of going from a happy loving child to street soldier and gang member. Fortunately for him and those he seeks to reach it's also a tale of finding love and his climb back to being a feeling, caring husband,father and now mentor. A real look into a life that thankfully many of us will never know and about a man that is doing his best to keep others from having to experience what nearly destroyed him.

10 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unrepentant predatory thug wants our sympathy, May 4, 2008

By 

Tyr Shadowblade (TM) (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: War of the Bloods in My Veins: A Street Soldier's March Toward Redemption (Hardcover)

Just finished reading "War of the Bloods in My Veins." I almost tossed it aside before finishing the first chapter, which read as a disjointed and hallucinatory babbling mess that was obviously fictional . . . but then Deshawn woke up and we find that it was a dream sequence, so I continued reading.

The rest of the book wasn't bad. Refreshingly honest, and a revealing look at contemporary streetgang culture that you're not gonna find in Sociology texts like "Do or Die" by Leon Bing (which is considered the best book on the Crips & Bloods). Unlike some journalist who mingles with gangbangers for a month and takes down their stories, Deshawn has lived it from the time he participated in his first driveby at age 10.

One thing that annoyed me about this book was the blurb on the dustjacket, in which Deshawn seeks to portray himself as a victim unfairly expelled from college and barred from consideration for a career with the NFL. Buddy, not only did you do this to yourself, but you got off with a slap on the wrist. After threatening some frat guys with an illegal gun, Deshawn is given a second chance by the University's administration and permitted to remain in college . . . but then he commits an unprovoked attack on an unarmed individual with a machete, and gets expelled from school and sent to jail for less than a year. Now he is a published author who is offering speaking engagements about the folly of gang membership . . . yet, in his book, he seems to glory in his gangland achievements (including multiple homicides), and at the conclusion shouts out to a long list of his homies with what appears to be a pledge of continued loyalty.

Way to go Deshawn. Way to thumb yer nose at the Establishment and piss off the Feds. I'd strongly advise against carrying your illegal gun or partying with your "former" homies for the next few years, as I can pretty much guarantee they're keeping a real close eye on you. Fo' reals, yo.

As for the book, I recommend it to any sociologists or criminologists seeking a deeper understanding of the culture of Black street gangs. But honestly, I still don't understand them. Unlike intergenerational Asian and Hispanic gangs who are highly organized and networked within a community which openly supports them, Black gangs like the Crips & Bloods prey on their communities, each other, and even themselves (i.e., "set vs set" violence), while doing their best to perpetuate negative stereotypes and act like they're starring in a gangsta rap video. It seems pointless, and rather than learning from their mistakes, the crime and violence continues to spiral out of control.

This book provides a rare, raw, and highly credible glimpse of the gangsta lifestyle and mindset . . . and it ain't glamourous at all.