Joe Viola is a television writer who recalls dropping off his daughter’s registration forms for Berkeley and witnessing a car pull up with a kid inside toting a nine-millimeter gun and making threats. Viola recalls rushing home to his wife and kids in a panic, feeling disbelief that such violence could happen “right here,” in his neighborhood. Viola’s account illustrates his white privilege. Like many of the other white characters Smith interviews, Viola is completely unaccustomed to witnessing the violence and unrest that are an accepted fact of life to the Black youth growing up in the projects.