Kirjahaku

Abuser and loser Eugene "Downlow" Colston is left with tormenting, bitter defeatism and relentless despair as a total failure, brokenhearted and frustrated by his fed-up former fiancEe. She beat him badly during a spat and, later, legally, in a court case against her. She broke their engagement and his nose, tossed his engagement ring in his female-battered face, and then walked out on him forever. Now all alone, plagued by racism, driven to liquor in a fruitless effort to drown his inner hellish pain, disrespected, ridiculed, and rejected as a miserable, worthless, no sex-getting, low-down black ghetto scumbag, Downlow finds redemption and purpose in armed security guard work. The Compton man also finds himself amid a wave of terrorist suicide bombings and street violence waged by the vicious Tammerack Tigers gang. Downlow manages to inspire both the black community and his fellow security officers to stand up for what is right in the face of the warring, fanatical criminal gang's bloody reign of terror in 1989 South Central Los Angeles.

A dissolutioned ex-civil rights activist, his car maker friend and ex-autoplant worker and a woman activist lawyer rescue an old discarded 1939 German staff car, christened "Runner Up", rebuild it and enter the six wheeler in a grueling cross country auto race. They also race against racism, violence, a devisive foe and ridicule in 1979 South Los Angeles and Compton, California.

A cruel past, bourne of frustration, racism, abuse, womanizing, violence and hearbreaks, torments former high school and college champion sprinter, distance runner and fencing great Gilbert "Make Tracks" Courtney. He especially grieves the abortion of his unborn son by an embittered, vengeful ex-fiancee with a long grudge. The troubled Make Tracks channels his swirling, unbridled rage and emotions over her evil act into helping an inner-city community youth athletic center. Through his self-unaware charisma and leadership drawn from his past athletic successes, as a law student in college and a few tough years in a big city law firm, Make Tracks inspires his pupils with much-needed bravery, fortitude, confidence, self-worth and hope amid a rash of armed robberies and drive-by shootings in early 1990s South-Central Los Angeles.

Ex-boxer, former inmate, and ex-hoodlum Lon Caplain was wrongfully convicted of armed robbery by a predominantly white judge and jury and served a term in harsh Booskaloo State Prison. The court later discovered that he did not commit the crime, and he was released. But this injustice, the cruel ghetto and prison life all loaded with racism and oppression, has left Lon an angry, embittered, frustrated, and mean black man. With raging hate in his heart and a reckless mindset, Lon is violent and crime-prone against the black community and geared to return to the brutal thuggery of his youth. This fate is derailed when he becomes "down with it" or "down" (which, in African-American ghetto slang, means "greatly inspired, ready, willing, bold and able with all his heart") to help some community activists and their youth center. Lon soon becomes their leader and finds life-saving humanity, self-worth, purpose, and redemption amid a police manhunt for a vicious wanted felon who brutalized and raped several girls and a massive destructive earthquake in 1982 south central Los Angeles.

Marvin "Step To" Baker is crushed by two untimely personal tragedies. A drunk driver kills his beloved cousin Tim. The chance and glory of Tim and Step To winning an Olympic gold medal, a long-held dream of theirs, is destroyed forever. Step To (an inner-city term which meant to boldly assert one's self, be courageous, go forth and face challenges with direct action and disregard the risks and results) is left an angry, broken-hearted, ornery and rebellious black man without hope and purpose in his life. He later becomes encouraged and enlightened to help the black community by Elaine, a militant community activist who falls in love with him. In a fit of dispair, however, Step To ends up joining a drug trafficking gang. But when the gang abducts Elaine and holds her and some of her allies hostage, Step To becomes a crusader, hellbent on saving the woman he loves and the black/brown community amidst both violent crime and racial turmoil in 1980 Compton, California.