In many ways, Andrew's story is the culmination of all the influences mentioned so far. Andrew grew up in the projects with an uninvolved father, a drug-addicted mother, ended up in a group home and began a life of crime. Andrew isn't exactly a model citizen, but he might be a perfect example of what's wrong with black America. He got an early start on a series of petty crimes around the time his mother died, and worked his way up to dealing drugs, serving time for a stabbing, and spending an entire year "in the hole" for making verbal threats while in prison. prison. After spending his entire youth living outside the law, Andrew decided to come clean in his mid-20s, and this is where his story stops making sense. He stopped selling drugs and committing crimes, but Andrew continued to be harassed by police officers because he “fits the description. (Taibbi 101)” It turns out he fits the description because he is black, in a poor neighborhood full of black people. There is a law in New York's penal code that allows officers to arrest or detain people for disorderly conduct, and this option is exercised regularly by police for the opportunity to search African Americans in poor neighborhoods for drugs or weapons. Disorderly behavior can be anything from “blocking pedestrian traffic (Taibbi 102),” which means standing on a sidewalk regardless of whether or not there is pedestrian traffic, to making an obscene gesture toward a police officer. Basically, anything a person does that a police officer doesn't like can be construed in court as disorderly conduct. Police bullying and all-encompassing laws do not discourage bad behavior or encourage public trust