Kensington, Philadelphia, is distinguished only by its poverty. It is home to Ryan, Giancarlos and Emmanuel, three Puerto Rican children who live among the most marginalized families in the United States. This is the story of their coming-of-age, which is beset by violence–the violence of homelessness, hunger, incarceration, stray bullets, sexual and physical assault, the hypermasculine logic of the streets, and the drug trade. In Kensington, eighteenth birthdays are not rites of passage, but statistical miracles.
Although all three are high school dropouts, they are on a quest to defy their fate, and their neighborhood. Nikhil Goyal follows Ryan, Giancarlos and Emmanuel on their mission, plunging deep into their lives as they strive to resist their designated place in the social hierarchy.
Nikhil Goyal is a sociologist and author. He earned his B.A. at Goddard College, and earned his M.Phil. and Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge. He also served as senior policy advisor on education and children for Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and Budget. He developed education, child care and child tax credit federal legislation, as well as tuition-free college programs for incarcerated people and correctional workers in Vermont. He has taught sociology at New York University, the University of Vermont, and Wesleyan University. Nikhil has appeared on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, and written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Time. His book, which is the subject of this talk, was named Best Book of 2023 by The New Yorker.