The Cross and the Switchblade

A verdict is passed in the Farmer case: Four of the boys, including Luis, are sent to prison, and three will be released. Wilkerson visits the family of one of the released boys and offers to take him back with him to Pennsylvania, but the family declines. Wilkerson feels frustrated that he still hasn’t met the boys who first drew him to New York.

Over the next four months, Wilkerson returns to New York City once a week. He spends the days walking across the city, asking God to lead him where he is needed. On the first day, he visits the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, which he has heard is the most dangerous part of New York. That day, he witnesses a shooting and ends up sleeping in his car. Over time, he learns more about gang life: The boys tell him about sex parties and parties where they pull the legs off cats. He is shocked by their casual use of pornography and marijuana. As Wilkerson begins to feel the situation in New York is hopeless, he hears another calling: to build a house where teenagers could start a new life surrounded by love rather than hate.