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Gangs
I'm doing a report on gangs. I need to start off by saying that
a lot of the stuff I'm about to say, I think is bull shit. I think this
because I am in a gang and do, or did drugs. I also have to disagree with
some of, no actually a lot of the stuff I am about to say.
Before I babble on about gangs I have to say one thing. Not all
gangs are based around Latino's and or African-American's. Nor are all
the gangs from Los Angeles area, but the Barrio is in East Los Angeles.
There are many different gangs around. Some consist of African-
Americans, Latinos, Skinheads, Caucasians, and Asians. Some are mixed. A
lot of the gangs I've heard about and are friends with, mainly consist of
colored-folk. In my gang for instance, we have five Caucasians, the rest
of us are either black, latino, or dark like me. However, we do not have
any asians in our gang. And no, we are not racist towards hispanics.
There's a gang that is called The Satanic Cult, which is into some
pretty weird rituals. They consisted of animal and human sacrifices and
people with brown hair were forbidden and non-caucasians.
There are many different gangs. Now there's one I am familiar
with, the Necronomicon, who jumped me and my homeboy (who's Latino) just
because we weren't white.
Another one would belong to the punks. Which I do not have a
problem with. The only two punk gangs I know of, do not call themselves
"Gangs" but they call themselves a crew. They call themselves CFH,
(Cowboys From Hell) and the other one is the Martians.
A lot of the gang members come from broken homes, or something is
wrong. So the kids end up in gangs doing drugs, drinking, smoking,
committing crimes, and getting into violence. Some of us consider our
gang "family." Some of the gangs actually do have real families in them.
There's the problem of joining gangs. I got jumped into my gang.
But that's one of the most common ways. The other ways are to have sex
with someone who's already in it. Or you can get walked in. Some other
ways which are sick and twisted that I've heard of are; the leader holds a
knife to the newcomers throat. If the leader thinks the newcomer is lying
he can slit his or her throat. There's others that involve rituals and
sacrifices.
Teenage gang members are linked to conventional barrio life is
obvious. In fact, much of the members' time is spent with the "family",
at school, under the eyes of neighbors who are decidedly "square," and,
sometimes, with conventional friends or dates. This linkage is usually
overlooked in researchers' preoccupation with the life of the gang during
the hours that it bands together.
We can understand only a little bit of this interaction from what
the gang members have to say about their square contacts. Retrospective
data like this may reflect romanticism about the old days, ruefulness at
missed opportunities to reintegrate with the conventional world, or self
righteousness at having "gotten out in time." But what evidence we have
indicates that the cliques of the 1950s were more closely integrated with
the conventional barrio structures and norms. The cliques of the 1970s
appear more remote, and faced more disapproval and more efforts at control.
It is one of the strongest police and newspaper myths about these
gangs that membership is "inherited," that is, passed on from father to
son. But such cases are rare among either men or woman. It is true that
about half of the gang members had some relative in some gang (44 percent
of the men and 59 percent of the women). It is true that young members
were significantly more likely than older ones to have a relative. It is
true that a fraction (less than 20 percent) of the gang members came from
what seem to be "gang families"-with three or more relatives in a gang in
either neighborhood. Rather than "inheritance" being the norm, most
relatives were brothers and cousins and uncles rather than parents.
No matter what particular social network led the member to the
gang, one thing is clear: the gangs' initiation procedures became far more
ritualized. By the time the younger cliques were active, most of the boys
and girls were "jumped" into the gang, in an initiation rite in which the
recruit is tested for his/her ability to stand up in a fight. Almost none
of the members of older cliques went through this ordeal. There was no
initiation ritual. The gang asked prospects to join and that was it.
In sum, gangs of the 1970s were less clearly adolescent groups
than the gangs of the 1950s. While there were still many social routes to
enter the gang, the younger cliques contained more men and women with
relatives who had been gang members. And, finally, the gangs had acquired
the accountrements of ritualized initiations.
Girls were generally much more restricted than boys-especially
girls in earlier cliques. They were asked whether parents had been
"strict or easy" and whether they really enforced the rules or "just let
things ride." About 60 percent said that they really did enforce the
rules. Men from earlier cliques were no more likely than ones from more
recent cliques to say that their parents had been strict. But 94 percent
of the older women, and 72 percent of the younger ones said that their
parents were strict, almost all of the older women (though only half of
the younger ones) said that their parents really enforced the rules. The
limitations placed on girls sound like a litany of traditionalism, of
parents trying to keep their daughters from being "bad" girls.
Four degrees of gang commitment have been observed in affluent
gangs. While these degrees of commitment are also observed in inner-city
gangs, the majority of affluent gang members currently embrace the second
two degrees of commitment. Although the terms for these degrees have
developed from the pop-lingo, they are useful when identifying a gang
member's degree of commitment.
The terms for the four degrees of commitment to a gang are:
* Full-fledged
* Associate
* "Wanna-be"
* "Hanging out"
Full-fledged - This is a youth who has the highest degree of
commitment to the gang activity, regardless of what type of gang activity
the gang pursues. This youth is also likely to be the instigator of
crimes and intimidation against those inside and outside the gang. In
most affluent gangs, full-fledged members typically comprise 10% to 20% of
the group. It is uncommon to find a majority to be full-fledged members.
Associate - These youths have the second highest degree of
commitment to the gang. Typically, these youths don't initiate the ideas
to commit crimes and acts of violence, but easily become embroiled when
trouble starts. These youths often like to intimidate those outside the
gang, but without life-threating violence. One tactic is simply to
surround others and taunt. It is common for 30%-50% of a gang to be made
up of these youths. (The Grapevine, Texas case, where the majority of the
youths were "associates.")
Wanna-be - This slang term, first used by law enforcement,
characterize youths who simply want to run along the periphery of a gang.
These youths don't initiate crimes or confrontations, but are usually
around when trouble breaks out, urging on their comrades or taunting the
opposition. Aggression is often expressed through subtlety, rather than
through a head-on confrontation. They are attracted to the visual
raciness of the gang persona, but are afraid of committing violent crimes,
and jumping into the foray of a fight. When they carry weapons, it is
usually just for show.
Hanging out - This slang term, originally coined by gangs,
specifies a youth who isn't in a gang, but who likes to "hang around" gang
members wherever they meet and go. Shopping malls, homes, parties,
locations near a school, music shops, etc. are typical locales for
"hanging." "Hanging out" can act as a magnet for gang (sometimes called
"peewees") or at-risk youths who are new to a neighborhood.
"Tagging" is one form of graffiti that has caught on in the last
few years. It can be, but doesn't necessarily have to be, associated with
a gang. Some youths "tag" on stationary objects, such as buildings and
fences, while adventuresome youths do it on moving buses, trains, trucks,
and cars. This can be dangerous and has resulted in a number of
accidental deaths in America and Europee where youths have been run over.
Interviews with taggers reveal that is a fad that underscores a crsis of
identity for youths. They are desperate to be known, but in secretive way
that is rebellious, while avoiding punishments. It's addictive. Most
taggers are at-risk youths who are crying out for congratulatory slaps on
the back from friends for the inventiveness of "tag" and the number of
tags a youth is able to leave.
To close and end off my report, I'd just like to say that my gang
had been more of a family to me then my own family. I will admite that
the drugs and drinking I did was the bad part. But I do not regret
joining my gang. Infact I have to say I love One Eighty Seven. This is
my "family" and they have always been there for me and we watch eachothers
backs.
Word Count: 1717
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