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Essay on Gangs
| Date: |
05-28-01 4:33pm |
| Subject: |
Social Issues |
| Word Count: |
1876 |
| Page Count: |
7.5 |
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.
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