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Index:
1. A Definition
2. Personal Experience
3. Film - Boys in the Hood
4. Literature - Shadow of the Dragon (Sherry Garland)
Outsiders (Sue Ellen Hinton)
The Chocolate War (Robert Cormier)
Common information about gangs
A gang is a group of people, especially Young people, who usually go around together and often deliberately cause trouble. They are connected in some way and \"hang\" around, e.g.: frightening people and breaking windows. They also fight with rival gangs (violent street-gangs). Many young people, especially young people who are in their puberty, often feel misunderstood by their grownups. They do not understand each other at all. Together with other problems (e.g.: problems with their friends, first love, school,.), the teenagers often cannot handle such problems and so they tend to join groups like gangs. In the gangs they feel important. They are somebody. The gang is like a family for them. The other members of the gang are confronted with the same problems and so they understand each other.
There are many gangs all over the world. Often gang members live in poor neighbourhoods. They are not well educated and besides they do not have much money. They often have to defend themselves against rival gangs. That is why they are armed in most of the cases.
The history of gangs in the USA:
The street activity that as scared not only the terrain but the quality of life of its
occupants for over 20 years, has been transformed into peace. Some years ago, it
was the battleground of a war between the Crip and Blood gangs (street
organizations). A peace agreement between the Crips and Bloods has taken place in
the Imperial Gardens, Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens housing projects
(Housing communities in L.A.). In former years, especially in these areas, senseless
killing and acts of violence took place because these housing units were near each
other. In Watts and Compton (areas in L.A.), few street organizations in South
Central still struggle because their anger developed over the last decade. For many
residents of these communities, the media coverage is their greatest
problem, because the media interest is a big problem and they are not always writing
true stories about working communities (e.g.: when peace treaty figurehead Tony
Bogard was killed, the mainstream media rushed to report that peace was over.)
But the community works very well and the younger people often spend a lot of time
together. Few other cities follow the example of the Crips and Bloods and tried to
initiate ceasefires and ultimate peace. During the 1960s, Black youth in L.A. began forming street organizations as social clubs and family units when school was out and employment opportunities were bleak. At this time L.A., had a lot of street organizations: The Avenues, Slausons, Businessmen, Ace Deuces, Bishops, Roman 20s, Pirus, Brim, Swans, Gladiators, Rabble Rousers and others. They wore derby hats and neatly pressed shirts and slacks (every group had his own uniform). After a fight, the opponents would shake hands and go their ways. Criminal activity was minimal and minimized to stealing leather coats, mugging rich white folks and petty theft. It was a kind of the Robin Hood syndrome - rob from the rich and give to the poor.
Street organization activity began to subside as older members became enamored by the social consciousness of the Black liberation movement. Organizations, such as the Black Panthers and US Organization, began to channel the aggressive energy of the young people into positive community action. Many younger gang members felt abandoned by older members, and activism and individualism translated into a new generation of street organizations. The ideology of Black Panther Bunchy Carter influenced an L.A. youngster named Raymond Washington, who set
out to start a street organization called the Crips (Community Revolutionary lnter -
Party Service) in 1968. Washington chose the name CRIPS, because he was
influenced by baby cribs and because it means from the cradle to the grave, C - RIP.
He wanted to heal the community when he set out to collect members. After a time,
the independent Blood street organizations began to form. They had membership
dues, were involved in local governmental and community affairs and had a religious
base which was the Islam. In 1970, youth employment became rare for those without
a college graduation. Many gangs became identifying symbols such as coloring flags.
Tension was natural for cross - town rivals who occupied the same space when
attending skating rinks, house parties or Parliament concerts. The conflicts were
usually resolved without anyone being seriously injured.
New gangs began to strengthen their forces and marking their territory with graffiti in
neighborhood parks, schools and walls. They spoke a certain language and had
hand signals for each nation and set.
The FBI destroyed many Black liberation movements with a counterintelligence
program. It started with "the Bloody 80s": The gangs were able to buy automatic
weapons, such as Uzis, AK-47s or Mac10s (machineguns). When Crack (sort of drug
smoked in pipes of glass) hit the streets in 1983, the gang war began. Crack broke
up a lot of gangs and killed organization structures. The gang activity increased and
this was the reason why gang members began to populate California\'s correctional
facilities - juvenile halls, youth authority camps or county jails. From 1985-1989, L.A.
recorded the highest rate of homicide for US cities. Crips and Bloods only fought for
reaching respect and this war was nothing else than a senseless slaughter of human
beings.
In 1988 gang leaders initiated a peace treaty, but it failed. Four years later, in 1992, the peace treaty took place.
Today there is no more peace in the streets, too many little gangs fight for the power in their districts of the big cities. The media do not show gang - violence any more, because they are not allowed to, but when you look at the numbers of some public hospitals (concerning how many died or were injured by fire-arms) then you will discover the truth. Not long ago I saw a report of the USA; it was about the daily life in the emergency room of a hospital in Washington, D.C. and a "Gun Party" in Kentucky. I want to mention this report, because it shows the perverted opinion concerning arms in the US.
They showed one family, which drove to the "Gun Party"; the father of the family took over 70 guns and rifles with him and also approximately 40000 rounds of ammunition (this family has got over 230 weapons at home and all of them like to shoot; the wife, the 16-year-old daughter and the 10-year-old son). When they reached the "Shooting Range", they met a lot of friends, who brought enough weapons and ammunition to start a war. They have got automatic weapons, mini-guns, caliber 17mm up to 34 mm, which is classified as war material and is forbidden for private use. Visitors could shoot with a flame-thrower for 9.90 $ and squirt napalm for 30 $. The targets were damaged cars, oil barrels, washing-machines and other stuff like that. The "Gun Party" lasted for three days (and about 500 000 rounds of ammunition), some people bought some more guns from the weapon merchants, who were there (people just had to pay and got an automatic rifle without showing their ID !!!).
During the same three days at the hospital in Washington, over 30 injured teens and grown-ups entered the emergency room and only seventeen came out alive; all of them shot by automatic weapons and hundreds of bullets. For the chief doctor it is routine, he said: "There is a bloody war, which is ruling the street."
So I hope you figured out, what I mean with this example.
The recent public hysteria concerning high rates of crime and gang activity gave birth to television shows like ,Laws and Order\', ,L.A. Law\', ,Cops\', ,America\'s Most Wanted\', etc... Now they (the recent public) enforce a law, which is called ,Gang Profiling\'. Data bases of suspected gang members, their family, friends and associates are profiled. This is the latest trend for the police agencies whose primary target are the urban-dwelling Latino\'s and the Black youth. (e.g.: wearing similar baseball caps is reason enough for the Houston Police to add Black youth to their gang file.)
In big cities, such as Houston, Chicago or L.A., the police compiles these databases with pictures and other background information. They say that it is necessary for the efficient and effective administration of justice. Anti-profile groups, on the other hand, are skeptical of how the information will be used. They see profiling as a violation of the constitutional rights. In Los Angeles, the police has got 140 000 suspected gang members in their ,Gang-Database\', which is called GREAT (Gang Reporting Evaluation and Tracking). In Houston, the database is called GRITS (Gang Related Information Tracking System) and it is modeled on the GREAT in L.A.
The LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) has to contact the sheriff\'s Department if it wishes to get information stored in the ,Gang-Database\'. The LAPD wants that other locations throughout the country can use the same strategies and tactics like in L.A. to fight against the gangs.
Some anti-profiling-activists believe that it is big\' money that targets gangs, because if the police can prove that gangs are growing, they get more city, country and government money to set up the gang-databases and gang task forces.
Personal experiences with gangs:
Everybody of us is in contact with gang-like groups in everyday life. For example Skaters, Hip-Hopper or Punks. They are youth groups, which can be identified by their clothes and behavior. This is what we all know, but a today's teenager often joins such groups, my brother did so a few years ago. He was, what we would call a "Hooligan", the fan of a football club. He often went to town with his "friends" and about ten times I came with them, but soon I noticed that this isn't my kind of society, because harassing or striking people is not funny. My brother didn't understand why I had no fun. Today it is different, my brother is 21 years old and after his armed service he left the Hooligans. I for my part tried to stay out of the way of gangs or sects, which are still searching for young flesh. So finally I can say that youth groups are a serious problem in Austria and not only in the USA. Of course in Austria, guns are not the problem, but also without guns violence is dangerous.
In sects the big problem is that children and teenagers get totally dependent of the group, in some cases drugs are involved in this.
My own advice to younger people is that they should choose their friends carefully and try to keep away from drugs and violence.
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