Posted by
NotInsaneYetAbsurd on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 9:20:42 AM
A couple of gang shootings in Denver are putting the spotlight back on gangs here, after the Darrent Williams homicide publicity has died down a bit.
I have met quite a few gang members. Individually, they know how to play the game and usually don't "front." But once they get around their friends, they get lippy, disrespectful, etc..
I bought a couple of books to try to understand why one would choose to pretty much eliminate all possibility of future success by joining a gang. Part of the problem is, of course, recruiting starts at such a young age (9 yrs. old is not unheard of) that I don't know how much of a conscious decision it is.
So, who is at fault? Well, it's different for different ethnic groups, I think. I mean, I am no gang specialist, but I know we have Asian Pride for asians, Bloods and Crips for blacks, Aryan Nation for whites, MS-13 and Surenos for hispanics. I assume those generalizations do have some exceptions - I know of a white guy who claims Bloods, for example. Then there are the newer groups, H2K and ICP, which seem to be more mixed.
I have a hard time taking the last two seriously, for some reason. They seem to be made up of misfits who need to belong to something that makes them seem like badasses in order to hide their, very, very obvious insecurity.
They still shoot at each other though!
I know the concept of gangs has been around a lot longer than it seems. I know there is something that can be done about them in addition to just throwing them in jail as often as possible.
I just don't know what that "something" is.