I am going to tell you right now, gangs are dangerous. In no way, shape or form are they cool. Yes, as you are reading this post, you may think that I am just an old woman trying to discourage the youth against something cool. However, I am not an old woman – chances are, I am almost the same age as you. I just think you guys and girls that are in school right now should not mistake gangs as being cool – because they are not. Sure, it may be cool to play Grand Theft Auto (I personally like the game along with Saints Row), but that does not mean I support gangs. Watching gangs in movies is also something I like doing, but again, I do not support what they are doing – it’s just for entertainment purposes and it’s only good when it is not real. Does this make sense? Well, right now, I am going to give you 7 facts on gangs …
To gang members, marking their territorial boundaries with graffiti is a challenge or warning to the rival gang.
Many of the wide-spread gangs, like the Bloods, Crips and 18th Street first started in the streets of L.A.
The Department of Justice has estimated that there are around 30,000 gangs that have 800,000 members in them. These 30,000 gangs with 800,000 members are impacting over 2,500 communities spreading across the United States of America.
Street gangs are full of violence. They are responsible for robbery, rape, shootings and even murderer. During the year 2004, a nineteen year old in Fort Worth, Texas was sentenced to prison for thirty years because he fatally shot a childhood friend simply because the friend wanted to leave their street gang. Do you see now what gangs cause you to do? Kill your own friends? Wow.
Gangs are known for wearing particular styles, brands, items or colors of clothing. Some gangs will wear bandannas that are of a certain color or even baseball caps of a certain team. Gangs also get tattoos of their gang name or symbol on their bodies. They usually have a certain handshake to tell others which gang they are in. All this right here sounds cool, doesn’t it? You have a group of people who are real close, so close that they wear a certain color and have this cool handshake and cool tats! But, you have to look past all this crap and see that they are murderers.
When you join a gang, it is like joining in enemy territory. Scenarios involve violence and rape. As an example, the boys are sometimes forced to fight a couple of gang members at the same time. This act is called “Walking the line” or being “rolled-in.” For girls, they may be forced to have sex with a couple of gang members or to fight the other female members. New members in the gang may be forced to prove their true colors by robbing a store, doing a drive-by shooting or beating someone up – wow, imagine during that drive-by shooting, killing a child. It’s nothing to play with.
When you join a gang, there will be rules and the rules are terrible. If you were to break those rules, the ending result could be death and trust me, they won’t think twice about shooting you.
So, if you are thinking about joining a gang – DON’T! The future is bleak for a gang member. You could be injured or killed during activity, many of them end up in prison, you could become dependent on drugs and alcohol, you will live a life of crime and hate, you’ll commit tons of felonies – no, it’s not the life to live and even 50 cent will tell you this one! So, listen up and look at your future! Voice your opinion on gangs right now …
Top Photo Credit: J. Nordberg