Criminology Case

As I read chapter six on subcultures, it doesn't surprise me that the main focus were about gangs. As for me coming up in a gang-infested community, most of the facts I read about are not entirely true. For example I read, "Gangs are the principle distributors of illicit drugs in the United States." (Pg. 142) In my neighborhood and in my family in the southern states did not distribute, but the rich young people actually were the main distributor. I know a lot of people that never lived in this type of environment would fight the facts, but I don't need to go undercover to see how the urban neighborhood lives because I lived it majority of my life. I' am not fighting that gangs don't sell drugs but they were not the major distributors. As I explain the facts of some of these false accusations I want to break down some of the definitions that get most people confused.

Now what is the main definition of the word gang? "A combinations of similar implements or devices arranged for convince to act together." (Webster) Is it a negative definition? Does it say anything about killing or selling drugs? We all know the answer is no, so why every time someone says the word it's negative? When you are with your friends in a place that is considering a gang of people, but that is not consider negative. "We never called ourselves a gang. That's what the city and the cops called us; we were a club."(Kumasi off Blood and Crips of America) It's what the media do, because they play on words and give it a negative meaning for the world to grasp and put into use. For example of the media flipping words, the National Criminal Justice Service defies the word gang as "a group of three or more individuals who engage in criminal activity and identify themselves with a common name or sign." (NCJRS) Why? To entertain and keep people interested. Sad to know that people are made to be used by other peoples expense; sounds like deontology. Not a lot of people know how the gangs, the media and the world portray today, started.

In the 1960's the formation of gangs started when they would let young children of color join clubs such as the boy scouts and had to turn to each other and for their own clubs. The young black men in the 60's formed different types of groups so they could fight amounst each other to compete to see who is the best; but after the fight is done they were friends again. What made people look at the gangs so violent is when the police stepped in and started making that assumptions. During the 1960's Chief William Parker was ahead of the Los Angeles police department in California and started treating black men as if they were violent towards each other when they were not at all. In Los Angeles they actually had invisible lines on where blacks and Hispanics cannot cross because that's where the white people lived. A lot of people know that gangs are territorial, but who started being territorial first? Whenever someone is treated as if they are not meant to value amongst others because of their skin they start to get upset and aggravated to the point they get violent which is what happened in Watts in 1965. August 11, 1965 at 7pm a man was pulled over because the black man was thought to be drunk while driving when he was only two blocks away from his home. Other black people surrounded the policemen and saw what he was doing was wrong because the man was not drunk. They impounded his car and everyone was furious to the point that it started a quick riot. The next day the blacks banded together on the street to get some respect amongst the police but instead it lead to another riot where it turned violent when police started to shoot. All bets where off towards then and the blacks decided to fight back by continue to cross the line, but then they got shot for it now. Who started to be violent first? "I was dead before I was born. I never got a chance to do anything with my life because I was already dead." (Bird off Crips and Bloods Of America) In a video Cointell Pro, J. Edger Hoover put out a document to destroy any Black Panther movements during the 60's going into the 70's. When they started to kill leaders the young black people had enough and started making violent gangs, which lead to the gang, you know now called the Crips. With that start lead to other violent gangs forming in the black and Hispanic communities and now becomes and intense situation for our people. The Crips, Bloods, MS-13, and more gangs in between did not start as bad people, but made bad by how society treated them, which made them negative towards society. Can you blame them? Isn't that how humans are with people who treat them wrong first? So why target the "gangs" when the society started it first? Seems pretty bias to the people on the outside looking into the problem that we see today. Don't get me wrong, I want to help the people in these violent gangs get out, but I order to help someone you have to understand them and what that are going through.

Being in a violent gang is a pretty intense situation. You have to do whatever anyone in the gang say, possibly sell drugs, or commit violent crimes towards innocent to scare them. "You have to do what anyone says, even if they are not high rank members." (Big Smiley of the Latin Kings on Gangland) With that type of rule it is one of the scariest rule in a gang because it can be anything they want and if you don't want to do what they say you can get killed for failing to do what you are told. Being in those violent gangs is a no win situation because you are not always going to want someone tell you to do; that's why humans have a conscience. "Selling drugs is one of our biggest income for the gang." (Calvin Schaefer of the Hells Angels on Gangland) Like I said before, I never said violent gangs don't sell drugs but they are not the main distributors compared to the rich young people that give it to the poor to sell. "We do what we have to do to prove we want to be in this gang; even if that means killing innocent people." (Juan Loco of MS-13 on Gangland) No one is safe from gangs and it is sad to know that even people that are just living life gets killed for no reason. As bad as it sounds, can you blame the violent gangs for their outlet because society never gave these people a chance to live a fair life because of the color of their skin? It is unfortunate that majority of the gangs are races, but they are just portraying society uncensored. Even high power people are raciest they just do it in a more secretive way so no one catches it but the other people that agree with them. Prime example is Fox News bashing President Obama by calling him "Mr. Obama." (Glen Beck) Another example was "a white middle-class teenager wearing