I'd join one too

[asakiyume]

The work I've started to do with the kids in the nearby city led me to this video on gangs from the National Gang Center. Although it's got some drawbacks (the overall analysis strikes me as... obvious? But what do I know; it may be that these are points that bear stressing), one VERY strong thing it's got going for it is the comments from actual former gang members: powerful and heartbreaking, not to mention enraging on the young people's behalf.


Raul, for instance, describes being in fifth grade and having a teacher catch him rolling a blunt and telling him he had to leave the classroom.

We started exchanging words, and then she's like, "You're not gonna do nothing 'cause you're a little kid; you're not that type of kid." I told her, "You want to go there?" and she's like, "You want to try me?" So that's when I decided to get a book, and I threw it at her. And then she called the cops, and then the cop came and put me in handcuffs.

That's right. He was in fifth grade and he ended up in handcuffs. A ten-year-old child.

Marion describes how important a father's love is to a young man.

Not having my father around was a very hurtful thing because, you know, you want to have your dad and your ma around, but especially dad, because that's your biggest role model, your biggest idol as a child. That's the one you look to to teach you how to do different things as a man to become a man. So, me not having that around kinda like pushed me out to get the love from guys in the street. Not to say that it was necessarily that positive love that you look for, you know, that you want, but I was talking to a man, and any time a man can teach you something, a child something or a young man something, he's going to pay attention.

Karlo describes having to take care of his little sister.

It was just me and my little sister. I would just try to provide for my sister 'cause my mom was never home. So I'd cook for my sister, I'd clean for my sister, you know, wash her clothes, I washed my clothes, and just stuff like that. You know, we just started growing up together. And I mean, it was hard for us because sometimes we didn't have food in the refrigerator, and that's why I started selling drugs and doing what I did.

Iris talked about losing her love for school. (You can't see this in the still, but she has the most expressive face. There are her words, but then her face says even more.)

Elementary school? I used to love school. I used to always wanted to go because I didn't experience it while I was little, while my mom was locked up. So when I used to go to school every day I liked it. And then, in middle school, that's when I didn't like school, like, I don't know, me and school don't get along. I didn't like school, I didn't like the teachers, I didn't like nobody, you know? Like I always wanted to be by myself. The teachers didn't care about me neither. They used to tell me I wasn't gonna be nobody. They said like, "You're just gonna be nobody. You're gonna be pregnant, you're gonna have kids." I'd just be like, "Okay."

Karlo describes the guy--a gang leader--who took him in when his mother kicked him out:

There was this one time when me and my mom--she was just fed up with me. It was during Hurricane Ike, and my mom kicked me out the house, you know, and I ain't have nowhere to go. I just had a backpack on my back and a duffel bag, and I seen the leader out on the corner street, and he was smoking a blunt and stuff, and he was like, "Man, where you from?" You know, I never met him or talked to him or anything, and he's like, "Where you from?" And I'm like, "From Houston," and he's like, "No, I'm saying, what's your bang," and I'm like, "Nah, I don't bang nothing."

The guy asks him about his bags, and Karlo says he's been kicked out and was heading to the park, and the guy invites Karlo to stay with him:

He's like,"Well, you could stay in my house if you want. I got an extra room." And I'm like, "Man, I appreciate it," and he let me inside his house. And we was going to the same school, too, so we would go to school together in the morning, and I would hang out with him at lunch. He helped me a lot ... With him, it wasn't always just about gangs, you know. He gave me advice, like, "Man, why you stop playing baseball?" You know, like, "Why don't you try harder in school?" "Why won't you get a job," You know, like, "Don't mess with these drugs." That's why I appreciate him, you know? Because he brought me from nothing to where I am right now.

So, yeah. When parents and teachers and society at large aren't doing what they're supposed to, and someone comes along like that--I'd join a gang, too, in that situation.

The good news is that only around 10 percent of kids who join gangs stay in them for more than three years. All the young people in this video have left gangs and are doing good things with their lives right now.