Gang Life
By: Selina F. and Angelica S.
For centuries now, there has been an increasing rate of gangs. In our community and school, a good percentage of the underage students are in some way affiliated with gangs. We are realizing that the ones who are in gangs are usually the ones who don’t meet the standards that are needed to be met in school.
We also realize that there are people giving off bad vibes and wearing the “colors” and sending out the wrong signals. Our first interviewee said, “I didn’t even graduate high school. I was too worried about fighting and trying to be cool that I never did work.” Another former gang member said, “At first, I did have a problem with school and then I just dropped out and got a job with my uncle.”
Gang violence is also a big issue in this community. According to the U.S. Department of Juvenile Justice, 100% of cities with a population of or greater then 250,000 people reported gang activity in 2001. San Jose, being the third largest city in California, has a population of approximately 929,936 people. In a 2002 survey by The National Youth Gang Center they found that there were 21,500 gangs and 731,000 gang members in 2,300 U.S. cities.
Most people sometimes wonder what the purpose is in being in a gang. “I feel like I have a second family when I’m in a gang. I know they will always have my back,” said our interviewee. Are they scared? Do they care that they are in danger? Anonymous stated, “I’m sometimes scared, it just depends.” If their scared then why don’t they quit? “It’s not that easy to quit because if you do you can get jumped.”
For some gang members, it is easy for them to open up about the issue, for others they just want to shut down. “My family doesn’t know I am in a gang, if they did I would get kicked out,” said anonymous.
We truly hope that anybody who is in a gang or is thinking about being in a gang thinks twice before doing so. We also hope that you know the consequences of being in a gang or being around a gang.
Works Cited Page
1. According to the U.S. Department of Juvenile Justice (2001) “100% of cities with a population of or greater than 25,000 people reported gang activity in 2001.” Arlene Egley, Jr.
2. According to the National Youth Gang Center’s survey (2002) “21,500 gangs and 731,000 gang members in 2,300 U.S. cities.” Gang Research.net
3. According to Wikipedia.org “San Jose is the third largest California city……San Jose has a population of 929,936 people.”
admin @ November 24, 2007