Gang Awareness NOW 101

Gangs...they have existed for a very long time. There are various ethnic gangs whether they be Irish, Italian, Mexican, Asian, etc.
The point is folks, this is nothing new. Just like in the days of Al Capone, people especially younger people thought he was a "cool" guy. When gangs evolve, communities ALWAYS suffer....this needs to be a community effort.
The following is some of the things that will provide you with further knowledge of gangs.

FACT: DID YOU KNOW THAT CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS 8 YEARS OLD ARE GETTING INTO GANGS?

WHAT EXACTLY IS A GANG???
A gang is basically 3 or more people that hang out together on a regular basis.
They do not always have to be involved in criminal activity.
They try to set themselves apart from others with distinct clothing - (colors), or certain haircuts,hand signs etc.

DO GANGS HANG OUT IN CERTAIN AREAS???
A gang may not always claim any special section of town, however the signs that they are definetly in a neighborhood is the various graffiti taggings.
Gangs are normally territory oriented however. Each gang has its own turf and graffiti marks its boundaries. Anyone who does not belong in the area and resembles a rival gang member may become the subject of attack.
If you see graffiti that is crossed out it is because another gang is trying to claim ownership of that section of town. Chances are there will probably be some sort of a gang fight brewing.

WHERE DO THEY GET THEIR NAMES???
The name of the gang in general for the entire group is sometimes linked to a street name or a park or a larger gang in a larger community that the gang wants to model themselves after.
Tag names or individual names for each gang member vary. These names are normally strange, action type names which they will use in replacement of their birth name. These are especially used when they tag up with graffiti - they feel that they are safer to use and the cops will not be able to identify them by this new name. Normally these "nicknames" or "tag" names will match with their personality or their phyical appearance. If someone is more of a quieter type of person maybe they will go by the name of "Silence" for example.

WHO LEADS THESE GANGS???
Gangs do not have Presidents or Secretaries....The leader of each gang is choosen in an unspoken manner. The leader is generally the person that is the most dominating and shows leadership at certain times by taking control of a situation. Usually it is a well liked person who can show force when needed in any given situation.

WHY DO PEOPLE JOIN GANGS???
There are alot of reasons. Some of them include the excitement, peer pressure,attention,protection,financial benefit,family tradition,family abuse - physical or sexual. Mainly they want to feel as if they BELONG to something. What is really sad is that often times the parents just dont realize that their kids are involved in gang activity.

WHAT CAN YOU DO???
First off, do not go out and try to battle or win back your neighborhood on your own. Leave that to the cops. They have specialized officers that deal with this. Gangsters do not hesitate to involve innocent people.
Some of the things that you can do though are -
Join a community service group that tackles cleaning up the graffiti (The Watchful Eye Foundation does this)
Have your kids join an afterschool program to get them involved in the beautification of the community. This way they will claim pride in the area that they live. (The Watchful Eye has an afterschool program)
The other people you could contact would be your local city hall or United Way to ask where you could call to get involved.
The word COMMUNITY means that there is more than one person in that area. It takes a group of people to create a gang, however it takes an entire community to battle them.
Please don't be one of those persons who sits around in their recliner complaining as they watch the news or read the paper how the community is just going to hell because of the gangs. Get up and help with this problem. This is the only thing that will work - if enough people get together to take this on it will help.
I am not a politician so I will not make any promises however I will say that if you help out in your community it will change things at least 90%.

Stay tuned for more info on gangs and what you can do to help with this problem.