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Organized gangs in the united states
Sociological theory applied to gangs
Sociological theory applied to gangs
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When the gangs were taking over the area, if you did not belong to one hood, they would assume you were the enemy. Rodriguez joined a gang called “Thee Impersonations,” because he was an easy target due to him not being a part of a gang (41). After the leader of this gang died, again Rodriguez was a target, thus having to going another gang called “La Lomas”(54). Throughout his life as a gang member Rodriguez was always reference as a “softy,” meaning that he had a heart, and truthfully not meant to be a part of a gang. Another reason why kids join gangs, it is because they feel powerless.
The article I read this week was titled, “Paying former gang members to go to college? This program does- and it seems to be working” by Valerie Strauss from The Washington Post. Strauss discusses a program College Program Dorchester in Boston. The program helps at-risk youth prepare for and attend college.
As the two gangs continued to grow, different Blood and Crip gangs in Los Angeles and all over the United States continued the rivalry that started in the '70s. The Compton Crips occupied the same territory as the Bloods, the two gangs inevitably came into conflict with one another. The Bloods and the Crips were extremely territorial and quite ambitious in protecting their neighborhood against invasion by one another as well as other opponent gangs. Crip gangs started to use graffiti to mark their territory. The areas Crip gangs occupied became known as the "hood," and leaders began taking on new gang members from local neighborhoods.
Second, the thesis is shown through the perspective of Ernesto Vera. Ernesto Vera was the eldest child in the Vera family. His two younger siblings, Lupe and Ray, otherwise known as Payasa and Lil Mosco, are both heavily involved with gang violence and all types of gang activity, but not Ernie. Ernesto said, “When I’m passing houses, I only hear TVs on, and all the anchors are talking about is looting and fire and Rodney King and black people and anger and that’s cool, whatever, because I’m focused on something else.” (6).
Mary Romero’s article explained the criminality and the images that Latino/a youth have before knowing the individual. We see a lot of crimes and murders that were made by officers towards people of color, specifically, in this case, Latino/a. In the Latinx community, we have a lot of disadvantages. Not only based on the color of our skin but also the fact that majority of Latinos in this country are immigrants. According to Romero, Latino youth was always seen and described as criminals since WWII.
Victor M. Rios was born in Mexico. When he was two years old he immigrated with his mother to Oakland, California. He went through a tough childhood and he and his mother moved several times throughout poor neighborhoods such as West Oakland, The Fruitvale District, and Elmhurst. As a result of growing up in this kind of environments he was forced to be part of Latino East Oakland gangs. Stealing cars, selling drugs, getting into street fights and having problems with police was all he would do until he was 15 years old.
Bridge 1 Gangsters Without Borders by T.W. Ward is an ethnography about the El Salvadorian gang Mara Salvatrucha. Ward chose to focus the majority of his research on the male members in order to earn their trust. With that in mind, I am presuming that the views of women portrayed in this ethnography are fundamentally the thoughts of its male members. Nonetheless, early on in my reading on this ethnography, I identified the role gender plays not only for the ethnographer but also for the gang members. The gender roles for these gang members mimic those of most societies, although some of the roles appear contradictory.
He became aware of the lack of fairness of the gang life be he knew it would years before he saw way out. When he first joined the gang the kings were at war with other Latino gangs like the Spanish Cobras, Lords and Gangster Imperials. The Latin Kings later became one with the Gaylords, Vice lords, and Insane Unknowns to become the Peoples. Their enemies were the Cobras, Lords, and Imperial Gangsters called the Folks. Police would encourage gang wars by picking up members and leaving them at neighborhoods controlled by their rivals.
When involved in a gang you feel there is no way out, nobody understands your struggle and your chances of dying is 60% more than the average person. It is important to reach out to the youth and Art Rodriguez has done a great job contributing to that cause. The gang life I can relate too. In my experience and in the music that the older homies use to influence their young recruits always explain the struggle that once you are in there is no way out.
The structure of the gang is similar to a hierarchy with separate levels of power that is known as “chapter” and nothing can pass the leader at the top known as a “Corona” without his consent (Mathews, 2012). It doesn’t matter whether a members is in prison or in some other state, the gang has its way to get into contact with others and cannot be detained with the separation. Every member wanting to join the gang is initiated by a variety of ways going from a three minute beating to committing a crime to ensure that the new members is willing to give it all for his new family (“latin kings the dangerous gang in Chicago”, 2016). In 1970 any race or gender was allowed into the gang and they have no limit to what age the person has to be as long as they are ready to give a full commitment to the gang The symbol for the gang is a lion and a crown with five points in which eat point stands for love, honor, obedience, sacrifice, and righteousness which are written using the colors black and gold (“latin kings,
”(Rodriguez 48). At 13 years old, Luiz Rodriguz was part of a gang and got tattooed. No child should ever have tattoos, be sexually active, and be part of a gang. Gangs have very violent atmospheres, they are constantly getting into fights with each other. Being part of a gang is not a good atmosphere for anyone, especially a growing child.
Like the majority of people in the United States, even illegal drug dealers in East Harlem are captivated by the American Dream. In Phillipe Bourgois' ethnography In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, the Puerto Rican crack dealers of El Barrio want an opportunity where they can obtain jobs to support their families and ultimately become financially successful. However, in the job search, some cultures must face more obstacles than others. Social marginalization, cultural capital “clash”, and institutionalized racism take a significant toll on a minority’s ability to prosper in employment. Despite the ambitions of Puerto Rican drug dealers to succeed in the legal workplace, the structural inequalities they face make it impossible
Undertaking a mission A lot of things we can overcome may be hard. Whats drives us to undertake a mission is motivation and determination. We can always find another way around the problem. It's usually hard to find a way but, everyone tries at least once and just to get a feel of what they're up against.
Gangs represent themselves by symbolizing different colored bandanas for each gang, wearing baggy clothes, and mainly jeans and t-shirts. Rap music is typically associated with gangs also. Lingo of gangs can be things such as heavy use of slang, derogatory terms which are usually used to describe other gangs, and secret codes. A secret code of the largest American gang, the Bloods, is “suwoop” which is supposed to imitate the sound of a police siren. Tattoos can represent a gang too, as many will get tattoos all over their bodies that symbolize which gang they are associated with.
Sanyika Shakur tells his life story in detail in his book, Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member. He tells how he lived from a very young age and survived the gang life in South Central L.A. during the 1960’s and 1970’s, which was during the startup of the Crips. He was born Kody Scott and he was born into a very poor family. He had an absent father and was therefore raised by a single mother. At the very young age of eleven Kody Scott turned his life over to the Crips.
