Reponse to BLOODS: The gang life

I thought this article was really cool. In the beginning of this whole Isearch project, I was just going to research the Bloods and Crips. I figured that the topic was too narrow and it would be hard to try and find information. I'm glad that I got to read an article about the Bloods and kind of go back towards my original topic a bit. I thought this article was really interesting. All the other articles I read are about what types of things that gangs do, but they just come from the news or writer. In this article, the interviewer got to talk to a Bloods member himself, and actually dig deeper into the life of a gangster. This article was beneficial. I like how "Red" told us about how you can become a member of the Bloods and what some of their little terms are. I also think that reading this can help me with my oral presentation. I could maybe act out and dress up like a gang member of the Bloods, or use some of their terms.

#12 BLOODS: The gang life

Rick Pfeiffer interviewed a member of the Bloods. The interviewee "Red" started off by showing how a Bloods member would approach a member of another gang such as the Crips. He pulled his red baseball had so the brim was forward and then covered his mouth and nose with a red bandanna. To join the Bloods, you must "put in some work" or "shoot the 31". To put in some work, means to go out and commit a crime. You can go on a robbery for example, and bring something back for the Bloods. To shoot the 31, it means that you must fight everyone in the Blood Set all at once for 31 seconds. Red said that he wanted to join a gang since middle school. He saw a member of the Bloods who had his flag (red bandanna) and he asked him about it, the member said he was Blood. Before he was recruited, he was told about all the good things, and none of the bad. "'It’s different for every set,' he said. 'It was how the original OGs (founders) did it. Your OG (Original Gangsta) teaches you and you teach new recruits'". This was part of the gang life that Red shared. Experts say that young members are drawn into gangs because they want to find a way to belong to a group or family. In the Bloods, there's a Godfather and he is known as "Big Homie"and he is the founder of the Blood set. An "Elite Team" is also part of the Bloods, and they enforce discipline. Everyone listens to the Big Homie. Whatever he says, youdo it.

The Bloods like to go out and do what they call "banging out". Banging out is violence and you might use a gun, knife, or a baseball bat even. It's usually directed towards other gangs or people are involved in criminal activity and potentially have cash on them. Banging is one of the ways to bring money or drugs back to a family. A Blood would never bang out on another Blood. Some people put tons of money into the gang. Usually they will rent a house and supplies a member with drugs to go out and sell. Once you go out and sell the drugs or weed, you bring back the money to Big Homie, and then they by another house. "'It’s all about dollars,' Red says. 'If you bring money in, you get respect.'"

Red said that once a leader decides to "fold his flag" or resign, that he doesn't lose the benefits of the gang. Whenever you see a gang member with their flags around the chain on their pants, they are showing their respect for their Big Homie who is in jail. A Blood always wears their flag. You never hide it, or fold it. It also helps show where your turf it. For example, if you go into a place and you see a lot of red flags, you're probably in the territory of the Bloods.

Interview- Greg Dorr

For my interview, I discussed gangs with my brother, Greg. I originally wanted to interview a principal or headmaster from a school in a city where gangs were primarily present. I emailed two headmasters, one from Boston and the other from Texas, neither replied. In turn, I chose Greg because he's been going to school in Portland and Gorham, and had an apartment in the worst part of Portland. I didn't think I would get the chance to talk to him in person soon, so we talked over email. The questions that I chose to ask were:

1. Do you tend to experience a lot of gang activity in your area?
2. How often do you hear about or experience encounters with gangs?
3. Do you feel threatened and or in danger where you live because of gangs?
4. When you hear the word “gang” or “mobster”, what comes to mind? Is there any real connection between them?
5. Over the course of the past few years, have you noticed an increase in gang activity?
6. Why do you think youth join gangs? And why do you drives teenagers and early twenty year olds join gangs?
7 . Have you ever watched any movies that were based around gangs? If you have, is reality like the movies? Why or why not.
8. Do you have any ideas or suggestions on how to handle gangs?
9. Do you know any people that are gang members? If you do, how you feel it affects them, their family, and friends?
10. Where you live or generally spend your time, is it easy to decipher whether a person is in a gang or not? Explain.
11. How many gangs do you think exist in Portland?
12. What do you think is the number one crime that’s committed by gangs around where you live?

I gained a lot of information by interviewing Greg. Although it wasn't exactly what I had in mind, I definitely benefited from talking with him. I learned that there's quite a bit of gang activity in Portland even though it's on a much smaller scale than other cities, it still exists. He said that there's not a lot of encounters with gangs that's heard about. He said the city keeps those types of things low key, to keep their reputation. Feeling scared or threatened is always going to be there in any city, but Greg said that if one plans accordingly, it's not much to worry about. He also said it's different for women and other people, it depends on the person. Greg said that he has seen gang activity grow slightly since he's been there over the past few years and the recession and depression are making it go at a faster pace. Greg and I also talked about the reasoning for joining gangs, and he thinks that youth and young adults look at gangs as a sense of family because they might not have the best one. He also thinks they consider it to be a place that they fit in, and has a purpose of safety. Greg suggests that working on educating the youth and their parents and cracking down harder on gangs through laws would be a start to handling gangs. He said that he lived next door to gangs during the summer that he estimates around 5-7 gangs to be working in Portland. I gathered a lot beneficial and helpful information from Greg. I think his insight was a big help in my research and interest in gangs.

Response to Gangs, Guns: Who's at risk?

I'm glad that I finally found an article that wasn't going shootings or some type of crime. I wanted to find an article that talked about gangs in general and how they affect people. Although this was a little different than I was going for, I'm glad that I stumbled across it. The article talked about what type of things drive children (especially boys) into joining gangs. I think that this article was really helpful, and will help my presentation stronger. Although I haven't experienced being in a gang, or all of these different contributors, I agree with that they said. I feel as if I had to deal with abusive parents, a rough neighborhood, and poor performance in school, I would end up making bad decisions. All of the factors seem to be legit and potentially could cause someone to join a gang. I think that living in a neighborhood where there's a high crime rate and a lot of gangs, that that would make the biggest influence on a person. To grow up with all of that around you, and witness it...you'd seem as if you might as well get into it. If children are joining gangs because of their parents, something is wrong. Parents need to be parents, not neglect their kids or be abusive to them. I understand that there are special cases where parents have problems, but if kids are joining gangs just because their parents don't bother to spend time with them...they need to smarten up. It's not worth it for a child to go out and be a part of a group that's extremely dangerous and break the law. Overall, I'm glad that I found this article. It gave me good information about what could drive people into gangs. I think it's very helpful.

#10- Gangs, Guns: Who's at risk?

Gangs are very prominent in many countries and are quickly becoming a scare to the Caribbean. Many islands have seen a large spike in gang violence over the past few years and this helped the country's murder rate go higher. The counseling center stated, "As the casualties grow, the question must be asked- why are so many young men becoming gang members? Who is at risk?"

There are many personal factors that help contribute to young people joining gangs. One of them is low self-worth. It's said that youth who lean towards gangs usually have low self-esteem which could be caused by many different things such as parents who are neglectful, absent, or abusive, poverty, lack of life skills, and bad performance in school. Being involved with gangs sens powerful and give a sense of love and companionship to those who feel weak in various areas of life. Another personal factors is the lack of positive life goals. Also it's said that boys who end up in gangs, don't do well in school and have little to no ambition to go forward with schooling or a career. "Unlike the high-school graduate who dreams of going away to college or securing a good job, the prospective gang member is left with few meaningful opportunities and goals, and a sense of hopelessness about the future," stated Jeweleen Manners-Woodley.

School factors also play a role in the decision to join gangs. Kids who often perform poorly at school, lose all motivation and might drop out or become expelled. Without education, their chances of getting a job are slimmer and they gain the sense of underachievement. Families are also a leading contributor. Poor parenting and lack of involvement are very common. When parents are abusive, neglectful, or don't spend the time to help their children become positive citizens, it's hard and can drive kids away. Parents who also act as bad role models by using violence or criminal behavior, can also push youth towards gangs. Unstable home environments where there might be fighting, physical/sexual/or emotional abuse, aggressive behavior and street living can all enhance the livelihood of children joining gangs.

Other leading factors deal with communities that have a high crime rate and a large presence of gangs. Young adults who live in these areas are more likely to join gangs, whether it be by wanting to, or being forced into it. Other contributors are access to firearms and poverty. These play a part in children joining gangs.

Final Focus; further research needed.

When I wrote my blog analysis, I found that I needed to find some good information. I want to find an article that's really interesting so that I can drive myself to find more information and then do a good job on my presentation. Also when doing my essay, I thought a lot more about various things and my brain went off on a tangent to consider new ideas and questions about gangs. I figured that I should do a background research and that would maybe help me out with my presentation and interview, as well as driving to find more rich information. I started thinking more about how gangs affect communities, families, and friends. I also want to know statistics. I want to be able to engage the class in an activity where they can learn percentages and statistics about gangs. I think that once I find a really interesting and engaging article, then I will be on the go to try and find more. I feel that there are a few holes in my research that I need to fill. I feel that all of my articles are very much related. They have their differences and are about different situations, but I feel the information is repetitive. I want to do a background article just so I can gain more information that could help my research and my presentation. I previously said that I would like to find statistics, this too will fill some of the holes.

For my interview, I wanted to talk with a principal or social worker from a large high school in the city. I emailed the headmaster from a school in Boston to see if he would be interested in talking with me about gangs. I have yet to hear back from him. Another idea I had in mind, was to interview one or both of my brothers. One of my brothers has a lot of friends who could potentially be associated with gangs. My other brother had an apartment in the worst part of Portland, and didn't have very good experiences. In my presentation, I want to give as much information about gangs that I possibly can. I want to make it educational but interesting as well.