hilos

so just like there are syereotypes about all people there are stereotypes about people who have at some point been gang members. i was looking through this website about gangs, and there are some really interesting writings on it. one is the overestimation of gangs and the things they do. i mean even the definition of gang is not clear cut, and neither is who is a member or who participates in different actions.

one section of the website talks about how police overestimate gangs as a way to legitimize their actions. the media helps out by overdramatizing the shootings that occur. i’m not saying that these don’t happen but it seems like there are a lot of them  even though this may not statistically hold up. but back to who gets targeted. i think it is manily young people of color who get targeted as being a gang as oppose to just a group of friends haging out.

it seems like a total divide and conquer strategy in the part of the state becasue of drug laws that are tied to class and race issues (as i mentioned earlier in the comment on cocaine). there was this study done where two gangs were researched and the one who was white was treated differently from the one who was made up of people of color. the white gang’s crimes were perceived as things kids do and that they will change, etc. while the other kids were viewed as bad and police came down harder on them (i’ll look into this later but i don’t have the material on me).

there is just so much racism and classism involved. it’s like “all young men of color are gang members and all gang members are bad” which is not only racist but obscures the realities of people and why some (of any race and calss) join gangs and others dont, and it obscures the humanity of gang members who are people like the rest of us.

don’t get me wrong. i don’t like gangs in general becasue of the territorialism i feel they propagate, and the making money off of people selling and buying drugs. but these activities are not exclusive to them (since explotation seems to be an accepted part of capitalism) and are aided by racism, classism, heterosexism and all that stuff in society that cuts off the oportunities people think they have and are able to take and keep.  

putting people in jail is not the answer, since that just makes their opportunites less viable and messes with them (from the intimidation and corruption and exploitation that takes place in the jail atmosphere). i mean i don’t have an answer but criminalizing youth is not the approach i wanna see in our cities.

and that is what seems to be happening.