How Gangs Evolved
" the
way i got jumped in was i had to save larry and do a six penny
pickup while
they beat me while i tride
to pick up the six pennies off the ground Tray and Sackman and
Sleepy wrapped their rags around their fists and when my girl
called time on the stop watch they hit me in my face and all
over and beat me for 60 seconds i hit Sackman in the face
and ripped out Oteeses ear ring and busted Tray in the jaw they
got me in my stomach and chest lots but i didn't fall down then
my girl called time and they stopped and all gave me hugs and
shook my hand and i felt loved." ...interview with gang
youth
Prior to the 1960s, most Americans knew that street
gangs existed, but considered them to be simply a group of people
who
associated together, somewhat recreationally, as did the comedic
'Our Gang' and the 'Bowery Boys' as presented in the black
and white movie shorts and early television.
From America's earliest years, wave after wave
of an increasing influx of foreign immigrants poured into the
country and settled
in crowded urban areas, creating ethnic dissension and increased
competition for education, jobs, and a share of the new country's
bounty.
Uneducated, facing prejudice at every turn, and
unable to find social, cultural, or economic success--and lacking
access to
meaningful employment--many young people found their lives filled
with boredom, frustration, hopelessness, and poverty. It is small
wonder that many of them ended up on the streets in large numbers,
and by the 19th century had formed gangs that specialized in
criminal activity and perpetuated themselves through new recruits.
By the early 1800's, many of the most vicious
adult street gangs had organized along ethnic and political lines.
Years of corruption
in city government and attendant intensification of urban problems
immediately preceding the Civil War contributed to the rapid
increase of criminal street gangs that formed in order to protect
ethnic neighborhoods.
By the early 1990's, gang migration had reached
the point that 25% of small communities surveyed reported having
gang members
enrolled in their schools. There are more than 25,000 gangs with
a total of more than 800,000 gang members in the continental
United States. California has the most gang members; Texas ranks
second, and Illinois is third.
Gang membership is especially attractive to young
girls with low self-esteem who, having suffered various forms
of abuse,
neglect, and sexual molestation, can abuse others with impunity
and applause from the gang.
The role of the girl gangster - the g-male - is
changing as more and more gangs proliferate. The female gang
associates and members
are younger, tougher, and more violent, often exceeding their
male gang counterparts. Anxious to prove themselves and their
worth to the gangs, female recruits often use extreme violence
against victims, other female associates, and on occasion even
male gang members.
Girls usually start their gang association in
the belief that others will "respect" (fear) them for this relationship.
However, they soon learn that gang members use girls mainly for
sex, as admiring and applauding audiences for male gang members
deeds of derring-do, and as 'mules' to carry drugs and weapons.
Many female associates become hard-core drug abusers and prostitutes.
Most gang members are not concerned with the implications
of their illegal actions; they live in the present, have no goals
or future plans beyond the scope of their gang's activities.
Additionally, their criminal behavior and defiance of parents,
teachers, and society as a whole earn them the approval and
respect
of their delinquent peers. In the gang they find the success
that they could not experience in school.
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