I Am Sorry Mom

This is a story by William Garcia Jr.

She had lain in bed for days, in denial, not eating, rarely talking, and depressed. I am describing my mother’s condition after two detectives knocked on the door and entered the apartment looking for her son, who was accused of murder. I wonder what thoughts and images ran through her mind. Her son, who she always believed would make something of his life, was wanted for a serious crime.I was always in school and during the summer breaks I made sure to get a job. After graduating high school, I wasted no time in finding job that permitted me to move out of my mother’s house and have a place of my own. To my mother, I was a responsible young adult, with no bad habits: a son that would never find himself inside the criminal system or so she thought. It took my mom a number of weeks before she was able to accept that I was incarcerated. She did not come visit me right away. I imagine that had to do with the struggle within herself, dealing with denial and the truth. I still remember her first visit when I was held in the county jail. Her face and her eyes defined the suffering she had endured during the first weeks of my imprisonment I can also remember her words: “William it wasn’t you that committed this crime they are convicting you of. It must be someone else.” At the time, I couldn’t fine the nerve to admit that she was wrong. Every permitted visit in the county jail, she made the effort to be there with me. Every day of my court trial, she sat right behind me with a forced smile to hide from her pain. On sentencing day, no longer able to hide her pain, she burst into tears. That was just the beginning of a long twelve years she endured of not having the freedom to see her son whenever she wanted. She still battles the demons of denial and the fact that her son could have committed such an act. The aggravation of traveling two hours from Hoboken to Trenton, the chaos of entering the prison to sit with me for an hour and a half, and her age have understandably lessened visits over the years. Her fifteen to twenty visits a year have diminished to three or four. After years and years of burdens that I placed on her back. I can see that I’ve scarred her spirit and soul. Twelve years later, my mother is fifty-seven years old. I wonder if she and I will ever experience those special moments of mother and son again: talks at the kitchen table over dinner with the rest of the family, or laughs of joyful holidays together, with nieces and nephews happily running around the house. I can go on writing about the other family members that have struggled with my life behind bars for the last twelve years. But there is nothing like when a son is taken away from a mother because of his ignorant and immature decisions. Do not allow your mother to suffer as I have allowed mine to. Cherish the moments together.

Wanting Life Back

I sit alone in my room,
And then I start to cry.
I ask God to reach out and hold my hand
And help me start a better life.
He tells me not to cry and that all will be fine,
But I still can't stand to be locked up here inside.
All I want is to have my life back
And for things to be like they were in the past.

Jonathan B.
California

http://www.gangsandkids.com/gstory2.html#lifeback

Get Out of My Face

It’s hard to accept it
But it is a way of life.
You tell me you wanna help.
You say that I need to change.
But tell me what you know
About being locked in a cage?

I cannot bear captivity.
My grip on hope is almost lost.
Having to survive through insanity,
I’ll keep my pride at any cost.

This is my environment.
I’ve adapted to it properly.
And now you come and attempt
To help me live life honestly.
Am I supposed to trust you?
Don’t you know that I’ve been beat?

People in the past like you
Said they’d meet me in the middle of the street,
That they would help me,
All I had to do was meet them halfway.
But they never came,
And I was left to get swept by the rain.

Look at me now; I’m doing time.
Just get out of my face with your lies.

I.P.
CALIFORNIA

http://www.gangsandkids.com/gstory2.html#getoutofmyface

Now street gang members in Chicago and in the suburbs is now at least twice. And now the gangs are outlying the police departments. Some believe that all the gang population is part of all the Chicago region’s gang population related to Mexican cartels that are taking control of illegal drug sales. There are over 100,000 gang members now in the city, and now they are more powerful than before. Gang membership is rising as a violent crime, to cause murder or any other damage.

18ST BARRIO DIESIOCHO XV3ST

LATIN KINGS AND TWO SIX GANG CRACKDOWN IN LIL VILLAGE CHICAGO

PILSEN CHICAGO THIS IS MY HOOD

Why teens join gangs?

Why do teens join gangs? Gang members are from both poor and wealthy neighborhoods and from big cities and small rural towns. What causes some teens to join gangs?

1. Most teen gang members have been forced to join a gang, they have no choice most of the time its either to join a gang or get hurt or killed
2. Teens join because they have no support at home, and they just want to find a family for themselves
3. Teens also want to be accepted and respected, they think that no one values them as who they are
4. Sometimes it's because they just something to do
   
5. Teens also think gangs will give them something to value, like expensive sneakers, leather jackets, gold rings, etc.Gangs take advantage of all this to get innocent teens to join them, gangs also promise teens that they will take them in and take care of them just like a family. But the reality is that gangs only offer false promises, because if they would actually care they wouldn't ask teens to do the following:

Here are some real things gang members are often asked to do:

1. Hurt or kill innocent people
2. Perform heterosexual or homosexual acts, or both
3. Allow yourself to be beat up in order to join the "family"
4. Put yourself in danger of injury, disease, prison, and death

Would a caring family ask you to do these things?

chicago gangs

What is a gang? What do gangs do? Statistics..

A gang is usually a group of teens and young adults who spend most of their time together. They often plan how to carry out different activities that usually involve using violence. Gangs are known by particular names. They are organized with leaders and followers. Gangs usually claim a particular area of a city or town which they call their “turf”. They spend most of their time recruting new members and protecting their "turf" from the rival gangs and to keep them out of their territory. A gang usually makes money by doing illegal things. They get most of their money by dealing illegal drugs, forcing people to pay them money for protection, robbing people and stores, selling those stolen things, and trading illegal weapons.

Statistics:

• About 7 percent of teens say they belong to gangs


• Gang members usually range in age from 12 to 25 years old


• The average ageto be in a gang is 17


• Many large gangs have members of several age and ethnic groups


• About 20 percent of all teens know someone who was killed or injured by a gang member


• In some cities 70 percent of teens are killed by guns or a gang member


• Gang members steal or destroy school property

Female Gang History

Female gangs have existed since the 1800’s. Females were seen to be inferior towards males, and this is a reason why we don't hear much about them. Females are usually recognized as members of the gang as someone’s girlfriend, sister, or relative but not an actual member of the gang like males. Females who are in a gang were often used only for holding weapons or drugs, as alibis or sex toys. Today, many of the same generalizations still apply to females although there have been some changes. Females now will wear gang related clothing, participate in criminal activities, and actually plan some of the crimes. Recently, females have tried to form their own gangs, taking what they learn from all male gangs and applying them to their own gangs. Females now such do jump-ins, graffiti, tattoos, and use weapons and violence, as a way for them to gain a good reputation or respect and recognition from the male gangs. When females decide to be a part of a gang, they must be initiated by other members. Before the only way females where able to join a gang was by being introduced to one either by getting jumped-in, or sexed-in. Jumped means you just get hit from the members of the gangs for some minutes. Sexed-in to a gang means having sex with several of the hard-core gang members. Females will often choose to be jumped-in because it is a way to gain respect from their fellow homeboys or the males in the gang. Being jumped-in also gives females the tough image and reputation they seek in order to be in the gang. Females who choose to be sexed-in will not enter the gang with as much respect because they had sex just to be in, and this shows that they don't even respect themselves. And therefore these females who preferred to be sex-in were often just used as sex toys for the gang and not highly respected. Even though females commit the same violent crimes as the male gang members do, they are often overlooked by law enforcement. Females will usually carry razor blades in their mouths, knives in their hair, and are able to hide weapons and drugs with their bodies. It is hard to remember that female gang members can be just as dangerous as males and should not be underestimated because of their sex. It is important to know that females seek gang membership for the same reasons that males do. These reasons are for protection, love, money, recognition, etc. Whereas males can be active in a gangs for several years, females tend to leave the gangs at soon as possible, when they are still young. Females try to get out of a gang earlier because of several factors. These factors are, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and the need of finding a job to support themselves and or family and kids if they have them.

Female Gangs

Joining a gang is a significant, potentially life-altering, event. The reasons for any single juvenile’s joining a gang are complex and personal. Though most females join gangs for friendship and self-affirmation. "Female gang members are characterized as being wild, hedonistic, irrational, amoral, and violent" (see Chesney-Lind, 1993). There are two basic types of female gang organization. The first and most common type of girl gang is based on their affiliation. These are usually described as "auxiliary" or "satellite" groups, and are an expression of the gender relations and boundaries of society. The other group is the independent one, where the females establish their own rules and is not subordinate to other male gangs.

Chicago Gangs

The City of Chicago is filled with a history of gangs. A lot of people believed that the gangs started in Chicago. But the history of gangs is more than just stories of crimes committed, drugs, and violence. The history of gangs is also the story of immigrants and migrants, of different neighborhoods and nations. This also deals with politics. And originally gangs started to form for protection against others, and/or their neighborhoods. Now gangs are gangs because of racial issues. And they start race wars. The Chicago gangs started with a meaning of people with common lifestyles to coming together.

Folks

Tear Drop Tattos

Tear Drop Tattos

Today many kids are wearing teardrop tattoos as fashion and to make them look tough. The teardrop tattoo is a particular tattoo that has become very popular over the years a generic symbol for gang members and non-gang members of all races and ethnicity's. The teardrop is said to have originated with Hispanic gangs in California in the 1940's.

"Did You Know"?

This is of topic but in class we saw this video called "Did you know"?. This video really impact me. It talks about how people are preparing students for jobs that still don't exist. For students starting at a 4 year technical degree, half of what they learn in the first year of study will be outdated by the third year of study. This really impacted me because whatever we are learning we won't be able to use it, because new ideas and developments will be out there. And also we saw that it took Facebook two years to reach 50 million people and on if MySpace would be a country it will be the 5th largest in the world because there are over 200 million people registered in it. I think that this is ridiculous because there are a lot of people on the internet doing nothing when there are more important things to do in the world. But what impacted me the most was that today the number of text messages sent and received everyday exceed the total number of population of the planet.

Latin Kings

The Almighty Latin Kings and Queen Nation are the largest Latino gang in Chicago, and perhaps also in the United States. The Latin Kings are also a major force in the barrios of New York. Black & Gold is a documentary film of the polticization and repression of the Latin Kings in New York City in the 1990s.

Chicago street gangs where first started in the 1960's when a youth group called the Black P-Stone Rangers where involved in a criminal organization. The group leader of this gang was Jeff Fort. After this "gang" was started others formed as well, and they where separated into two different groups. One group were the People Nation Sets: Black P-Stone, Latin Kings, Vicelords Spanish Lords, El Rukns, Bishops, Gaylords, Latin Counts, and Kents. The other group were Folk Nation Sets:Black Gangster Disciples, Black Disciples, Gangster Disciples, La Raza, Cobras, Eagles, Latin Disciples, Maniac Latin Disciples, Simon City Royals, Spanish Gangsters, and Two Sixer.