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How the Streets Raised Me Flipbook PDF
An essay about how the streets and being involved in gangs are negatively impacting young children and their life.
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Cameron Brown Professor Ramser ENG 111- 18 6 December 2018 How the Streets Raised Me There is a lot of wrongful things going on in the city that I live in(Long Beach) from Drug usage ,to stealing, and even gun violence but something I want to write about that's been a major issue is gangbanging by young adults and them being influenced to do so by their elders . I’ve chose to write about gangbanging because I’m seeing more and more people getting involved with it every day because of how easy it is to get put on and to claim a set. Gangbanging isn’t something smart to get yourself into, yet I see people so called sets being tagged on building at least on every other corner in Long Beach. Kids see older kids doing it, hear lyrics on songs, or maybe just happened to grow up around it and just think is cool to do when its not. Gangbanging either leads to up laying in a hospital bed, being in prison for several years, or being 6 feet underground. A lot of my friends I grew up around as a kid ended up with those consequences because they thought it was okay to claim a territory that wasn’t theirs to begin with. More and more kids are getting jumped into gangs because they want to have that rep on their name which is leading them to being high school dropouts or them doing things they would never do if they weren’t in a gang; hurting themselves in life and people that love them which needs to come to an end. Once a person ends up being from a gang, there is no turning back. You then have enemies and they will always remember you for being in a gang that they don't get along with.
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The gangs that I had to put up with as a kid going to school In Long Beach California and still do, are gangs called the West Side Longos, West Coast 80’s Crip, and the SOS’s (Sons of Samoa), all located on the Westside of Long Beach and all located next to one another. With the West Coast 80’s members being five mins away from the SOS’s and the Longos being ten minutes away from the both of them, that caused a lot of tension within different ethnicities because the WC 80 members were majority African Americans, the Longos were majority Hispanics, and the SOS’s were mainly Samoans. At Least two times a week whether it was me, one of my Samoan friends, or one of my Hispanic friends; we would always get the same question from someone who does gang bang “Where you from” or “You from so and so” just because of our race and even sometimes they’ll want to fight even if a person looks like they gangbang. I can remember back in 2016 me and my friends were at a taco shop across the street from my high school and a little kid I’d say was in the 6th grade had asked me and my friends where were we from and we replied nowhere and laughed because he was so young. Kids are joining gangs at a very young age nowadays and researchers how found out that it is becoming a trend that we don't need in today's world. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry “Most gang members tend to be adolescents or young adults, however, recent trends indicate that children are being recruited into gangs at a much earlier age, some when they are in elementary school.” Some common risk factors that children are put up against giving them reason to join a gang are factors like growing up in a area where gangs activity is common, having family members who are in a gang, dealing with violence in the home, lack of adult supervision, lack of positive role models to look up to, and having a sense of hopelessness about the future because you may not be as smart as others or your not financially stable.
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A major problem with adolescents getting involved with gangs tends to increase the dropout rates in schools. In the Long Beach Unified school district itself the dropout rate for high schoolers is at a 9.9%, the seconds highest in SoCal. With the dropout rate being so high, that leads a lot of young adults left with minimum paying jobs and because of their need to want more they’ll believe gangbanging is the way to go. On December 2, 2018 I interviewed one of my friends named Jordan who is involved in a gangs and ask him a couple of questions about life and what he sees himself doing in the next 10 years, the response I got from him was “selling a lot of drugs, or bank scamming people visa cards.” The response made me very surprised that people can actually see themselves doing illegal things for the rest of their life’s that would never last forever. Jordan’s role model in his life was his dad, who’s washed up to the system for nearly the rest of his life. As a young child Jordan’s dad was caught up doing the same thing Jordan wished to see himself doing one day and got sent to prison jail for 50+ years. Following his dad footsteps will lead Jordan with the same consequences or maybe in the hospital or dead. Another response I got from my other friends when interviewing him on November 18th, after asking him the same question; his response was “I plan on gangbanging and getting money”. The money my friend was talking about isn’t legal money working at a nine to five job, the way gang members get quick and fast money is doing things like selling drugs, stealing iPhone, or running inside of commercial restaurant’s says Jordan. Doing illegal things like the examples Jordan gave me is guaranteed to get you time in prison, a place nobody wants to go. Another issue that gang banging causes in the community is the public graffiti on buildings around the city. After asking one of my Hispanic friends(Marco), who is in the West Side Longo Gang I mentioned before “why do they tag so much”, his response was “So when the
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other side enters this side of town, they know where they at”. Pretty much explaining that anyone who isn’t from that particular gang, they aren’t allowed there. Tagging on other people property is a crime which can lead to a fine ranging from 400$-10,000$ and a minimum of 100 hours of community service to five years in state prison if convicted. Tagging on the West Side of Long Beach is something I see everytime I go over there, mainly on the side of people houses or on buildings. When a person gets put onto a gang they tend to have the need to carry a weapon for their safety. So gun control is becoming a problem with little kids as young as fourteen walking around with it. On November 25th 2018, I noticed one of my friends who was hanging out with someone from his gang that was only fifteen years of age holding a handgun that was bigger than his own hand. I knew that was a problem once I seen that because at the age 15 nobody should know how to use and or hold a firearm and if something were to happen and he accidentally shot and killed someone he’ll be going to jail for life at a very young age. Back when I was in highschool, a very close friend of mine who didn’t gangbang was shot and killed from someone who was and come to find out, the suspect was only seventeen at the time. Not only did he take an innocent life and left others in pain, he also lost his to the system. From what I learned, a lot of gang members have plenty of time on their hands and something they do for fun is smoke weed. Smoking weed is okay to do for medical purposes but just smoking it for fun isn’t. On the 11th of november I remember hanging out with my cousin whos friends with a lot of gang members and when they came over to my cousins house, all they were doing was smoking. Smoking can cause short term effects such as distorted perception affecting your sights, sounds, time, and touch, it can cause problems with memory and learning,
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you may have trouble with thinking and problem-solving, and your heart rate increases heart by the minute. Smoking is something gang member’s do almost everyday of their lives which is affecting themselves in a negative way. Growing up and claiming an area that wasn’t designed for a specific race, gender, or ethnicity and willing to die for it isn’t the smartest thing to do nowadays. That is what these young children are doing,; getting involved with gangs as young at a very young age, mimicking their elders and not knowing what they’re getting themselves into. Gangbanging leads up to someone being in the hospital, locked up behind bars, or ten feet underground and that’s what these kids aren’t understanding. They just see what seems to be cool to them which is holding guns, throwing up gang signs, and smoking weed all day. A lot of kids are dropping out of school, just to be in the streets to claim a set, and earn stripes for their names and if this problem doesn’t get fixed, the future generation is going to be a living hell.
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Works Cited https://www.aacap.org/aacap/families_and_youth/facts_for_families/fff-guide/Children-and-Gang s-098.aspx https://edsource.org/2017/graduation-and-drop-out-rates-look-up-california-school-districts/5803 39?gclid=Cj0KCQiAoo7gBRDuARIsANeJKUbeCRs7zcH13sm7IqJh-yS-26pgzQbcAQKLyYsPC oGA7ayc5nAyiYIaAl1JEALw_wcB https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana/short-and-long-term-effects.html -
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