Interviewing to Join a Gang

Here's one. A wannabe is asking:

I need to know some of the qeastions to join a gang called folk. Can you give them to me?

Huh?

Here's my answer:

Yeah, I'm not sure about that particular gang. The questions I'm familiar with are these:

1) Do you have a good attorney? Because you'll need one to get you out of all the trouble the gang will get you into.

2) Do you have a nice suit to wear? Because you'll need one to attend the funerals of innocent family members and friends that get killed by members of rival gangs who are shooting at you, but are too doped up and scared to shoot or even see straight.

3) Do you have a good doctor that can treat you for everything from venereal disease to drug overdose to gunshot and knife wounds? Because you'll need one.

4) Do have a nice funeral for yourself planned out and paid for? Because you'll need one -- sooner than you think!

5) Do you have anyone to visit you in jail and prison? Maybe someone to bring you some books or something? Because you'll really be wanting someone to do that, and your homies from the "set" sure won't do it.

6) Are you ready to get gang-banged by the big, hairy felons that have been in prison for the past five or ten years, there 1) with no women, and 2) lifting weights? Because when they see you, they're going to think "fresh meat!" That's assuming you don't get killed on the streets, of course.

Don't worry about getting bummed out while being a gangmember. With all the pain and sorrow and suffering, it will seem like that lifestyle just lasts forever sometimes, but don't worry -- your gang life will actually be alot shorter than you think.

If there's anything more I can help you with, don't hesitate to contact me. If you can't get me, you can contact a Friend of mine, a Guy named Jesus. He's pretty reliable, and He's always alot closer than you think if you decide you need Him.



It's not a job interview you're going on. Think it through...


Mark aka Channelview

"Living in a Nightmare"

Living In A Nightmare

After burying my own brother, I have seen the world in a different light. I spent some time in jail, and I spent some time living in pain, The pain that you are thinking of is a mental pain that would drive a man to kill himself. Everyday I have to live this pain. I have to live with the fact that I hurt many people and I hurt myself, I even thought a gunshot or a few would make me a real man. I am partially crippled due to my foolish decisions.

I was once in Los Angeles, on the block with helicopters 50 feet off the ground searching at night for drive-by suspects. Holding a cup filled with thunderbird wine, a wine so strong we called it "gangsta juice". I would have that big joint in my left hand with my eyes bloodshot scanning back and forth looking for enemies, and the police who would run up on us. packing a loaded gun at age 10 to standing in front of a burnt out liquor store with my homies. You know I thought that was the world and the people who was really down for me.

Every gangster story is unique because it's coming from a unique person, just like we all got unique fingerprints. The nightmare that I live everyday is from my past. I'm scarred mentally. You know I am sitting here writing about the pain I feel but how did I get this way? Why is it this way I used to carry dope for my big homies, and do anything they ask to earn what I thought was respect. Who is respecting me? Everybody? Hell no. Just from my close circle of friends who were down to kill for me? No. You know they straight turn on me snitch. I trusted them and got stabbed in the back. I was down for years and lived right here in South Central LA. Things ain't the way they used to be. Everybody is out for themselves. It's always been that way though.

I just remember the bodies dropping, the cries of screaming mothers, screaming to God and I can't even say it. You know I heard this song "Theres a dead man walking in the hood". There is a dead man walking in every hood. It's not right to blame anybody for the problems we have created for ourselves. My brother who I loved was murdered. It wasn't my fault and I can't really be mad at the world. Sometimes I thought taking a gun to my head was the only way to get out of this world of misery. I have a lot of questions that I can't answer or get answered. People treat me like I am a threat often. It's like they can see in my eyes the pain, the misery, the evil deeds I done. It hurts everyday that I have to carry an old soul. I've lived a lifetime over and over.

The gang is a group and can a gang can't be stopped. People don't understand that gang members are tight knit groups of friends. When we live in surroundings of hopelessness then we turn to violence to get respect. Does the working man in the business suit going to respect us? No. They look at us as if we are stupid thugs who are not smart enough to know any better. But you know, we choose to live this gang life and we do know it. That's where hopelessness comes in. The greatest human desire to be appreciated, to be looked at as if we were great. To be loved. The greatest desire isn't money. It's bigger then that. I have seen countless dead bodies, people brains blown out on the streets of Los Angeles. A war zone.

The police ride around in armored vehicles raiding houses, flying helicopters, and harassing innocent people. We are the people who just want to work, we just want to live. And I am telling everybody right now that Peace can be real, but force is necessary to get it. We can't let the LAPD continue to step on us. And let me tell you that in no way am I trying to encourage violence. I am only saying that regardless of the gang, there are bad peoples out there. There are some straight killers that will kill and not care. Sociopaths. I know some. I had one homie who would murder people every week. Mostly people of his own racial makeup, black. He was murder kids, parents, and other gang members of rival sets. See the nightmare I have to live? Pieces of shit like this who I was friends with?

Because like I said there are bad people out there. Don't think twice about that. I acknowledge that I have and feel bad about the pain I inflicted on others. The point of these writings is the madness I have to live with, the pain I am in everyday. It develops over the years. I banged for 12 years and I am so scarred mentally I can't even think straight. Read this and I want you to say to yourself "damn, I don't want to end up like this guy". I still try to pull through everyday and have faith in God. But changing is not as easy as it seems. It is a process. I never really had anybody there for me except my family. I was lonely when I had to quit my criminal career. Who else can I fit in with? I banged since I was 11 years old.

I had to catch up with the real world. I see even in the real world everybody bangs, they bang to get that job, they bang to get that new car, that lady friend. Little would we know we bang on other daily, aside from being in a real gang. I called my homie the other day, he's been in his house with a bracelet that beeps whenever he leaves his front yard. It's called house arrest. Imagine that shit. Once it was on my ankle. I am tired and don't want anybody to live my personal pain.

Have hope, have big dreams, think to yourself that you can be somebody and not end up a deadbeat, not end up a mental cripple.

This is no game, this is foreal. Don't hurt anybody to get to the top. The traditional business technique. I want people to start loving one another, care about your peoples. I want you to help a disadvantaged person. It will make you feel better to give back rather then take like the gang members mentality is based on, taking and not giving back. These words are real and come from my heart.

O.G. RK

When you start trying to act "cool", thinking you need to experience this to "be a man",...

"I have to live with the fact that I hurt many people and I hurt myself, I even thought a gunshot or a few would make me a real man. I am partially crippled due to my foolish decisions."

...or do that to "get respect",...

"Why is it this way I used to carry dope for my big homies, and do anything they ask to earn what I thought was respect. Who is respecting me? Everybody? Hell no. Just from my close circle of friends who were down to kill for me? No. You know they straight turn on me snitch. I trusted them and got stabbed in the back. I was down for years and lived right here in South Central LA. Things ain't the way they used to be. Everybody is out for themselves. It's always been that way though."

...you never know where it's going to end.

Maybe you just dress like a banger and hang out, thinking people won't mess with you because they think you're a banger. Maybe you think that since you're not really a banger, you won't get in the trouble. Think again. Even something like that can lead to some gangmembers seeing you, thinking you're from a rival set, and taking a shot.

"And I am telling everybody right now that Peace can be real, but force is necessary to get it. [...] There are some straight killers that will kill and not care. Sociopaths. I know some. I had one homie who would murder people every week. Mostly people of his own racial makeup, black. He was murder kids, parents, and other gang members of rival sets. See the nightmare I have to live? Pieces of shit like this who I was friends with?"

In my opinion, and I think this is what RK is trying to say here, it is because of killers like this guy he describes that the threat of force, from law enforcement (LE) for example, is necessary to intimidate and deter them. In that same paragraph, though, he hints at problems in relations between LE and the civilian community, problems that need to be addressed:

"The police ride around in armored vehicles raiding houses, flying helicopters, and harassing innocent people. We are the people who just want to work, we just want to live. [...] We can't let the LAPD continue to step on us."

"Ganglyfe" is really gangdeath. It's hell-on-earth, homes:

"Sometimes I thought taking a gun to my head was the only way to get out of this world of misery."

Jesus is the way out this world of misery. The nightmare ends when you wake up and come to Jesus.

"This is no game, this is foreal. Don't hurt anybody to get to the top. The traditional business technique. I want people to start loving one another, care about your peoples. I want you to help a disadvantaged person. It will make you feel better to give back rather then take like the gang members mentality is based on, taking and not giving back. These words are real and come from my heart.

O.G. RK"

Who's a Gangmember?

From the City of Madison, WI, Police Department's DANE COUNTY NARCOTICS AND GANG TASK FORCE -- GANGS - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

"STREET GANG MEMBER":

An individual shall be considered a "Street Gang Member" when that person meets any one of the following criteria:

1. When the individual admits membership in a gang.

2. When a law enforcement agency or reliable informant identifies an individual as a gang member.

3. When an informant of previously untested reliability identifies an individual as a gang member, and it is corroborated by independent information.

4. When the individual resides in or frequents a particular gang's area and affects their style of dress, use of hand signs, symbols or tattoos, and/or maintains ongoing relationships with known gang members; or has been arrested several times in the company of identified gang members for offenses which are consistent with usual gang activity; and where the law enforcement officer believes there is reasonable suspicion that the individual is involved in gang-related criminal activity or enterprise.

"STREET GANG AFFILIATE":

An individual who does not meet the criteria for a "Street Gang Member," but is known to affiliate with active gang members, and law enforcement personnel have established a reasonable suspicion that the individual is involved in criminal activity or enterprise, or promotes the criminal activity of a gang.

What jumps out to me is No. 4 under the definitions of a Street Gang Member.

Even if a young person is just hanging around with gang members, that young person runs a very serious risk of suffering in the same fate as the gangmembers.

If you dress like a banger, if you act like a banger, if you hang around with bangers, you are considered a banger.

Not only will the Madison, WI, Police Department treat you like a banger, but rival gangs will, too. When they do a drive-by shooting, they are not going to stop and ask you technicalities about whether you have been properly initiated into your set; they're just going to open fire, then beat it.

This is why acquaintances and family members of gangbangers have an alarming tendency to die violently.

And that is part of the reason ganglife is so painful. Bangers watch even the relatively innocent people in their lives get gunned down in the crossfire.

Then, they want to take revenge, so they go and shoot at the people that they believe are their enemies (they're not checking ID's either), and more people die.

Then someone avenges that, and the violence continues....

Isn't that kewel...?

Getting Started in Gangs

Institute for Governmental Research: FAQs about Gangs. (See original for hyperlinks to sources.)

Are today's youth gangs different from gangs in the past?

Some of the gangs that have emerged in the past decade are noticeably different from those that emerged before the mid-1980s (Howell, Egley, and Gleason, 2002; Howell, Moore, and Egley, 2002). These gangs are commonly described as having a “hybrid gang culture,” meaning they do not follow the same rules or methods of operation, making documentation and categorization difficult (Starbuck et al., 2001). They may have several of the following characteristics: a mixture of racial/ethnic groups, a mixture of symbols and graffiti associated with different gangs, wearing colors traditionally associated with a rival gang, less concern over turf or territory, and members who sometimes switch from one gang to another. Members of contemporary gangs often “cut and paste” bits of Hollywood images and big-city gang lore into their local versions of gangs. Small town and rural gangs also differ from urban gangs in other important respects (Howell, Egley, and Gleason, 2002), hence urban models of gang development and response do not necessarily apply in rural areas (Weisheit and Wells, 2004).

To me, what this one above indicates is the possibility for a group of wannabes to become a gang by trying to imitate behavior they see in the movies or become aware of through music or videogames. When it comes to taking kids down the wrong path, every little bit can hurt.


What are the major risk factors for gang membership?

Risk factors that predispose many youths to gang membership are also linked to a variety of adolescent problem behaviors, including serious violence and delinquency. The major risk factor domains are individual characteristics, family conditions, school experiences and performance, peer group influences, and the community context. Risk factors predictive of gang membership include prior and/or early involvement in delinquency, especially violence and alcohol/drug use; poor family management and problematic parent-child relations; low school attachment and achievement and negative labeling by teachers; association with aggressive peers and peers who engage in delinquency; and neighborhoods in which large numbers of youth are in trouble and in which drugs and firearms are readily available (Howell and Egley, 2005; see also Esbensen, 2000; Hill, Lui, and Hawkins, 2001; Thornberry, 1998; Wyrick and Howell, 2004). The accumulation of risk factors greatly increases the likelihood of gang involvement, just as it does for other problem behaviors. The presence of risk factors in multiple risk-factor domains appears to increase the likelihood of gang involvement even more (Thornberry et al., 2003). A complete enumeration of risk factors for juvenile delinquency and gang involvement and data indicators can be accessed at the National Youth Gang Center Web site (http://www.iir.com/nygc/tool/).

"Risk factors predictive of gang membership include [...] negative labeling by teachers[.]"

In my short time teaching in the public schools, I saw enough of that. I tried not to do it, but it takes constant vigilance. I can only imagine a young kid teacher (No offense intended to you young kid teachers!), fresh out of college and overwhelmed with "bad" kids (There! I just labeled them!), or a teacher who has been dealing with "thugs" (I did it again!) for many years.

We are very blessed that God doesn't write us off, the way I so often have written others off, but rather, that He insists on saving us, and sent His Son to do so.