I wasn’t having the most pleasant day to say the least… got home and checked my e-mail account for job offers. Nope…nada…same amount of mail in my inbox as yesterday. Patience is a virtue I rarely practiced… so I’m disappointed and frustrated with my current unemployment situation…Why not surf the u-tube land and see what’s on the most discussed list and what socially aware v-loggers are responding to… see a page about a 16 yr old getting hit with 2×4′s that looked like solid 4×4′s and kicked and punched from all sides by some kids probably his own age. The young man’s (deceased) name was Marrion… a honor student at his H.S….WTF!!!!!! …that’s all that came to my mind and the thought of rage and violence that swept around him while dozens watched.The quote that stuck with me the most was….(paraphrasing it) …‘We lost 10 people from this city this year in the war in Iraq….and we lost 300 kids on our own streets… where is the real war going on?’ …there were clips of people speaking out about this slaughter of devious intentions.The last comments I heard about it was that he didn’t want to join or participate in a gang fight… impressionable minds being torn and pulled in the wrong direction.Youth clubs, youth centers, or after school programs….what’s the answer?There’s video footage of this shit on u-tube but gotta warn you it’s too graphic and distasteful. Just too awful and harsh.
Mari1980
i heard about this in the news. It sadden me beyond anything. This good kid… gone too soon from this world due to ignorance. I watched that video and it just pissed me off. The quote is true … there is a war battling all over America. The streets are taken over by these thugs. They come in every age, color, class. They are the pushers of youth.
you know the neighborhood i come from… still living in, had a bad gang problem when I was in my teens. We had to be vigilant about our surroundings.
They would prey on young people. i was girl so they would expect you to give yourself over to them b/c they were in a gang and they thought they were entitled to you. It was sick!
Alot of girls fell for this this… b/c they thought the guys were worth it or to get status/ respect.. I don’t know? I never fell into this trap. But it was very hard to walk home somedays b/c these men/boys would always be there.. they had no life .. no job,, no hope.. no dreams. They were living the Thug life and they were proud of it. They hated the fact that people reject them and their ideals. One guy… W3 .. that was his gang name. He got tired of me brushing him off. So one day i got home from school and he was standing infront of my gate.
I kind of knew him b/c he would hang out w/ my friends. He was a loser. But I didn’t know what to do. I knew what he wanted. I asked him what he was doing there and he said he was just here to talk. As i tired to step by him to go home he grabbed me by my hair and told me to tell him that I wanted him to kiss me. ( HELL NO I DIDN"T) but I was really scared at that point. So I told him that I would kiss him… as he leaned in … I kneed him in his balls. That was just enough time to run inside and lock the door.
Another time we had a run in w/ the gang was concerning my cousin.
They always badgered my cousin Gabe into to joining their gang. promised him a standing in the gang… all they had to do was jump him in. My cousin being a young (13) kid… he actually thought about it. I couldn’t beleive it. He was a REALLY smart kid and we didn’t come from a family like that. YEs… it was all around us but our family didn’t live that life. We strive higher. But he told me… at least he would feel like part of a family and feel like he belonged finally. That perplexed me beyond anything b/c i was his family … he belonged to us.
But I realized that he didn’t have a dad and his mom had him when she was only 15…. he’s had no parental guidance besides our grandmother that raises us.
He wanted to belong…in the end he decided not to go through.
The next day the guys in the gang caught up with him when he was walking home from school.
they proposition him again to join and he declined.
he said that they laughed and walked him to the alley that they hung out in.
They asked him again… again he declined.
They started to get mad he said. They started to circle around him. he was 13 …these guys were all over 18 yrs.
My cousin said he tried to make a dash between them but all he got was a fist in his face.
For about 7 mins. he got the shit kicked out of him. He said it felt forever. a neighbor heard the commontion from his house and instantly helped my cousin. if he wasn’t there… i don’t know … what would have happened. This neighbor wanted no trouble. In all cases like this… you walk up to the wounded.. the victim.. shield him and look at these Mother fuckers dead in the eye and say you are taking him or her out of here.
He finally made his way to our house which was a block away.
The old man helped him to our house. We thank him and he told us to stay away from that alley he didn’t know how many times he could do this before they come in on him.
Elders are respected here… if anything. In those days the gang didn’t mess with the Elders.
An you know to this day… that’s the way it still is… we always have to look out for eachother.
but now we have to deal with the CrackHead homeless people. and there’s prostitution a few blocks were I live.. there never was before when I was a kid.
I’m really passionate about this topic. I know I wrote alot. I want to write more, but that’s what I have to say about gangs and their mentality. They have no logic. it doesn’t exist.
lukasz79:
Mari1980
well right now where i live there is this ugly underbelly of drugs and prostitution.
Last year someone was shooting up herion in my alley behind my house. Sick!
A couple of months ago i was in my back yard and i heard boys talking loudly and it was about 4 or 5 guys picking on this kid that was way smaller than them. They pulled a knife on him. We were outside and CW ran to the fence and told the little kid to come over to the fence. All the big kids didn’t know what to do.
Cw looked at the offenders and told them… “i’m giving you a head start, before i kick all your asses” they all took off running. I told him he saved that kids life.
ANother time, middle school just got let out… and kids were walking everywhere.
Well this car pulled up with older kids and drove along this kid and he told him to get into the van. The kid was like hell no… so the got out of the van and started to drag this kid into the car. Again we were there and we stopped it. They claimed they were “friends” — they weren’t. We let the kid call his parents.
I can look down my street and see a sea of crack heads and homeless people. I’m sorry i know I’m not Political Correct on this issue… but I really sick of these people.
They are going into peoples yard stealing tools, bikes, anything no tied down.
I live in a poor neighborhood… it was orginally a well to do neighborhood in the 30’s & 40’s but then Immigrants began moving in. This is when the neighborhood became prodominatly mexican, but it was mixed with a lot of Italian and Polish families also.
So we were a mixed bunch. The anglos moved on to greener pastures. This neighborhood has pride and was always a family based neighborhood. People raised a family here.
But now days… i don’t know. It’s becoming so commerical here.
There is a process of genterfication happening. All the old families are being bought out at dirt cheap prices for valuable land, monetary and sentimental.
Now that more businesses and industrial companies are moving in " more money" — they bring all the urban trouble too. All the drugs! God… it’s just sad that this neighborhood is losing it’s foothold.
Everyday I try… I am part of a neighborhood committee. I look out for my neighbors.
we all do.
Trenchtownrock
I heard about this from a coworker who is from the Chi and she was disgusted when she saw it and I was disturbed by the entire thing..these minds that think its okay to kill someone because they don’t agree with them needs to be put away for life..this is just horrible and my heart goes out to his family…..sorry about your job situation Luke…I will pray that blessings will come your way..thanks for sharing this.
lukasz79: