It was 2001 and 16-year-old Desean Palamalou was about to encounter an event that would change his life forever. Desean wasn’t always a gangster. His brother, Troy, was the leader of street gang on. Unfortunately, when Desean moved in with his father and Troy, his gangster roots took over. Desean faced a constant struggle with bullies at his old school. However, here Desean was living the life. “Leave him alone, he rides with that gang and his brother is the leader.” He heard this as he walked through the hallways at school. He was a made man. Still, Desean could was timid at heart. There were perks for being the brother of the leader of a gang. Desean did not have to be jumped in. He was just part of the gang, but not in spirit. Troy started to buy him new clothes, shoes, and gold. Nevertheless, when Desean was in his room alone, he would do all of his homework and his chores while his brother did nothing. Desean was only in the gang for protection while he pursued his dreams of becoming a musician, but deep down he was starting to enjoy the gang life. Being so innocent, Desean was unaware of the consequences of this life. Troy never told him the dangers, he just needed some soldiers and Desean became one. Mentally afraid, physically unfit, and lacking street smarts, it was simply a matter of time before Desean would be killed. As the months rolled on, things were going well for the gang. They were selling lots of drugs and Desean had recently recorded a mixtape. Desean was very excited, but kept it to himself. On December 11, 2001, the dead of winter, Desean’s father asked him to go to the store for milk. Troy was out running the gang and hardly ever came home for dinner. Desean went to the store plenty of times, but this nig... ... middle of paper ... ...n a ghostly manner. He could not believe it. A bullet hole was lodged dead center of the boys’ head. As Desean lay there with his hands between his legs and rocking back and forth, his own image stared right at him with those cold dead eyes. Enlightened by this image, Desean’s outlook on life and the misfortunes people in a gang face ran through his mind. After awhile, he partially regained his composure, got up and staggered to the door. But as he took the first step out he decided to look back at the body. Desean stared for a moment, gathered himself mentally, and bowed his head. At that instant, in a deep silent conversation with God, Desean gave up being a gangbanger. He threw down his red color bandana, turned his hat straight, pulled up his pants, tied his shoes, and discarded the handgun. He wanted to live more than 16 years, and he was now going to do it.
Soledad brother tells how unfair the system and white police officer was unfair with black , how they think that being black mean being the same.I understand that soledad was not the perfect kid,Because young has he was even before being in prison soledad already went to jail one time and escape form jail by taking someone else 's identity.Now going back to prison for a small offense”$70” soledad plead guilty for stealing and have to spend a year in prison . A year become years and soledad have to spend 10 years of his life in prison just to stealing $70.Being in jail educated himself,take classes,and try to not be part of any gang. Soledad became a leader over the years he had spent inside talking about politic,racism,our justice system
Some kids have no other choice but to join the gangs at an early age. Lack of parent supervision has been shown to be linked with both boys and girls joining a gang. Even though most have men to prove they are the violent ones, not every gang member is shown to be violent. While the rest of Luis’s gang members treat women with disrespect, Luis seems to respect everyone no matter what gender they are. Being told his own mom the pain she had to go through influenced his ways of viewing and treating
CNN presents the documentary, Homicide in Hollenbeck, spotlighting gang activity in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollenbeck. This documentary explores the subculture of gangs existing within Hollenbeck from a several perspectives. The people documented include a mother who lost both of her sons to gang violence, a priest that has tried to help rehabilitate gang members, a police officer that has worked in Hollenbeck for five years in the gang unit, and a current gang member. For a conclusion, Homicide in Hollenbeck focuses on a juvenile exposed to gang life on the cusp of decided where they want their life to lead; gangs or freedom. Problems attributed to the high rate of gang activity and number of gangs in Hollenbeck are the high poverty rate, low employment rate, and broken families that make up the majority of Hollenbeck. The crime most discussed, as per the title of the documentary, is homicide The number of gang related homicides has risen even though the criminal behavior of gangs has ultimately decreased in the neighborhood. In order to fight the overwhelming gang presence, the police believe in increasing the amount of gun power on the streets and number of jailed gang members. The priest who runs Homeboy Industries stated that he feels most gang members are just young men who can’t get out of the gang life. With more funds and opportunities, he thinks the problem could be decreased. In the end, the documentary mentions that the FBI has formed a gang center where local law enforcement agencies can share information to gain more knowledge and to better fight the presence of gangs.
Everyday, there are teens that are putting themselves in unbearable situations. Wether if it is being influenced by others to do drugs or alcohol, both causes are very dangerous. Just as one thinks he is ok, standing away from those situations, is the time when danger will strike, and there will be just a few chances to get out. The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is written about two boys with the same name growing up in similar situations. Both grow up to be surrounded by crime and substance abuse, and both do in fact have several chances to escape those holdbacks. Crime and substance abuse was common because of the locations that both Wes's grew up, and that was ghettos. In the book, The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, the author explores the
Kody Scott was born into the gang life weither he liked it or not. Born on 1963 in South Central Los Angeles Kody?s life would be affected by the growing number of gangs inevitably. Kody knew he had a choice to be made, be a gang member or be a pedestrian. He viewed pedestrians as spineless nerds who were always victims of someone?s ridicule or physical violence, who never responded to an affront of any type. He himself had a taste of pedestrian life in grade school were he was picked on and had his lunch money taken from him. ?Early on I saw and felt both sides of the game being played where I lived. It was during my time in elementary school that I chose to never be a victim again, if I could help it?(Shakur 100). Being in a gang gave Kody a feeling of security in a city of violence. ?I felt very different, older, more attached than any of...
The narrator whose name is unknown finds out that his brother Sonny was incarcerated for the use of and dealing heroin, raised in a society where being afraid of fear is constantly affecting both of their life’s in turmoil. “He was frightening me a little” (Baldwin 19). Fear shaped the older brother in becoming an Algebra teacher, endeavoring to save his younger brother from a lifestyle of street habits, influence specifically on drug abuse. According to the narrator, he expects Sonny to follow his footsteps in finishing an education because “If you don’t finish school now, you’re going to be sorry later that you didn’t” (Baldwin 20), in addition the narrator describes the life of Sonny “weird and disordered” (Baldwin 21). The narrator uses his fear to form a communication with his brother, however Sonny’s decision of freedom in becoming a professional musician, and escaping misfortunate moments is not in communion. Thus, Sonny feels neglected by his older brother’s expectations and judgments based on his own future. “I think people ...
Victor Rios is a previous gang member, whom “was given the opportunity” to get out of the youth control complex. In his book “Punished”, he analyzes the experiences of young black and Latino boys in Oakland, California. Rios gives us an intimate description of some of the everyday forms of “hyper discrimination” these minority boys experience. This book review will focus on the main concepts explained in chapters one through three from the book Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys.
At the age of thirteen-year-old, Jonathan (a pseudonym) knows all the names and shapes of the weapons circulating his neighborhood. Jonathan lives with his brothers and mother in a poor-income neighborhood of a metropolitan area. As a result of a lack of father’s presence in his life, his uncle serves as his male role model. In many occasions, when his uncle “goes out and steal” at the nearby stores, Jonathan is often his look out. Despite the criminal laws and police regulations, crime rates in these poor urban neighborhoods are escalating with incarceration rates and death rates follow suits. According to Elijah Anderson (1994), an American sociologist at Yale University, the inclination to violence is derived from the situations of life among the urban poor; these circumstances could be the lack of paying jobs, the stigma of race, the rampant drugs use and drugs trafficking, and the lack of hope for the future. Accordingly, who or what is responsible for the problems displayed in these African American, urban poor communities? The answer comes down to choices. The behaviors of these African American can be attributed through the individual’s disposition and the situational influences; thus, two theories hold the key explanation to answer the inquiry of this phenomenon: Rational Actor Theory and Structured Socialization Theory, respectively.
In the book Monster, we see the story of an eleven year African American boy known as Kody Scott get involved in the world of gang violence. Kody had been living in South Central Los Angeles all of his life, he grew up on Florence and Normandie. Kody was learning about gang life before he was even in a gang. The book starts with Kody graduating sixth grade, he is really excited because it is the day he will be initiated into a neighborhood gang, the Tray Eights, which is part of the Crips. Weeks before his graduation Kody felt proud of himself because he had flashed a gang sign in a school photo. His first initiation to become a member of the Crips was to kill someone from their rival group. Kody learned that a gang was for life and that killing the enemy was an act of survival. With the years, Kody builds up his name as Monster by killing people without remorse. Kody’s only aspiration in life was to become an OG gangster.
A leader is someone who leads a group, organization or country. Furthermore, a good leader is someone who has the ability to lead people effectively using only their positive leadership qualities. The novel Lord of the Flies illustrates that everyone possesses a variety of positive leadership qualities, as is evident through Jack, Ralph, Simon, and Piggy's different leadership qualities.
As in Small’s lecture slides, the rules of the street revolve around the three R’s (respect, retaliation and reputation). Often times black youths have to engage in conflict to build respect or a reputation that will ensure future safety. However, it is easy to get caught up in this world and no think about future success with the allure of drugs and violence. In chapter six of the cultural matrix, Patterson describes how most youths in the inner city have had friends or family shot in front of them. This culture of fear instills values that promote survival but may not promote stable finical success as would the values instilled in a white suburb. There are the injunctive norms that both communities can understand but there are in turn the descriptive norms of how to behave that ensure
The book emphasizes the idea of how difficult it is to leave the gang lifestyle. There are frequent cases of relapse by individuals in the book, who were once out to again return to gangs. This case is brought by what gangs represent to this in the book and what leaving entails them to give up. The definition of gangs presented to the class was, three or more members, share name, color, or affiliation, or must exist in a geopolitical context. To members associated with gangs, this definition can include your family members, neighborhood, everyone that they associate with. Take for example Ronnie from Jumped in by Jorja Leap it states,” Ronny’s role models are gangbangers. His family is a hood. His mentors are older homies in county jail.”(102). Ronnie and other gang members like him do not
The child’s game had ended. After I nearly ran Kurtz over, we stood facing each other. He was unsteady on his feet, swaying like the trees that surrounded us. What stood before me was a ghost. Each layer of him had been carved away by the jungle, until nothing remained. Despite this, his strength still exceeded that of my own. With the tribal fires burning so close, one shout from him would unleash his natives on me. But in that same realization, I felt my own strength kindle inside me. I could just as easily muffle his command and overtake him. The scene flashed past my eyes as though I was remembering not imagining. The stick that lay two feet from me was beating down on the ghost, as my bloodied hand strangled his cries. My mind abruptly reeled backwards as I realized what unspeakable dark thoughts I had let in. Kurtz seemed to understand where my mind had wandered; it was as though the jungle’s wind has whispered my internal struggles to him. His face twisted into a smile. He seemed to gloat and enjoy standing by to watch my soul begin to destroy itself.
At last I arrived, unmolested except for the rain, at the hefty decaying doors of the church. I pushed the door and it obediently opened, then I slid inside closing it surreptitiously behind me. No point in alerting others to my presence. As I turned my shoulder, my gaze was held by the magnificence of the architecture. It never fails to move me. My eyes begin by looking at the ceiling, and then they roam from side to side and finally along the walls drinking in the beauty of the stained glass windows which glowed in the candle light, finally coming to rest on the altar. I slipped into the nearest pew with the intention of saying a few prayers when I noticed him. His eyes were fixated upon me. I stared at the floor, but it was too late, because I was already aware that he wasn’t one of the priests, his clothes were all wrong and his face! It seemed lifeless. I felt so heavy. My eyes didn’t want to obey me. Neither did my legs. Too late I realised the danger! Mesmerised, I fell asleep.
I would shut my eyes because I knew what was coming. And before I shut my eyes, I held my breath, like a swimmer ready to dive into a deep ocean. I could never watch when his hands came toward me; I only patiently waited for the harsh sound of the strike. I would always remember his eyes right before I closed my own: pupils wide with rage, cold, and dark eyebrows clenched with hate. When it finally came, I never knew which fist hit me first, or which blow sent me to my knees because I could not bring myself to open my eyes. They were closed because I didn’t want to see what he had promised he would never do again. In the darkness of my mind, I could escape to a paradise where he would never reach me. I would find again the haven where I kept my hopes, dreams, and childhood memories. His words could not devour me there, and his violence could not poison my soul because I was in my own world, away from this reality. When it was all over, and the only thing left were bruises, tears, and bleeding flesh, I felt a relief run through my body. It was so predictable. For there was no more need to recede, only to recover. There was no more reason to be afraid; it was over. He would feel sorry for me, promise that it would never happen again, hold me, and say how much he loved me. This was the end of the pain, not the beginning, and I believed that everything would be all right.