“Flood” by Daniel Alarcón focuses on a town that is “flooded” with gang conflicts an the gangs determine the townspeople’s fate. The child narrator and the rest of the children in “Flood” are paradoxical to the usual portrayal of children. In “Flood” the children clearly have the “young gangster” in them. Whether the characters recognize themselves as gang members or innocent civilians, the gangs and their ongoing conflict and disagreements rule part of the characters everyday lives. So, the setting of “Flood” has a large influence and authority over the character’s lives. The drama takes place in Peru, in an underprivileged town. We quickly learn that from a young age the children are aware that avoiding gang involvement, or the “University” is almost impossible and that is why they “[call] it the University because it’s where you [go] when you [finish] high school” (Alarcón 93). The characters know being involved in some type of gang related activity is their fate. However, we are shocked when we find out that the term “University” is used to symbolize jail, since it is the complete opposite of the generally accepted definition of the term. Clearly, the gangs restrain the children’s futures and the gangs control the children’s fate. Further, in “More than 86% of Peruvians Feel Unsafe” by Marguerite Cawley, he highlights different features of how Peru struggles with the conflicts of street gangs, and the side effects these conflicts have upon the people. Cawley points out that the people of Peru live in apprehension, and gangs maintain control using fear. An example of the gang controlling the future of the civilians is prominent through Lucas, Renan’s older brother, who is in jail for assault. Even though Luca ... ... middle of paper ... ...is is common in the Latino culture. Overall, we are flooded with the conflicts the characters live through and how the gang’s conflicts affect their fate. Works Cited Alarcon, Daniel “Flood” Portable Legacies. Schmidt, Jan Zlotnik., and Lynne Crockett. Portable Legacies: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Cawley, Marguerite. "More than 86% of Peruvians Feel Unsafe: Govt Survey - InSight Crime Organized Crime in the Americas." More than 86% of Peruvians Feel Unsafe: Govt Survey - InSight Crime | Organized Crime in the Americas. N.p., 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. Pastor, James F. "Gangs in America – A Deadly Game." Gangs in America – A Deadly Game. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. "Poverty, Broken Homes, Violence: The Making of a Gang Member." The Trauma Mental Health Report. N.p., 4 Nov. 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
“She is wearing a necklace of hickeys, a black mini skirt, a pair of three-inch heels she bought two weeks ago on her 14th birthday” this sentence, for example, illustrates the character, Tequila, who is only 14 but already has experienced many things (227). What made me angry about this article was the reality of what these characters faced. The amount of crime, and the shootings, at a young age. However, what I found interesting about this was how it became different when the new drugs came. “’My people took your ideas and totally bent it and turned it around and took away any of the pride or the respect that was in a gang (235).’” Stager does an effective job in intertwining the scenes with the history of Los Angeles gangs. It allows you to understand the changes of the gangs, whereas newspapers, and other newscast would simply showcase the amount of homicide and gangs violence there has been in LA since the
Morch, S., & Andersen, H. (2012). Becoming a Gang Member: Youth Life and Gang Youth. Online Submission
Boyz N the Hood was a film created to convey an anti-gang message as well as to provide societal members an in-depth look at life in “the hood” so he or she can expand their culturally awareness of identifying societal issues (Stevenson, 1991). Upon the debut of “Boyz N the Hood” violence erupted at theaters across the nation, resulting in multiple shows pulling the film from scheduled showings to alleviate future violent behaviors (Stevenson, 1991). The film profoundly illustrates the realty of the events revealed within the storyline that frequently occur on a daily basis within every impoverish community; however, is overlooked by the individuals who are not directly involved and or affected (Leon-Guerrero, 2016) Children of lower socioeconomic status often are raised in ghetto neighborhoods where they often witness, crime, violence, gang activity, abuse, and drugs (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). Ghetto communities envelop tumultuous cycles of violence and substance abuse creating a pervasive occurrence within the residents of the community. This is prevalent in lower developed communities that unfortunately many children and the youth populace indirectly inherit and sadly conform to, as there are no other means to an end for them (Leon-Guerrero,
In the book Luis thinks that by joining gangs he will be empowering others.The author exposes the readers to gang violence, rape, drugs, and trouble with the police.
The gang and the community are intertwined as the gang encompasses many of those that live in the area, as presented in the ending of the film. The ending is important because it sets up the permanency of label theory, and when the role of delinquent becomes evident. Throughout the movie the main character Montoya Santana speaks of respect and his gang, until the end where it states how he regretted his role, as a kid turning to gang culture for respect. In the movie it states,” You know, a long time ago, two best homeboys, two kids, were thrown into juvie. They were scared, and they thought they had to do something to prove themselves. And they did what they had to do. They thought they were doing it to gain respect for their people, to show the world that no one could take their class from them. No one had to take it from us, ese. Whatever we had... we gave it away” ( ) This quote connects of labelling theory because it relates the role of gang members they had to play at juvenile detention and extended to that identity being the basis of them growing up. Proving themselves became the bases of their identity being labelled as criminals at such a young age created a need for a role to protect themselves the only way they knew how. They come from a place where gang was the only prominent role in their
In his observation of the boys, he finds that these boys are criminalized by many social forces besides the police. “I found that schools pushed out boys who had been victimized.” (pg. 6). Many boys feel that their school system blames them for crimes that have occurred in their area, or as a danger to other students in the classroom. These boys think that these experiences of victimization are part of their street life. Rios says that if the institutions of social control believe that all young people follow the code of the street, then programs and interactions with margined youth’s will be based on this false information. This dishonest perception of youth is what leads to their
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
Los Angeles, the “gang capital” of the nation. Over 450 gangs in the city, some have been in existence since the 1950’s. All of these gangs combined have an individual total of about 45,000. Gang affiliation has taken a big role in the city of Los Angeles, in the last 3 years there has been a total of about 16,000 crimes, 491 of them were homicides. Gang affiliation has taken a big role in the lives of many young people, falling into drugs, and maybe in the course of committing murder or other crimes. Gang affiliation is an important role in the book Always Running and its main protagonist Luis Rodriguez. Also it may provide information on why we need fiction in our classrooms.
This book was about a street gang called the Mighty Vice Lords. They were the second largest gang in Chicago with about 30,000 members. The Vice Lords started in the Illinois Training center (Juvenile Correctional Facility) for boys in St. Charles Illinois during 1958 and was led by Edward “Pepalo” Perry and Alfonso Alfred. This group was known to be brutal and violent. It discussed how a violent gang can become a community organization and change the way things were done for the betterment of the community. This information is important because it showed that gangs can become a positive force.
6. Yoder, Kevin A., Les B. Whitbeck, and Dan R. Hoyt. 2003. "Gang Involvement and Membership Among Homeless and Runaway Youth." Youth & Society 34:441-467.
*Many of the juvenile gangs that have formed in the United States in recent years are reminiscent of the post -war pachucos (Paz, 14).
A Climate of Fear “The Gang Crackdown”, provided by PBS, communicates the everyday struggles that the communities of Nassau County face every day. The video’s focus revolves around the homicidal and violent crimes that have been provided by the “MS-13” and the details of cracking down on their development. The Latin American gang from El Salvador is known for their audacity to target the young population of Long Island and their homicidal tendencies. They have targeted children and teenagers at their workplace, their home, and their school. These gang members have left the community defenseless and struck fear into the hearts of many parents along with the government itself.
This book review covers Policing Gangs in America by Charles Katz and Vincent Webb. Charles Katz has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, while Vincent Webb has a Ph.D. in Sociology, making both qualified to conduct and discuss research on gangs. Research for Policing Gangs in America was gathered in four cities across the American Southwest; Inglewood, California, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. This review will summarize and discuss the main points of each chapter, then cover the relationship between the literature and class discussions in Introduction to Policing and finally it will note the strengths and weaknesses of book.
Montgomery, Michael (2005). Gangs reach out of prison to commit crimes. Retrieved March 7th, 2005 from www.npr.org
Hallswort, S. And Young, T. (2004) Getting Real About Gang. Criminal Justice Matters [online]. 55. (1), pp 12-13 [Accessed 10 December 2013]