L.A. Gang Member by Sanyika Shakur

(105) Sonny searches to find ways versus using drugs; he even goes into the service. He struggles with his suffering difficulties, and tries to escape from the ghetto, but drugs seem to be how he fits in his troubled society, so he becomes one of the society. His realistic method to his pain and suffering is dealing and using heroin; therefore, he ends up in jail. During his incarceration he begins working on his music, so when he gets out he has a career. During the time in prison, blues seems to be the music he can relate to, and it helps with his pain and suffering.

Its quite ironic how he sort of predicted his own death in the album but by doing so, it helped his fans and family deal with his death better. To understand his songs, you have to understand the life he grew up in. Raised in the ghettos of New York City, he like many others had difficult time surviving. In order to survive he took up drug dealing and other illegal activities to support his daughter and his wife. Yea we all know drug dealing is not the way to go, but you have to understand the environment he grew up in.

“The Other Wes Moore” tells a story, two boys that has one name, but their lives are not in the same future paths. The author said that both Wes’s grew up without a father under a similar environment, but the difference was that author Wes followed the education tract and family influences but other Wes was not successful. To the point Author Wes showed that how his future life is finally result of what he is today, he grew up to become a dedicated veteran, a business leader, and a Rhodes Scholar; as Convict Wes ended up serving a life sentence for committing murder. The author stated that “The chilling truth is that his could have been mine. The tragedy could have been his.” (Moore xi).

With no father figure in his life and a broken home, Kody turned to the streets in search of love and security. He became good friends with a guy by the name of “Tookie” Williams. Williams just so happened to be an early leader of the Crips, a notorious Los Angeles gang. The more Kody hung out with Tookie, the more respect he had for the gang’s power of authority and at the young age of 11 he was initiated into the 83 Gangster Crips (Kody, 2008). When someone is initiated into a gang they are “beat in” meaning they get beat up by 5 or 6 men for a certain length of time (usually around 30 seconds).

He did not have the luxury of being open-minded and carefree, he was constantly on guard twenty-four-seven. Succeeding in school was important to young Coates because had he failed in school he would have been forced out on the streets, where he would have had to work even harder to protect his body. According to Coates, drug dealers used violence and power as a means to disguise the fear of losing their bodies to the streets. Bell Hooks speaks of these same men in her essay Gangster Culture. Men in prison are viewed as superior because they are using the power to mask the fear of losing their bodies during a period of incarceration.

In our society we are not working to help other people and just help ourselves. If we all worked together, and not thought so much about ourselves we would therefore show that we can work as a large family or community, thus helping us realize what drastic situation we are in. Michael Jackson states in one of his songs " Heel the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race." The only way we could actually fulfill this statement is to be self-disciplined in what we do. Prevention of all three aspects, mayhem, chaos and anarchy, is a must and a necessity in our developing world.

At this time Twain five siblings, his three brothers “Orion, Benjamin, and Henry, and his [two] sisters, Pamela and Mary” (Cox 9). A prevalent influence in his young life was slavery as his father either “owned or rented slaves” whenever the money was available (Cox 9). He felt great sympathy for the slaves and had difficulty sleeping one night while he listened “to the groans of a captured runaway slave tied up in a nearby shack (Cox 13). Despite his strong feelings and later condemnation of slavery, when twain was young he was unaware that there was any issue with slavery as no one spoke of it as anything but right, holy, and proper. As he grew older he was still left uneducated to the immorality of slavery, yet he also knew even without foreknowledge that it was wrong.

While in prison, Mr. Sweeny told Derek, “your anger is consuming you, your anger is shutting down the brain god gave you” (American History X). Mr. Sweeny guided Derek into the right direction. He understood that in order for Derek to be truly liberated he needed to learn on his own, much like Athena. He guided Derek, but never persuaded him to change. Surviving jail was nearly impossible, but with the help of Mr. Sweeny, Derek overcame imprisonment and returned home.

His first murder was only because he did not want to get into trouble with the white family he was working for. After no getting caught in the beginning, it boosted him up some. So this must mean that not being submissive makes you feel stronger, just as long as you do not get punished for it. Conclusion Stereotypes limit effective communication and “blind the eyes.” Similarly, the stereotypes in Native Son had made barriers resulting in problems not just for Bigger, but for everyone that was involved with him. Students of today, may relate and connect stereotypes and their influences on opinions.

Eventually he stopped doing bad things, and importantly he stopped doing drugs ( “I don’t get high no more,” Bo said “I don’t sell cocaine.” You just poisoning yourself”). Also he got back to his family, and he stopped being a deserter of his family. To me this was important because religion saved his life. Before religion he was on the road to death and destruction. I believe that many prisons should try to spark religion back into the peoples lives, because right now Bo is a good man.