It’s Time for a Change

Gangs have been around for a long time. Most people think that gangs are the result of a broken home or even a substitute family. In order to fully understand gangs you must first know there heritage, that is where they started from. Throughout time the reason for a person choosing to join a gang may be a personal choice, but the overall objective is the same. Let’s first look through history and see where gangs got started.

In America most gangs can be traced back to the dawn of our country. A lot of immigrants were migrating to America for a better life. After arriving in the country, many of their life savings were depleted leaving them no choice, but to take loans from local merchants who charged very high interest rates. The American dream didn’t seem so grand after all. Poverty and disease ran wild causing many deaths and as a result there were many children without parents. Because most of these families were immigrants they didn’t have any relatives in America to take care of these children so they were stuck with no family and not much hope for a brighter future.

In the mid 1700s most local churches ran orphanages. Orphanages then were much different than they are now. In today’s society it is a waiting ground to be adopted out, but back then since times were so rough, there was never even a chance of being adopted. The orphanage’s policy was just to keep the orphans separate from society and not really to take care of them. Orphans were very well known for wandering the streets together.

One day an apprentice program was created (which closely represents our foster care program). The purpose of this program was to teach young boys a trade and give them food and shelter. Although this concept seemed a good idea community leader’s found that there was little guidance going on. Juvenile delinquency became very prominent as homeless children were wandering the streets of very large cities. The children began stealing food and clothes and doing acts of mischief. The children were not a feared organization, but more of a nuisance at the time.

As the economy remained at a low, adult gangs began to arise. Gangs really became prominent in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Gangs generally consisted of groups of people with the same race and ethnic backgrounds who joined together for protection, financial gain and for just plain fun. It took awhile before anyone wanted to admit that there was a gang problem. By that time gangs had obtained a powerful control over neighborhoods. As citizens became more and more concerned they turned to the government for help. The government in turn looked for someone or something to blame. They shifted the blame to the families with unwed mothers. The U.S. House Committee blamed gangs as being the result of the breakdown of families. This could certainly be where the misconception lies that gangs are the result of broken families.

Since then gangs have seemed to disappear for a short period of time only to come back once again. Gangs began committing murder, viciously robbing people, selling and using drugs and much more. It seemed as if the world was at chaos and yet still is. So now we know the true reason as to why gangs exist, for protection, financial gain and for just plain fun. Now that we know the cause we can begin to focus on a solution.

This first thing to realize is that we have to start with our kids. That seems a bit early, but gangs are accepting them as kids and teaching them to be the adults that they are. I think as parent’s we need to be productive in our children’s lives. We need to be the ones to teach our kids, not society. As parents we can watch who are children are hanging out with or even how they are dressing. Children need productive role models and we can be it. Yes it would take time out of our busy schedules, but that is time that gives our children a better opportunity in this cold world.

I also think that we need to monitor what our kids watch and listen to. Steve Nawojczyk (1997) states it very well “Oftentimes, young peripheral or associate gang members get their first exposure to the gang culture through various aspects of the media--news shows, movies, videos, and even through the music of various artists. Some music and movies tend to glamorize the gang lifestyle.” We need to let our children know that there is nothing “glamorous” about being in a gang. Most gang members say that they will die for what they believe in, but that’s all they do is die. They may be remembered for a few years, but everyone else moves on with their lives leaving you dead in the ground. That’s not a very glamorous life in my opinion.

Another aspect that needs to be taken care of is protection. Maybe if these people got the protection or comfort from the