Gang Members Effecting Our Communities
by Jasmin Cruz
Gangs try to take over our “property” as they say and make it seem like they own
them by tagging everywhere. They are consuming our community and taking
children from schools getting them to join gangs and ruining lives. Business
and schools are tagged on and rivalry gangs come along and tag over that and
sometimes even rob the stores or destroy them. Research:
Gangs are effecting communities all over the United States. According to the National Youth Gang Center “In two cities, Los Angeles and Chicago—arguably the most gang-populated cities in the United States—over half of the combined nearly 1,000 homicides reported in 2004 were attributed to gangs”. Gang members are taking lives away from families. Gangs are taking over not just my community but many others sadly. People are living in fear and the community is not getting any better.
Even when people think they are free from gangs somehow, they still take control of one’s life. According to Los Angeles Police Department “Gang members not killed or seriously injured often develop patterns of alcohol and narcotics abuse, and extensive police records that will limit their employment opportunities”. People are stuck because our community is controlled by gangs. People cannot just move on and make themselves better and even if they do they are prone to falling back in. People living in the community are prone to this unless they move or just really dedicate themselves to something productive. Not everyone can dedicate themselves to something productive due to gangs running the community.
Why is this issue not big enough for a dramatic change? Gangs are effecting not just our community but the country the worse possible way it is costing the government money. According to Youth “gang involvement costs local, state, and federal governments a substantial amount of money in prevention, response, incarceration, and rehabilitation efforts. It has been estimated that overall crime in the U.S. costs taxpayers $655 billion annually…” People are losing money from this issue instead of resolving it. People living in the community are losing family members and having to pay for medical bills for gang related consequences.
Personal:
Every day in my community people live in fear especially me because I live next door to a house that sells drugs and weapons.
People including me cannot walk their own street without being afraid of being robbed or
maybe even injured or worse killed. Recently it has gotten really bad where I was
walking down my own block during the day and a truck rolled by next to me and
they were asking me to get in the truck. I did not listen and kept walking and I
just remember hearing their seatbelts click and I just ran into the nearest
store and waited in there for roughly thirty minutes to an hour and then walked
home.
Another event that had happened to me
was waiting outside on my porch for my boyfriend to come back from getting
something from the car late at night. He had parked down the block and I had
gotten too cold to wait for him anymore so I went inside the house and closed the door and all I remember
hearing is my name in the distance. I saw my boyfriend running toward my house
and told me to lock the door and turn off all the lights. He was out of breath
but was able to tell me what happened. He said a car drove near him and he had
made eye contact with the driver and the car started to back up and two men came out and asked him “where was he from" and my boyfriend is
not part of a gang and they did not believe him and told him to give them his
phone, gold chain necklace, and his money. One of the men took out a knife and
my boyfriend just pushed him down and was able to push the knife out of his
hand and started running and screaming my name. The men were in the car and
driving up and down my street. They eventually got out of their car and started
going near houses looking for my boyfriend. We just stayed quiet and kept the lights off
and just waited until they were gone.
The
most recent event that has happened was when there were police officers
surrounding the whole block and the next street over. There was a helicopter
over my next door neighbor’s house. Police officers and dogs were searching the
house for drugs and weapons. We were not allowed to leave our homes for hours. The
officers asked us questions about them and if we noticed anything suspicious about
them of course we could not had answer truthful because we are scared for our lives. We just try to ignore it but somedays it is really hard.
Carlos C.
He
was in a gang when he was younger and his life changed forever. He was trying
to get out of his gang and by doing so his gang members threw him off a
building and now he is physically handicapped and will never walk again.
Teressa Reyes.
She takes care of one of her gang member son. He has put her in debt and she has many fights within her immediate family to help her pay for her sons debt.
Eloy Reyes.
He
lived a life where gangs just wanted to consume him. He felt lost and in fear
but was able to stay away from joining a gang but it still effected his family.
They are in debt because his half-brother is in gangs and drugs and his mother keeps
taking care of him.They come to him for help financially but it is taking a toll on him and his other brothers and sisters.
Reference:
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