ART 3170 Civic Engagement: Social Issues "Action" Project: Gangs- Ana Ortega

Research:

Gangs- (1) an association of three or more individuals; (2) whose members collectively identify themselves by adopting a group identity which they use to create an atmosphere of fear or intimidation frequently by employing one or more of the following: a common name, slogan, identifying sign, symbol, tattoo or other physical marking, style or color of clothing, hairstyle, hand sign or graffiti. This is the definition found in The United States Department of Justice.

“The County and City of Los Angeles are the “gang capital” of the nation”, this according to the Los Angeles Police Department website. According to LAPD, there are over 450 active gangs in Los Angeles. There are also about 45,000 individuals who are part of these gangs. LAPD reports that gang membership has increased over the past five years and during the last three years there were over 16,398 verified violent gang crimes in the City of Los Angeles. In those 16,398 verified crimes: 491 were homicides, 7,047 were felony assaults, and about 5,518 were robberies.

Statistics that I was able to find for my community:

Personal:

Gangs are a major issue that affect my community. I’ve been leaving in the same apartment complex since I was 3 years old. Since I was small I can remember hearing gun shots and even witnessing gang related fights. It affects me and my community directly because nothing has been done about the gangs, even when we have a police station 3 min away. I also know neighbors and friends that have lost people close to them due to the two main rival gangs that control our community. It’s not only the youth, kids, and families that are affected by these gangs. Street vendors are also affected by these gangs because in order for them to keep selling tacos, tamales, Ice cream, etc. They need to pay rent to the gang that “controls” our community. The gang members have this thing called “TAXING PEOPLE” and what that means is if they see you in the streets and they want to come after you they will ask you to hand over your money, electronics, or any personal belongings. If you refuse to do so they will beat you up. It is sad because there are a lot of Latino Immigrants that sometimes that’s all they have and they’re forced to give up their belongings. These gangs also affect the youth because there are two high schools within the range of the gangs and gang members go after these kids to recruit them for their gangs. In my Community, there are two main gangs the way gangs have a way to claim their “hood” is being doing their gang graffiti on walls. This becomes dangerous because once a gang claims a “neighborhood” they begin to tag the walls with the name of their Gang. Then the gang that believe that is their “hood” begin to cross out the other gangs and from there is were fights, shootings, and murders begin to happen. It has also happened that gang members confuse people and end up beating up the wrong person thinking they're from a rival gang. Gangs are a serious issue in my community that need to be fixed.

Articles on street vendor being shot to death:

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/01/local/me-vendor1

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2017-08-02/fbi-man-arrested-in-killing-of-los-angeles-tamale-vendor

Members of my community:

Kenia

18 years old

" Gangs in our community are a problem. I witnessed my neighbor get shot. I ran away with my dad and the next morning we found out he passed away. Since i witnessed the shooting when I was 5 years old I had to go to therapy".

Maria

51 years old