Mark Wilde seems to have taken lessons on "gangs" from J. Edgar or former Chief Boaza. He seems to be denying they exist! Other than as a means to allow Police to define only "poor inner city black men." I do think the term is used for a great deal more than just inner city black men. There are Indian gangs, Asian gangs, white gangs, Latino gangs as well as individual members of ALL those gangs that are cross-cultural. The only people who believe only Blacks are Gang Members are either racist against Blacks or are apologists about "only Blacks are labeled as Gangsters." We need to get real about this problem. Such denial allowed the organized gangs to get a foothold in Minneapolis during the early 80's.
Such denial and reverse racism also says black gang members are so dumb that they do not organize among themselves, but are the simple victims of White Gangsters taking advantage of them. I am not saying it has not happened that way, but I give people more credit than that. The street gangs have become more sophisticated, and yes indeed they have leaders from their own ranks and their own race. Anyone who doesn't believe that probably thinks the tooth fairy gets his or her teeth and leaves the quarter. The natural prey for these predators is their own families, their own communities, and their own friends. Black gang members tend to shoot other Black gang members, Indians tend to shoot Indian gang members, and Asians and Latinos do the same. Remember the white Italians tended to also mostly shoot other Italian gang members and those attached to those Italian gangs. (Not that others do not occasionally get in the way of bad shooting and mistakes, but even bad shooting police officers also miss a lot) Gang activity is a cannibalistic parasite conditioned to victimize the easiest prey. Those it knows best, its own people are the ones consumed. Having known people from several different ethnic gangs I can assure Mark, and others, that it is not just movies, they really do exist. We are not talking about the search for Atlantis here. Go down and talk to some gang members if you do not believe me. Having been in the Jewelry business for several years selling gold and diamonds I can assure you they do in fact exist. Having stood eyeball to eyeball with several armed young men who came to shoot one of my boxers (who happened to belong to a rival gang) I can also assure you they do exist. My boxer was pleading with me to give him my gun so he could shoot the other guys. My willingness to violently intervene, and my being on the "outside" kept the situation from escalating beyond that they "would see him later when I was not around". Try being in a gym full of young inner city men from many different ethnic backgrounds and you will see what I mean. There are scars from knife wounds, pistol wounds, shotgun wounds and stories to go with every scar like it is a badge of honor. The thing one discovers is that, with few exceptions, the wounds are not from across cultures, but from rival gang members from the SAME culture and community. It sounds like I am trying to convince someone that vampires really do exist. So let me try this for you. Because of the dysfunctional nature of today's valueless society we have created "Cultures" of normless youth looking for someone important to be. They have reverted to the one thing that seems to offer that identity, being a gangsta. Until we break that cycle we should not be surprised that the weak seize the only vehicle they can. There really are BAD people and we need to give young people positive values to become someone else. Leaders, Ministers, and other religious leaders from some communities have done young people a disservice by not attacking this problem straight on instead of making excuses. A valueless society has NO value. Some say we should not put our values on others in our mixed society. I say there are common values of decency that ALL peoples and cultures share. Values have REAL value. We should provide that thing of "value" for the people who need it most. Otherwise the "dark side" is waiting. Now the "Dark Side" does HAVE values and is willing to give it to a young person. Maybe not the values your Mama gave you, but value nonetheless. If we think our children are so valueless that we do not bother to provide those "Values" then they WILL get some from somebody else. There are some genuine BAD people in this world, but most are just good people who don't know it, going along in the best way they can. We need to give them the opportunity to be that good person by not allowing them to be the bad people. I am convinced that most bad people are only bad because we do not give them a chance and a direction to be something else. My sermon of the day is ended. Go in peace. Jim Graham, Ventura Village > "It is always an utter folly to underestimate the lure and attraction of a great evil. The whitened bones of their victims litter the highways and byways of mankind's history. Stopped only by the few willing to pay the ultimate price and make a stand." - Toe ----- Original Message ----- From: Mark Wilde <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 11:11 AM Subject: Re: [Mpls] Gangs, Drugs and Patrols > "According to the cops, Latino gangs operate on a > whole different set of principles (this may not be the > best word here). First, they're in for life; Edward > James Olmo did a movie about Latino gangs several > years ago." > > WizardMarks, Central > > I don't think Wizard should be getting her information > about gangs from a movie. Remember those are fiction. > > The police have a very loose definition of what it > means to be a gang member. I think it is replacing > other, less politically correct terms, for poor inner > city black men. It is easier to say you want to get > rid of gang members then to say you want to get rid of > black people. > > In my mind a gang is an organized group with top down > leadership, which no one is suggesting for the > situation over North. > > Mark Wilde > Windom Park > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software > http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com > TEMPORARY REMINDER: > 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) > > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
