All street gangs are founded on a false premise. There are three big lies and one big myth on which all street gangs are formed, all of which need to be scrutinized to understand how they work within a gang.
Lie number one: The gang will provide protection to the member."We got each other's back. We look out for each other. If something happens to my homeboy, then he knows we'll take care of it for him."
Unless we feel safe we cannot eat, sleep or do productive work.
Children are increasingly concerned about their safety in the community and in school. Fear for their safety, whether the threat is imagined or real, is a legitimate concern. Unfortunately some kids are convinced that they must seek out the protection of a street gang to survive.
The protection is like a recruiting tool. Many kids during my research told me they got into gangs because they felt threatened at school.
Rather than turn to adults for help, they turned to their peers.
Some kids look for the toughest gang or the one perceived as the largest in their area.
Unknowingly the kids are enlarging the problem and creating the unsafe environment from which they are seeking protection. The theory among some students is: the bigger the gang the more protection afforded the members. The reality is that gang membership increases the risk of violence directed toward the member.
Larger gangs have more enemies; therefore the larger the gang the more likely violence will occur to is members. This recognition factor is, by the way, one of the reasons gang members hang out in groups.
Most gangs consist of more than ten members, and reality dictates that many of these will have more than two enemies each. The child who joins a gang must help "back up" her or his new friends when they go on retaliatory missions against rival gang members. This action rapidly increases their personal enemy pool and adds to the violence, on and off school campus, which is why they joined a gang in the first place.
The new gang member increases personal risk in geometric proportion instead of reducing their personal risk.
Coming in November - Lie Number Two
Dr. Dore Frances, Ph.D. travels throughout the country speaking to treatment center providers about families, teens and how to keep on top of what is needed today.
