Many youth today get involved in gangs due to the want of being protected because it is said that once you’re in the gang, you are a part of the “family.” Read more...

In this drama filled movie blood in blood out .tells the story of three Chicano male cousins Miklo, Cruz, and Paco from East Los Angeles. They are claiming a gang named “Vatos Locos”. They were raised like brothers so their more like brothers than cousins. Miklo feels left out because his mother is Chicano and his dad is white so his blue eyes and white skin leave him out of the Chicano heritage.

Oakland was ranked third highest crime city in the US by CQ Press last year, and now city officials are proposing a safety zone to help shift that number. Oakland City Attorney John Russo has petitioned a plan to fight against what he calls one of the city’s most dangerous gangs, North Side Oakland (NSO). The plan is to implement a 100 block gang injunction. Read more...

Earlier this year the city of Oakland petitioned for a gang injunction on one of the city’s most dangerous gangs, North Side Oakland (NSO). If the injunction is approved by a judge it will create a safety zone of about 100 blocks between Berkeley, Emeryville, and Telegraph Avenue. The injunction will also prohibit NSO and its members from any “gang” activity and from creating a "public nuisance" in that zone. There are rules gang members will have to obey while being in the safety zone. But not everybody likes the idea of an injunction. We spoke to a North Oakland resident, Lisa Nowlain who says a gang injunction won’t create a safe zone like authorities plan:

Q: How safe is your neighborhood?

A: I have never had an issue with safety in my neighborhood. I know that there are issues here though, with shootings, police chasing folks down MLK at 70 mph, etc, and I do not minimize the need to address people's bodily safety and feeling that they can move freely in their neighborhood, but I think more police will hurt my neighborhood more than it will help it.

Q:Why are you against Oakland’s gang injunction?

A: I think that the only proven result of a gang injunction is that people of color and poor people, and particularly young people, will be taken off the streets and put under surveillance. When people of color and poor people are off the streets, a neighborhood is open for private development and gentrification…I am against gang injunctions because if it doesn't make me safer, destroys my community, and will displace and hurt too many of my neighbors. I don't feel that anything justifies this kind of harsh suppression or secret policing (they named 19 people that they filed the injunction against, but there are many more that aren't on the public list and will never be able to fight it).

Q: Why is a gang injunction not the safest method or the right method of handling one of Oakland’s dangerous gang?

A: Putting a lot of money into policing not only is objectionable because I think policing is oppressive and linked to a wider system, but it just doesn't work. Suppression doesn't work address why youth form street organizations: lack of resources or organizations in their neighborhoods (ie after school programs, an engaging and non-militarized school setting, parks, access to the outdoors, etc), legacies of economic impoverishment, and the other aspects of the long racist history of our country. Therefore, it not only moves violence somewhere else in Oakland or the Bay Area because it doesn't address root problems, but it makes it harder for young people to get out of being affiliated with a "gang" by putting them in databases or in prison, making it harder to get jobs later in life. Letting the police decide who is part of a street organization and who isn't is asking for trouble and removes accountability and community voices from how our communities are organized.

More after the jump...

I admit it, I am a hat addict. In fact, I have a large collection of over 60 hats at my house, many of which I wear on a regular basis. Like most teenagers, I prefer officially licensed New Era 59fifty hats with authentic Major League Baseball logos. However, my taste in hats is a result of my affinity for baseball; unfortunately, for many inner-city teens, these hats hold a meaning that has its roots in gangs.

Gangbangers use these same New Era hats to identify their affiliations with their sets. For example, this red Washington Nationals cap has an interlocking "DC," which reportedly stands for "Death to Crips." On the flip side, this Colorado Rockies hat has been a widely known symbol of crip allegiance since the Rockies were established in 1993. Other teams with well-known "gang affiliations" include the Pittsburgh Pirates (the P stands for "P.I.R.U," another name for Bloods), the Los Angeles Dodgers (a well known Crip hat), the North Carolina Tar Heels (the "NC" stands for "neighborhood crip"), and the San Francisco 49ers (a widely used Norteno symbol).

In fact, the logos of the 49ers and the San Francisco Giants were recently banned from a Sonoma County (Calif.) middle school after school officials caught onto the hidden meanings behind the clothing. The interlocking SF that both teams use, which normally stands for San Francisco, is a Norteno symbol for "scrap free" or "Sureno free." However, most people are unaware of the hidden meaning behind these hats.

More after the jump

Gang members have begun using Twitter to organize meetings and set up fights. In New York City gang members are being apprehended through their own tweets. NYC officers are keeping a close eye on how gang members are utilizing Twitter. Cops are using Twitter to tweet messages directly to gang members in order track them down. The city has already had their first violence facilitated through Twitter in which a boy was shot in a leg. Officers in the case seem to believe that the accident happened because of a battle between gangs that originated on Twitter. But officers aren’t the only ones taking actions to crackdown on these gang members.

The New York Daily News spoke to Harlem pastor Vernon Williams, of Perfect Peace Ministry Youth Outreach—an organization uses Twitter, MySpace and instant messaging to keep track of 4,000 at-risk teens. Williams told The New York Daily news

“Twitter helped the volunteers stop a street war after they saw the Get Money Boys, based in the St. Nicholas Houses on W. 127 St., exchanging threats with Goodfellas and The New Dons, based just a few blocks north. "They were threatening to go and hurt two people," said Williams who sent staff out to find the tweeters.”

In Britain inmates are able to create Facebook accounts. Times Online brought to light a profile on Facebook that was being updated daily by a gang member while in prison.

“In one posting, Gunn, 42, said: “I will be home one day and I can’t wait to look into certain people’s eyes and see the fear of me being there.” In another message he wrote: “It’s good to have an outlet to let you know how I am, some of you will be in for a good slagging, some have let me down badly, and will be named and shamed, f****** rats.”

After Times Online brought this profile to officials they had no choice but to delete the account. This isn’t the first case in which social networking sites have been used to crack down on someone. Facebook helped police detain a group of high school kids who chatted about blowing up their school.
 

The Discovery Channel's recent two-part documentary "Gang Wars: Oakland" has been the talk of Tha Town. We asked the founder of the scraper bike movement, Baybe-Champ, about what he thought about the controversial mini-series.

The Bay Area is surrounded by graffiti and its colorful styles. Unfortunately, people have a problem admiring the work because of its connection to gang violence.
If you are like me, we assume that almost every tag represents a name, color, or a gang’s territory.