Young people today face different challenges than the ones their parents had to face. Some daily challenges they face are: staying away from sex, drugs, and alcohol, and above all, gangs.
Gangs have become one of the biggest problems the youth of Rose Park, SLC face in their daily life. Sometimes, you don’t need to be a part of a gang to be affected by gang activity. Dressing like a gang member or wearing a gang color can cost you your life. You could be jumped, assaulted in drive-by, or simply harassed.
The dictionary’s definition of a gang is three or more individuals that associate themselves with a color or sign. Society criticizes individuals involved in gangs, but we don’t realize that behind their involvement lies a story that caused them to find a sanctuary in gangs. From my experience growing up in Rose Park I’ve seen many gang members come from minority groups that either live in a low-income areas, or belong to a conflicted family.
I interviewed kids at West High that are involved in, or associated with gang activity. I asked them what they thought the main reason was that would cause someone to consider joining a gang. They expressed to me, “that a gang is like a family, they protect you.” The sense of family is something I think a lot of gang members like about the gang life. In gangs, along with the protection also comes the risks, but the consequences are something these kids in gangs have a clear vision of. If anyone desires to leave the gang life, their ticket out just might be there life. Even though the consequences of gangs are very severe, youth prefer the family protection feeling than taking the risk of not being in a gang. I think they prefer the risk because they don’t know what it’s like having family and when they join a gang they discover that feeling.
A recent Salt Lake Tribune article stated that right now there are 4,000 registered gang members in the Salt Lake area. In 2010 there were 3 gang-related homicides and in 2009 there were 5. Gang-related homicide is a serious issue that has to be addressed. Kids in Salt Lake are losing their lives because of their involvement in gangs. If we want to see growth and positive changes in our community, we should promote different ways for youth to identify themselves, rather than joining a gang. These young people deserve a chance to see the world in a different way and they deserve the opportunity to succeed in life.
http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/gangs/summary.html
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