Part 3: The Consequences of Gang Membership

If I were you, I would send these three blogs to all your relatives, and friends. The more people that get involved, the better off the community will be. Over the years, I have seen friends and family guned down by gang violence. I have seen friends and family go to jail. If you want to see more of this type of bad news, do nothing and don’t tell your friends and family what you have learned here.

Youth that fall prey to gang seduction pay a high price for membership. That price is also paid for by family and friends. Initiation rights often involve committing serious criminal acts. They are usually violent acts to prove loyalty. Your child’s gang membership may guarantee a criminal record, not to mention the physical risks and dangers of violent activities. The physical risks and dangers include not only to the gang members but to the family members and to innocent bystanders as well. Keep in mind, bullets do not have eyes and cannot think about if they are hitting the intended target.  It does not matter if your child is shot by accident or your mother is killed just because she is sitting on her porch. It does not matter that your daughter is killed by accident while in a gang member’s car at a traffic light.  Bullets kill and they don’t care who they kill. 

 

Gangs often depend on the youngest members to carry out the most serious offenses. That is because juveniles receive more lenient treatment and lesser penalties when found guilty of a crime. That is why on the news, the public finds that children 12 and under do the shooting. It has been reported that police are killing a higher number of children in relation to gang activity. Some police will shoot to kill just because they do not want to face these child criminals later in future years on the job. 

Some children get killed because of mistaken identity. A backlash to gang activity has caused states to pass radical laws that support citizens in shooting anyone that they believe are threatening them. The Florida “Stand Your Ground” Law allows any citizen to shoot anyone that is a threat to them. It does not matter if the threatening person has a gun or not. It does not matter if the threatening person is on their property. It does not matter if the person is directly threatening them. This is how an innocent youth was shot and killed by someone who did not like a Black youth walking through his neighborhood. The shooter was threatened by his appearance.       

Gang members who are not killed or seriously injured often develop patterns of alcohol and narcotic abuses. The lucky ones are arrested and given police records, meaning they have no hope for a good paying job once out of jail. The worst that can happen to gang members that confront the police and other gang members is death. Would you want to see that happen to one of your friends or relatives? If not, I suggest that you do something about it. Start by sending these three blogs to your family, friends, and love ones!