The issue that I am choosing to write about for my paper is gang violence in the city Los Angeles. Gangs, drugs and crimes all go hand in hand. They have taken over underprivileged areas in certain areas of LA and need to be put down. I think the ideas of gangs is quite frankly horrible and disturbing to know of the things they do on a daily basis. Drug dealing, excessively drinking and murdering are all acts that gang members take place in each and every day and it is sad.
What sparked my interest in this topic and what prompted me to write about gangs is the fact that I knew a gang banger who used to go to my old high school back in St. Louis. I was never really friends with him, but we were definitely acquaintances who knew each other fairly well. One day I heard he had been shot 4 times in the chest and died the next morning. What gangs stand for is 100% unethical and sickening. In my opinion, every gang member in the world needs to be arrested and locked up in jail. I am convinced that by doing this, it will exponentially increase the peace in society.
A great preview of a bloods and crips gang film:
I would be very interested to read your paper, simply because I take such a different stance on the issue of gang activity. I believe a prison sentence is an inappropriate action for the majority of gang members. My critical reasoning skills tell me this: most gang members join as young children, not because they're bad people, but because they are not offered decent education or housing, and see it as the only possible path to attaining some comfort in life. Parental roles are often absent in lower income communities, and children and teens see gangs as a hope for a family, as well as protection in a very violent atmosphere. For most members, joining a gang was an act of desperation bred from a hopeless situation, and a decision made in youth that is impossible to recant as an adult. I believe that prison sentences simply move the violence out of sight rather than face the problem. In order to attack gang activity, we must consider the rooted problems of poverty that create such hopeless situations, causing so many young men to join gangs.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting things about our social issues class is that there are so many opposing views, and different ways to approach a topic. I'm glad to learn of opinions so different from mine, it makes the class so much more interesting!
The film looks really interesting, and I loved how they incorporated the waving red and blue bandanas as an eerie reference to the problems that have bred beneath the American flag. I think one of the interesting parts of Amelia's point is that gang involvement begins at such a young age. The importance of decisions that are made during our childhoods is so strong. I have always found it amazingly disturbing that I wouldn't be where I am today had I made slightly different choices as a 6-year old child.
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