gangs: don't believe everything you hear

Tonight there's a forum on gangs somewhere in town. I found out about it too late to attend. But here's what I have to say on this topic.

Take everything a teacher or a cop tells you about gangs with a very large grain of salt...

...(in other words have a healthy skepticism).

The police receive funding from the federal government—and cool new weapons and technology—if they say their city has 'a gang problem.' The bigger the 'problem,' the more money and technology. Keep in mind too that where real gangs have organized criminal operations, they usually have cops on the payroll. So most of the information you'll get is going to be distorted, when it's not totally fabricated.

I've had so many Madison teachers tell me breathless stories about gangs in their schools, when it was obviously just kids hanging out in groups and occasionally getting in fights—that's only called a "gang" if they're kids of color. I think the teachers enjoy these stories for the same reason a lion tamer wants people to think lions are very dangerous.

Kids will also tell their teachers breathless stories—and give their cliques scary-sounding names, etc.—because scaring adults, especially white adults in positions of power, makes kids feel powerful.

I'm not saying gangs don't exist—they do, and where they exist they're a problem.

I'm just saying—well, I already said it: take anything a teacher or a cop tells you about gangs with a healthy skepticism.

If you want to learn more, the best authority I've found is David Brotherton of CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who has done a lot of work in schools and with actual gang members, primarily in New York City.

Here's an interview, and here's info on his book. Check them out!

I'll post a follow-up if I hear anything further about tonight's forum.