While trying to define what a gang is, it is important to point out that the term ‘gang’ greatly varies depending on the circumstance and the social locality or context within which the gang is set up. It is against this backdrop that this paper is going to discuss the gang activity that is prevalent in the United States of America.
The gangs in the U.S have attracted the attention of so many scholars and many articles and findings have been compiled that provide a detailed progression of these gangs from colonial times to the modern time. However, many of these scholars have amicably come to a common consensus; many of the gangs have evolved from harmless entities to become some of the most dangerous security threats. Gangs have ‘metamorphosised’ to become conduits not only of drugs and liquor but of dangerous and illegal arms (Asbury 34).
In the U.S the media has portrayed many of these street gangs as disrespectful gun-toting young youths who incessantly engage in territorial disputes. According to the media, these gangs are largely dominated by African- Americans whose background and economic status drive them to the gang activities. Until the 1910s after the great migration, the activities of the gangs were not recognized as a social problem (Asbury 36).
No one has defined gangs better than Harold M. Rochon his book “Terrorists in Designer Jeans.” According to Rochon “gangs should not be seen as a group of teenage thugs who never finished high school, but should be seen as male and female groups of individuals terrorizing our neighborhoods, some while dressed in designer clothes they are no different than ‘terrorists.’ Their causes may be different, but their actions are the same. And they’re using our communities as their battlegrounds, stealing, killing and destroying the very fiber of life in America.” (Rochon)
Today the activities of gangs are variably seen as a security problem that needs to be studied because it poses a great danger to the very social fabric that society is made of. In trying to counter the obnoxious activities of the gangs it is important to approach the issue with great care because the existence of the gangs is both an economical, social, and economic issue intertwined into one. It would take the expertise of an anthropologist, and sociologists to better understand how to nub the gangs, where a holistic approach should be used rather than resorting to the use of force and threats. The later measures often have proved counterproductive even though sometimes they have achieved the desired result albeit for a short while (Klein et al 122).
Various studies have lent credence to the fact that the rise in gang activities can be variably attributed to several factors that include: the failure of schools to mold and churn out responsible citizens, the decline in the number of adult mentors, the decrease in programs catering for school leaving children, increase in divorce which results into single parents, increase in the poverty amongst the less educated, increase accessibility to drugs and alcohol (Klein et al 125).
The 1780s is variably described as the period that marked the beginning of gangs which started through the gangs formed by the European- American youths. During this period the youth hanging out on street corners in gangs that were formed with the main aim of territorial protection from the encroachment of other gangs. Besides trying to protect their territories these gangs strove to control criminal enterprises and loved fighting for the sake of it (Asbury 37).
The history of the genesis of the youth gangs is quite scanty and is argued that most of the gangs appeared first in the Europe of Mexico, this means that no one is quite sure why and when the gangs emerged in the U.S. However, early records indicate that the earliest appearance of gangs to be roughly in 1783 at the end of the American Revolution. Anthropologists are on the view that gangs may have emerged sporadically from adolescent playgroups or adaptation to the ever-changing urban set up during this time (Asbury 39).
Another school of thought argues that the gangs might have emerged during the Mexican Revolution of 1813 when the Mexicans migrated to the Southwest. Here the Mexican youth encountered unprecedented poor conditions and sociological and cultural shocks and resorted to the formation of gangs to adjust accordingly. From here the gangs seem to have spread to New England as the Industrial Revolution was taking root in the 1800s in the major U.S cities of Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. In Chicago and other major cities, the flourishing of the gangs was more widespread during the Industrial Era, when the levels of immigration and population shifts were at their peak (Klein et al 122).
Historians record four distinct growth patterns of the gangs with identifiable peak activities. These periods are divided into the 1800s, 1920s, 1960s and the 1990s which support the view that the proliferation of gangs is not a constant event thus can be unpredictable and is subject to a myriad of factors (Christopher 281).
In the contemporary setup, youth gangs have been greatly influenced by the very changing trends. During the 1970s and 1980s, there was a marked increase in mobility and easy access to dangerous and illegal weapons which turned the gangs into very lethal groups. Whilst fights previously were fought with fists or brass knuckles, this time around it involved guns. With the advent of the automobile during this period, there was an increase in “drive-by shooting” incidences (Asbury 35).
During the 1980s and 1990s unlike before the gangs evolved to have more members, both young and old. More of the members were in prison or had prison records or ties with an increase in the lethality of weapons used. They were more predisposed to drugs and alcohol and trafficking of the same but were less concerned about territory.
In the 19th century unlike in the postmodern city, neighborhoods were not as polarized as they are today, thus the cities were multi-ethnic comprising of Scottish, Irish, German, and English who were found side by side in the same neighborhood. Ethnic homogeneity was thus less important compared to gang territoriality (Klein et al 122).
By 2007, the number of recorded gangs across the whole of the U.S totaled approximately 30,000 gangs carrying a total population of 800,000 members thus each gang had at least 26 members. This figure has been on a constant increase from previous records of 2002 with figures of 731,500, and 750,000 in 2004. According to various statistics of 1999, the racial make-up of the gang members was as follows; 47% were Hispanics, Black-Americans made up 31%, the Whites accounted for 13% and Asians accounted for about 6%, (Christopher 280).
Gangs exist and are categorized depending much on their operational bases, many gangs start in the streets as amorphous entities devoid of any structural organization. Street gangs are largely defined by streets, apartments, or areas of operation. In Texas for example these gangs lack any form of command structure that is organized and form “Cliques” which are headed by the “original gangster” or “OG”. The particular “clique” performs specific activities that the leader stipulates which can include managing such activities as prostitution, drug trafficking control, and the distribution and sale of stolen property within its jurisdiction (Christopher 285).
On the other hand, besides the street gangs, we have the more structured gangs in the form of organized gangs. Organized gangs normally operate in illegal and grey market places where the transactions are not regulated by the law in any way. Organized gangs comprise individuals who indulge in crime for financial gain and sexual gratification. The members f organized gangs in so many ways end up in prison where they extend their territories and gang activity (Klein et al 130).
It is worth noting that the problem does not necessarily lie with the gang, but their growth and entrenchment in the society is an underlying symptom of community that is ailing in many other ways. Abuse and mistreatment of children especially by their parents who in so many times are single contribute towards the youth taking the destructive path as the last option. It is from these gangs that children from poor neighborhoods turn, not only for protection but for love and understanding as well.
Works Cited
Adamson, Christopher, “Defensive localisms in white and black: a comparative history of European-American and African American youth gangs”, Ethnic and Racial Studies 23 (2): 2000 272-298.
Asbury, H.: The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. Reprinted in original format 1989 Dorset Press; 1928 34-45.
Harold M. Rochon:Terrorists in Designer Jeans. Web.
Klein, M.W., Kerner, H.J., Maxson, C.L. & Weitekamp, G.M.(eds) “The Eurogang Paradox”:Street Gangs and Youth Groups in the U.S. and Europe’, Kluwer Academic Publications, 2001. 121-132.