Gang life in America is flourishing and hasn’t yet reached its pinnacle. This may become the biggest problem our nation has to face, even with the economy problems and the unemployment conditions in this our present national crisis.
American Gang life has grown larger in these days of economic unrest in our nation. Gangs have increased in size and power in the past eight to ten years. Unemployment and school dropouts seem to cause the increase, let alone the big money magnet in drugs, which seems to flourish in this season of recession. The American family is disappearing on the horizon of time and young people are struggling to live without the family values, now fading, that were once as sure as the rising sun.
Gangs and Gangsters Are Not New
Gangs and gangsters are scattered throughout history. Almost every society established through history has stories of gangs and the evils they administer to the public of those societies. Some were started for what seemed good reasons, but they usually ended up as a burden on their fellow humans, or a burden on their society. American western history is full of gangs and the stories of the old west. The James Brothers, Butch Cassidy, The Daltons, the Red Legs of Kansas, Missouri Bushwhackers, and the list goes on and on, through American history.
The true gangsters of this world are those who have sworn to a sinister evil purpose and the covenant includes death if it is broken. These swearings include signs, usually with the hands, tattoos and in some gangs they include blood-letting from those who are sworn to secrecy. The purpose is to accumulate the brotherhood and a power base of loyal members. The leaders of these organizations are mostly evil and have an evil purpose in their plan for power. Those who join are looking for something not found either at home or in the community.
Gangs throughout world history are also full of the evil brought upon mankind for what may seem to be a good reason. al-Duruzi was a leader of a robber band in Egypt. Hassan ibn al-Sabbah who terrorized all of Europe sent out his drugged up assassins. Today we have the Bloods, Crips, MS-13, Latin Kings, Arians, and the list goes on and on.
Gang Demographics
It is estimated that close to 800,000, eight hundred thousand, (2009 figures) young people belong to gangs in this country. Forty-five percent (45%) of those live in large cities… Twenty-nine percent, (29%) are located in rural areas. They are not just the Latino, Black, Asian, or other ethnic groups, but include those in rural areas, who are mostly Caucasians. The Arian gangs of the Caucasians make up twelve percent (12%) of those in rural areas, according to estimates. Our society is changing and this becomes alarming when gang life takes over control of our children. Remember this nation is losing the middle class and when they are gone, what happens then?
What causes young people to join gangs?
Our nation has endured wars that broke apart families and people lost the structure of family life. After World War II there was the baby boom and families flourished for a few years. Then Korea, Vietnam and the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have again left families in a period of disarray and muddled order. Our nation has grown wealthy and we have lost our perspective of good family values.
One reason for the gang expansions these past thirty years can be attributed to a new family structure. The male figure in the home, just a few years ago, was the provider and protector of the family unit, and that is slipping away… Now that structured element is gone, the family will often lose much of its value. Young people need structure and protection and unfeigned love for support and security. When this isn’t found in the home, they may seek it out and many have found it in gang life. The great challenge in these days of fear, of unemployment, financial collapse and political unrest, is added to by increased gang violence and public corruption.
Endangered species, the family.
The American family is disappearing as the basic unit of our society and is being replaced with a brotherhood of gang-hoods. America is losing its previous stable identity, the family unit, which is struggling to exist and is slowly disappearing from our society. People who are raised in this day and time don’t know about the family values of years past and some children are turning to gangs for protection and brotherhood, that the family once provided.
Parental supervision is lacking, even in the surviving families, and what is left to replace it? Once the cornerstone of American society, it is now dwindling away into splinter groups and searching for a place to grow and flourish again. Drugs are killing our children along with the society that encourages homosexuality and accepts same sex marriages, that degrades the more fundamental values of family life.
Poverty, racial division, no parental supervision, no employment, breakdown of the family, excessive sex and violence in our society, and the breakdown in our communities are the main causes of young people turning to gangs. What are they looking for? They are looking for family values and a structure that helps them make good decisions about life and the choices life offers.
The American dream seems to be turning into a nightmare
The American dream is turning into a nightmare. If this gang life continues for another twenty years what will happen? Will this nation survive? If nothing is done, there will be open gang wars, first neighborhood wars, then city to city wars and then state wars. Will it come down to state against state and our nation ravaged with warfare until it completely disappears, self destructs? We as people need the security of family life to keep a stable nation and keep our young people in the spirit of the basic family unit, of Father, Mother, Sisters, Brothers, and with God as the anchor of our lives and appetites.
We should all hope and pray for our future generations.
