PSU Magazine Winter 1995

Their binding passion may be he<1vy metal music, racial hatred or drugs. But at their core, they share the ·amc alienation from soc iety and need for b~nding together as anyone involved with the Crips o r the Bloods. And their numbers are growing. Oregon State Police reported 770 new ga ng member in O regon for the first nine months of 1994. early 72 percent of the growth in the last 24 monLhs occurred outside of Portland. tein says the gang population in Portland has reached the saturation point, and that within a couple of years, the number of gang members outside of Portland will be double that of the city. The emergence of uburban gangs throw a new twist in the hi story of gangs in this country-a history that has been urban. As immigrants arrived in citi es such as hicago and New York, children banded together with others of th e same ethnic background. Life was hard, and the presence of a gang gave these kids a sense of cohes ion. Part of maintaining that cohes ion wa · fighti ng over turf with kids from other ethnic backgrounds who lived down the street or on the next block. These qualitie -ethnically based groups that violently defended their home territory-defined urban gangs through the 1940s and in to the 1950s, populari:ed in such movies a \XIest Side Story in which the white "Jets" fought with fists, knive , and gun aga imt the Puerto Rican "Shark ." In the 1960s came the emergence of supergangs, uch as the Vice Lords, the Black Gangster , the Disc iples of to PSU Magazine Chicago, and the C rips and Bloods of Los Angeles. These superga ngs main– tained the turf-defending characteristics of their predecessors, hut also made big bu ine · out of illegal activities, such as drug elling. At the same time, their leadership became older. These weren't just kids anymore; th ey had ad ult leaders. This trend continued in the '70s, with an added and growing prolifer– ation of guns. The volatile mix of big business, guns, and a huge new source of ready money-crack coca ine– caused a mush rooming of the super– gangs in the 1980s. They began sending out ad ult leaders to fo rm satellite group in other cities, including Po rtland . For troubled youth with a poor home life and dim prospects for the future, the gangs were enti cing. There was the seduction of drug money and lure of belonging to a group-any group-of one's own kind. What people uch as Jolin and tein are trying to bring out i the fact that those conditions ex ist everywhe re: that gang are no more exc lusive to the inner city than are divorce, sub tance abuse or economic hard hip. Welcome to the burbs. Jolin points out that the number of families living in poverty has increased steadily for the past two decades. In 1972, a family could live on the income from one breadwinner-usually the man. By the mid-'80 to ea rl y '90s, it took two people bringing in money to live at that same leve l. Today, \\'ith two incomes the rule in families with two ad ults, parents may lack the time and energy to adequately devote to their children, says Jolin. Meanwhile, divorce claims half of all marri ages. In their wake arc children who often rece ive little guidance, and who ee the American Dream slipping away from them. Social sc ientists call this "marginali– zation"-li ving on the fringes of a soc iety that outwardly promi e economic succe s, while feel ing destined not to share in it. ometimes marginalization is tangible: not having health insurance, or enough money for food and shelter. Sometimes it i more psychological: feeling like a lose r because teachers or parents seem to be ignoring you. If that same chilJ becomes labe led as a discipline problem or intellectually slow, the feelings of marginali zat ion escalate. Marginalized people adapt in a number of ways, says Jolin . They can confo rm to soc iety's definition of uccess. They can find new and different ways to make it (legally, as with an innovati ve business, or illegally). They can give up and retreat into drugs and alcohol. They can scrape by working minimum-wage jobs. O r they can rebel through crime and vio lence. The very fact that kids join gangs for a se nse of belonging with their peers is one of the rea ons there is till an ethnic clement in gangs. The biggest ga ngs in the country are Hispanic, according to Redmond , and they're prospering in places such as Hillsboro. outhca t Asian ga ngs have also fo rmed a maj or part of the gang picture in the past I 0 year . "These arc people who feel disenfranch ised, who fee l they are not