Gangsta in the House: a review
January 20th, 2008 -- Posted in Books | 3 Comments »I recently had to read for school the book Gangsta in the House by the gang guy, Mike Knox.
From his site: The book, Gangsta in the House, is a collection of observations and conclusions made by a fifteen-year veteran police officer from Houston, Texas. The book begins with the prologue which is a graphic fictional account of a drive-by shooting and is based on a compilation of real life incidents.
This book has two themes: one; gang members are seeking firm, fair, and consistent external discipline to help them decide where social boundaries are located, and two; promises kept breed respect for the system while promises broken breed contempt.
Gangsta in the House is written with a conversational style, but does include a touch of humor. The subject is, however, very serious and relevant to today’s social environment. The book should take the mystery out of the gang experience and open doors to understanding why these young people do the things they do. An explanation about how gang members perceive the world differently than “normal” people and how that different perception occurs is offered. (more)
OK book and a good start if you are wanting to be more aware of the gang mentality. If you are wanting to know what the signs, tagging and lingo mean then it is of minimal benefit. According to the author it isn’t necessary for educators or the general public to know all of this because they need to focus on the understanding of why gangs are what they are, how teens get caught up in the gang life, and how important it is to remove graffiti within 48 hours. I disagree. I think it is important for educators to understand all the things Knox mentions, but we also need to be aware of what we are seeing. If you have an understanding of the symbols you will look around the school and be absolutely amazed at what is right under your nose. Now, many of the thugs are simply wannabes and there isn’t too much to concern yourself over. However, you do not want their wannabe gang clothing to draw attention to your school. Looking at their notebooks you would imagine they are really talented in the area of abstract art. We need to understand why the student with the blue t-shirt doesn’t ever get along with the student with the red Jordan’s. Not to mention the days that they decide to dress alike. Wow, they must be really good friends…or there is something planned to take place that day. Awareness is important.
The intro of Knox’s book was disturbing. I didn’t realize how disturbing until I dreamed a mall event that involved my child. I tend to internalize my stress. It was the most devastating nightmare I have ever had. I won’t rehash it here because I am trying to erase those images. In fact, that is as far as I will mention on the subject. If you have kids, what is your worst fear? If you don’t have children I venture to say that I don’t think you can understand. You can have an idea, but . . . well I guess it really depends on the person, but still…
One of the cable channels had a gang documentary series that really outlined the proliferation of gang mentality into the mainstream. It was really interesting and rather frightening. Again I say, awareness is essential in battling this societal cancer.
Negatives of the book: It seemed to take a “poor me” stance with the gang protagonists. Gang members have low self esteem. Gang members do not have the support system at home. Gang members feel like their only hope is the gang. For me that equates with parents saying, “Oh, my child has ADD/ADHD/ODD/PAPD/yadda-yadda” and using that as the excuse. Pardon me, not to minimize the issue but all those things are excuses. Funny how many ADD etc… children can focus for hours on something non school related and behave when they want something. IMO there is over diagnosis which minimizes the significance of those who TRULY suffer from the various disorders. (Yes, it is debilitating for some.) Back to gangs…it’s all an excuse. I admit there are contributing factors, but I think society has made it cool to be part of the gang. Listen to the radio. Read the lyrics. Watch TV. Look around. Scary? Yes, a little. However, all those kids with their hat tilted, leg rolled up, color matching, baggy pant wearing, tat tagged kids are not gang members. Some of them are just going for the look. They’ll have their hat tilted one direction and the wrong pant leg rolled because they have no clue what it means. As a result a real gang member will beat the snot out of them because they are dissing. (Dissing, my spell-check didn’t underline. See, that is how much gangs have influenced. Spell checkers do not pick up on the slang as misspelled words!)
Knox points out that gangs have a different mentality. Agreed. Their moral sense is skewed. Do they have a moral sense? Yes, sort of. Think of a dictatorship that is totally intolerant of any behavior outside the expected. Blind loyalty is expected of the society. Blind loyalty to the gang is expected of its members. What are the consequences of not following the dictator or speaking out against the dictator? Death. If your facing death or action that you know to be wrong it will take a significant strength of will to do the right thing. For teens peer pressure is a strong factor in many of their decisions. So what can we do if it is their peers who influence them? I don’t know. We can be the support system that helps them realize how destructive the gang life is and that their IS a way out, and it doesn’t have to be in a body bag. Know described an alternative school program that sounded ideal. Going into that would make this post never ending. Discipline in schools is a major issue that administrators are terrified to address. Shoot, they turn a blind eye to the gang issue. Gangs? In our school? No, no…not at all. We don’t have a gang problem. The few students we might have are simply wannabes. I can not tell you how many times I have heard school thugs referred to as wannabes. Who do you think is targeted for gang membership? THOSE WHO ALREADY LOOK AND ACT THE PART! The wannabes are just as dangerous and arguably more so because they are ignorant of gang protocol.
So what do we do? Quit pretending there isn’t a problem. Quit allowing them to wear their crowns, diamonds, numbers, colors, styles, etc… in the school environment. School is for education, not showing off your apparel. *GASP* are you suggesting unifroms? I don’t have a problem with it. *SHOCK-GASP* but what about self expression? Yeah, is that working? Save self expression for the weekend. I’m concerned about the classroom and education taking place. “I can’t afford to buy uniforms for school.” Yeah, don’t buy the Jordans and there’s two outfits. Next. *Ugh, schools are becoming just like a dictatorship.* Yeah, choose your dictatorship. Bloods, Crips, Folk, People, Low Riders, or school. Your choice. Which has the highest survival rate. Isn’t that a bit drastic? If we don’t get a handle on it then it is going to be even further out of hand. Is it really that big of a problem? Yes.
*This post hasn’t been edited. I have three little girls roaming around trying to get my attention in any way possible. Morning coffee has not been uninterrupted. I would never correct your spelling, grammar, or word usage so please do me the same courtesy. I’ll fix the mistakes later.*
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Relaxing to the sounds of: Jack Johnson - Upside Down
via FoxyTunes
The Last Christmas Ride is based on the true story of Edie Hand. While browsing the aisles of SAMS I noticed the rustic cover and picked it up to see if it might be as interesting as it looked. Yes, I’m shallow. I sometimes judge a book by its cover. The “based on a true story” caught my eye. After reading the synopsis I was even more intrigued. The true story took place in northwest Alabama. There is something special about reading books based in your home area. It quickly became a must purchase item.