Beyond the gangster life

Sign of the times: Gang graffiti covers the side of an abandoned property on Riverside Drive. The police estimate that 30 to 32 groups affiliated with gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, Vice Lords and others operate in the Chattanooga area. At present, nonprofits like Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga and A Better Tomorrow are leading the local effort to keep at-risk kids away from gangs. Photo by Damien Power

How to help kids at risk for joining gangs

By Janis Hashe

For a boy growing up in public housing, the decision to become involved with the Boys Club of Chattanooga was a life-changing one. Standing in front of his club, “I woke up and realized that I am not going to jail,” he would later tell Boys & Girls Club President Michael E. Cranford.

The significance of that statement, says Cranford, “is that most of his friends are either in jail—or dead.”

The presence of gangs in Chattanooga is now a matter of public record. In June, a group of 47 gang-affiliated area individuals was indicted by a combined force of local, state and federal law enforcement groups. Sgt. Todd Royval, who heads up the Chattanooga Police Department’s Crime Suppression Unit, estimates that 30 to 32 groups affiliated with gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, Vice Lords and others operate in the Chattanooga area.

Beyond the obvious price of their presence—in violent crime, in property crime, in the cost of law enforcement—is something less measurable: the price of a childhood lost. Each day, in Chattanooga and across the United States, at-risk kids are being recruited and, in some cases, intimidated into joining gangs. Experts say they may be targeted on their way to and from schools, and recruitment doesn’t necessarily stop once they reach campus.

“The journey to and from school becomes a main source of contact,” says Alejandro del Carmen, PhD, professor and chair of the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. del Carmen’s observations are based on an extensive study of 200 gang members in the Ft. Worth area.

Michael Cranford notes that older gang members have for years recruited juveniles, knowing that if a juvenile is arrested for a crime, he will be prosecuted through the juvenile justice system. Even more importantly, Cranford notes, membership in a gang can mean “safety” for a child who is being regularly bullied or attacked. The gang also provides, in a negative way, the same reinforcements the Boys & Girls Clubs hope to provide in a positive way, he says: a place to belong, a sense of competence, a sense of power, and a sense of influence over others.

For kids who see little likelihood of achieving professional careers—or even graduating from high school—gang membership can offer money and status they can’t obtain elsewhere.

“The collateral damage”

Sixteen-year-old Devon Johnson (not his real name) has been attending a Chattanooga Boys Club program since age 6, he told us. Devon first became aware of gangs at around age 10, and acknowledges that a number of his friends have been drawn into gang life. “They didn’t have enough positive things in their lives,” he says, expressing his own dream of being the first in his family to go to college.
Right now, the dreams of many of the at-risk kids in Chattanooga are being fostered primarily by nonprofit, private agencies, such as the four Boys & Girls Clubs, which operate year-round, and during the school year provide after-school activities, mentoring and leadership programs.

Richard Bennett is the executive director of another such agency, A Better Tomorrow. The Chattanooga-based nonprofit works with kids in a number of area middle and high schools, including Washington Alternative School.

Bennett, a former drug dealer, is frank in his admission that he graduated from high school “not able to read a lick.” He believes we have “dropped the ball in our outreach to kids at risk for joining gangs,” and says, “My passion is for the ones that people don’t want. The ones whose parents can’t read. The collateral damage.”
A Better Tomorrow focuses on teaching how to create life goals for themselves, and kids who complete the eight-week Destiny/Life Choices Program receive a certificate on which is inscribed the three short-term and five long-term goals they have selected for themselves.

Abigail Darnell, who spent 16 weeks volunteering for ABT as part of her field work to become a social worker, wrote this excerpt from her final paper:

“The girls in the classes I sat in on…did not seem to mind that they were in trouble. I…came to one of the most important conclusions of this entire experience: They act this way because they have nothing to lose…There are minimal or no positive role models in their lives.”

“In many cases, there are no fathers present,” says Bennett. “The community has broken down. You have a 14-year-old child who has developed survival skills, and she is dealing with a teacher, who to her has no common sense. There is a disconnect.”

“My passion is for the ones that people don’t want. The ones whose parents can’t read. The collateral damage.” Richard Bennett of A Better Tomorrow

Bridging the disconnect

Tod Burke, PhD, a former police officer and professor of criminal justice at Radford University in Virginia, says that successful strategies for keeping kids out of gangs include three elements: prevention programs, intervention programs and enforcement.

“Gang-resistance education, aimed at pre-teens and in some cases, even younger, is vital,” Dr. Burke says, adding that many public/private partnerships have been formed in cities nationwide to achieve this goal. “After-school programs should be complemented by in-school programs that include mentoring, tutoring and life skills.”

According to the Hamilton County Department of Education, there is no point person within the department responsible for gang prevention/intervention.
Chattanooga’s Sgt. Royval mentions a program called G.R.E.A.T., or Gang Resistance And Education Training, aimed at late elementary school kids, which has been implemented in some school districts he is aware of. A function of the US Department of Justice, G.R.E.A.T. is an in-school program taught by law enforcement officers, who try to help students avoid delinquency and using violence to solve problems.

Richard Bennett of A Better Tomorrow stresses the importance of finding mentors, people who are committed to helping kids at risk. And that’s not easy, he admits. “It ain’t gonna go like you think,” he says. “Kids can sense insincerity in a second.” It can be hard to maintain their attention and commitment. For a mentor to be effective, he says, “This is not a job, it’s a purpose.”

“If we can get kids into programs where we see them three to four days a week, our success rate is very high,” says the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Cranford. “All the statistics that we see show that African-American males are already behind by third grade, and everything after that is catch-up,” rendering them much more vulnerable to dropping out of school, gangs and crime.

“People say, ‘You can’t throw money at the problem.’ And it’s not the total issue—but it matters,” Cranford says.

Advice from the front line

We asked Debra Gray, executive vice president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga, to give parents some advice on keeping their children away from gangs.

Chattanooga Parent: At what age should parents begin talking to their kids about gangs, and how should the subject be broached?

Debra Gray: I feel parents should begin conversations with their children at about 9 or 10 years old. The subject can be broached in several ways. Examples: talking about their friends, acceptable dress, language, hairstyles (not to say you cannot be different, but what is acceptable), music they listen to, if you see something on TV that can be used as a reference, hand signs kids may pick up from others at school. Keep communication open between the parent and child. Talk to your child about values, dreams and aspirations. Know your child.

What are some of the signs that your child may be hanging out with the wrong people?

Your child’s behavior begins to change from their norm. They start acting different or using language they normally do not use, or begin emulating personalities of others; their grades in school drop.

What should you do if you suspect this is happening?

Talk to them. Find out about who your child is with and what they are doing. Get them involved in something positive, where they will be around other people than the ones you fear are the wrong ones. Keep the lines of communication open without judgment, and use compassion and common sense.

What should you actively be doing to steer your child away from gang participation?

Spend time with your child; be involved in their life. Get them involved in something positive. Get them involved in positive extracurricular or after-school activity. Keep them busy.

If you suspect your child is being approached at school, or to and from school, what should you do?

Investigate, talk to school officials, bus drivers, neighbors, other friends/classmates. Check it out for yourself. The one thing I think we as parents should always keep in mind is: “This is my child, and nothing is too extreme when it comes to their safety and well-being.”
Parents must have a relationship with their child and know them, setting a set of values and standards that the child has something to measure against or work within. Spend time with your child. In today’s society, this can be very difficult to do at times.
If both parents are working, they come home and have household things to take care of, and sometimes we may put the child off and not really listen to them. This can only be more likely if there is only one parent in the household. The child needs attention, love and guidelines in their life, and if we as parents do not give them, then the child will seek it from somewhere.
Don’t let the child raise himself or—worse—be raised by someone you don’t know (such as gang recruiters). Cut the TV and have family time, know they are getting their homework done, and know where your child is, who their friends are, and what they are doing.

Contacting the nonprofits

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga, (423) 266-6131, BGCCHA.org
• A Better Tomorrow, (423) 227-2849, ABetterTomorrowInc.org