I come from
Southern California which is undoubtedly the gang capital of the world. There are over
150,000 gang members in So Cal alone, an absolutely staggering number. Unfortunately, Los
Angeles is a shining example of what happens when the problem of gangs is not dealt with
in a proper and effective manner. I believe many experts including police officers truly
believe that the gangs control Los Angeles and that there is nothing that can be done to
stop it. Gangs know no racial, economic, or social barriers. Don’t believe that the Nazi
Lowriders are any worse than the Crips or other minority gangs; they are all criminal
enterprises that victimize innocent lives. Kids who join or want to join gangs are fed
romantic notions about the gangster lifestyle. When you combine this with a natural
tendency for young men to be “machismo” with all of their hormones pumping, it
doesn’t take much for impressionable young people to buy into this “glamorous”
lifestyle. And that is exactly what the gang veterans and leaders want. After all, without
fresh blood the gangs would wither and cease to exist. I truly believe many young people
who join gangs have no idea what this ‘lifestyle’ is all about. They have no idea what
spending time in state/federal prison is like. Your “homies” in prison could
very well end up killing you for the smallest of reasons. You could be raped or shanked
without warning. You may be ordered to kill another inmate and if you hesitate, YOU will
be killed. I saw a documentary about gangs a while ago, and they interviewed this one
inmate. He said that you MUST do whatever the shot callers tell you to, and if that means
hiding a knife in your rectum until you can use it to stab an enemy, so be it. Is that
what you want to do with the rest of your life, always worrying if you’ll live to see the
next day and knowing that you may never do things that many of us take for granted? Things
like waking up and walking out the door, going to McDonald’s, taking your girlfriend/wife
to the movies? Sad

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was born and raised in a tough neighborhood but growing up as a child was good. Although I didn’t have everything I had enough to survive.
Both of my parents lived with me along with my two brothers.

It wasn’t until my teenage years when I started experiencing “gang life.” My middle school was horrible. I lived next to
another infamous neighborhood . My neighborhood was full of Hispanics and of course, we always rumbled with our rivals. As I think back I couldn’t believe how young those kids were who would bring guns and knives to school. I got caught up in middle school but I
survived. Some didn’t though. I had many classmates and friends die simply because they belonged to a gang.

There’s always hope though and I’m living
proof of that. After getting away from all the violence I finished high school. Now i’m in
my third year of college and I’m still going. I have a good paying job at an accounting
firm and I have a daughter. Thinking back I realize that everything I went through as a
boy made me the man I am today. It was tough but I survived. It could have been worse.

So to all you gang bangers who think
there’s nothing better life can offer to you, you’re wrong. There’s always hope out there
no matter how bad your situation is.

Never give up and hold your head up high.
BELIEVE!!!!!! R. Guerra

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Hi everyone, I “used” to be down with the GD nation but its been about a good 3
or 3 1/2 yrs since I had even had anything to seriously do with them….I finally realized
that, that lifestyle was a dead end road.. it took me a long time to realize it or
actually wake up and see how “BAD” or how it was going to take me eventually….
I was really lucky in all my years involved I didnt get killed, I came really close
several times…

I ended up with a
felony on my record I ended up with all these stupid tattoos that I recently got covered
up with something decent and respectible… it wasnt till just a few yrs ago I decided to
get back involved with a different crowd of individuals and started training in Martial
Arts again….At wich time I met my instructor and he helped me get my life back on trak
and helping teach discipline, respect, and focusing on self determination to stay out of
gangs to children in schools, and on the streets. I felt I was making a difference instead
of being the problem.

I stopped hanging around my
“FOLKS” not because I didnt like them but I felt it was time I had to grow up
and in order for me to leave that lifestyle I had to stop being around that lifestyle..
now for those few years it was hard cause i still lived in the Hood and i seen these cats
daily and I showed them respect and they respected me and my decision…..and eventually I
was teaching on my own…. now just a few months back I moved to another city about an
hour in a half away I still continue my martial arts although I have slowed down on
teaching not for long though,, but I have landed a job working in the Juvinille justice
system in a Juvinille detention / bootcamp facility,

Now I feel I am really making a difference
trying to help and counsel these kids and work with them and find out why they feel they
have to feel to belong in this lifestyle.. I compare my own reasons with theirs and
sympothise with some…. I have managed to get alot of positive responses in thier lives
and in some others tend to want to live no other way and they know thier on either one of
2 paths… Death/ or Prison…. for those who realize thiers actual hope for them they are
trying to change thier lives in lock-up and hopefully they keep on the same positive trak
on the outs….Now Im not so nieve to think some of the ones who say they’re not going to
be envolved again when they get out actually wont.. because peer pressure is out there…
but alot of you are homeboys to those individuals locked up maybe not in my facility but
in your own areas facilityl.

I have to say is let your homies make thier
own decisions dont be one of those cats who say “ooh man you been L’d down cuz, you
turnin soft, come on lets ride on these idiots /fools tonite for old time sake ..” Or
” lets get them fools now that your out” we work hard to keep these kids out of
trouble and change their way of thinking for when they get out and most of the time thier
in lockup cause of their homie that didnt get caught and their doing time for them and
when they get out that homie is waiting on them to get them caught up agian…. its bogus
people.. all this Gangster crap has to end some time…. Its played out, its outdated hell
the MOB has even settled down.

When is people going to grow up and realize
that being down with a set or gang is hazardous and not COOL…..? Maybe some of those
individuals need to be locked up in my facility for a few months IM sure we’ll break you
and change your mind….all that tuff guy is gone the minute you walk thru our
doors….Your in our hood and thiers no escaping… I hope i didnt offend anyone and if I
did I apologize but its time the truth is told to some….and thiers no better way than
blunt and point blank sometimes…..It has to stop people…….And for those of you that
are religious we need to spread the “word” beacuse the end is near…. Peace,
Luv, and happiness 1race, (the human race) T.I.G.

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Paul’s Story

My name is Paul, better known as Little Huero. I’m from Phoenix, AZ. I grew up on the West
Side of Phoenix. At the age of 10 is when I got jumped into my hood WS WBP12th AVE. After
i got jumped in that’s when all the crazy shit started to happen. I started to get into a
grip of trouble like Grand Theft Auto, selling drugs, robbed houses, shoot at rival gangs.
I basically did everything a gang member did and my Mom thought that I was just some good
boy until she found out everything I was doing. When she found out about this she was
really hurt. At the age of 12 that’s when I stopped giving a f**k about life. Then later
on I was realizing that I was hurting my Mom because of the stuff I was doing. So now I’m
locked up because of all the stupid shit I did. So for all ya that are just beginning the
gang life, think about it now that you have a chance, because in the future all the shit
you did in the past is going to catch up with you. Now it’s time to change, and leave the
past behind, look toward the future. On the outside it doesn’t always show that I want to
change, but deep inside I do want to change. Paul, 15 </p>

Richard’s Story

My name is Richard also known as Ears from West Side Brown
Pride. I started to get involved in drugs, gangs and alcohol at the age of nine. Then when
I was about twelve when I started to do more serious shit like selling drugs, shooting at
rival gang members, breaking into peoples houses and shit to prove myself to the hood.
When I started to do more crimes I really didn’t care anymore about what would happen to
me only about making money and being part of a gang. Finally I was getting caught up for
the shit I was doing. When I was thirteen I was doing time in juvenile for breaking into
houses and selling drugs. While I was locked up I realized that none of my true homies
were there for me. Right now I’m in a juvenile corrections facility in a drug program
trying to change my life around from being a criminal to citizen. Now that I’m in here
looking at all the shit I did it wasn’t worth trying to prove myself to a bunch of guys
that ain’t even there for me when I needed them the most. So my word of advice to you is
just be yourself and don’t try to prove yourself to no one. And all the shit you be doing
will catch up to you sonner or later. So think of your family before you do anything.
Later, Richard, 15 C.G., AZ

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Hello to all. I am writing some more of my thoughts.
Well it seems to me to the other writers out there that you are making war stories, they
sound as if it is something to glorify that your family members have been killed by fools.

Many youngsters today think they can read a
story at a web site and still keep doing what they’re doing. How is violence going to
cease unless you stop the foolishness. You youngsters today are exposed to a very strange
way of living, disrespect of all people, filthy language, and bad attitudes. If people
keep having attitudes such as “who gives a damn” then how will any gangs
violence stop?

Most Americans know about such gangs
through Internet, music, movies, and media. Especially after numerous gang movies were
presented across America in the late 80′s early 90′s. As I have told you youngsters that I
have spent 15 years in Prison, on of the worst in America, and it was not pleasant, it was
not cool, it was not something to glorify. How can you want to live a life in pain like I
have lived, I put my self through it. I was growing up in South Los Angeles in the 1970′s
and 80′s as a teenager when I committed acts of crime that made me decay morally. How can
you youngsters take a gun and shoot innocent people like you are trying to prove
something? What? to prove that you are tuff? To prove respect to your peers? To gain a
reputation is by being with good people, making yourself something in life other then a
criminal, I can not stress enough that Being a gang member is a lifetime commitment to
crime. It is dropping out of school, destroying your family, killing, and basically
dropping out of life it self.

Being a gang member is something a lot of
kids today want to be, they may not be in gangs but they believe they are in gangs, it
grows to an obsession to children of crime. Most youngsters drop out of gang lifestyle or
the wanting to be a gang member lifestyle. You may read this and still not listen to me,
listen to a 37 year old man that has suffered, the reputation i have gained to this day is
nothing, the people who respect me are who? Youngsters wanting to be gangsters? Old men
standing on the corner of the Boulevard Drinking Liquor that were once gangsters them
selves?

I do not get respect from good citizens. To
this day I have received great amounts of respect from people in my life who are not
important. From people who will die before they are 30. For the adults who read my begging
and pleas to the youngsters to stop their self destruction, I would hope that you keep
your young one’s away from this violence, to make sure you know what they do and to help
in every way you can.

For the youngsters who read this, Violent
raping, Murder of your family, Midnight Bail calls, A life term for killing a man you
never knew over a color, the depression you will have?

Think about it.

Think about a life that you will build to
make yourself happy, without murder, and violence.

Take a walk, drive, think of your life in a
gang and think of your future, it is for you not for me.

I am here because I have faced death, I
have seen what a life of crime will give you and I know it is something no human would
want to live.

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From a 37 year old
veteran

Hello to all. I
would rather not say my name but i am here to explain the realities of gang life. I have
grown up in south los angeles, in my experiences with gangs i have grown to see that your
life will be in prison. Prison i spent 15 years in.

in 1980 as i was in juvenile hall, seeing
rape, the tall muscular black boy being raped by his own people, urinating on him and
making his reputation to a dust fragment. You see the boy who was raped was a crip. He the
others who raped him where crips. There is not and never will be a unity among different
crips in Los Angeles. Alone in Los Angeles county Crips kill each other more then there
rivals, bloods. The white man is ruining our culture, making the black man, us look like
fools. They Make us out to be Gang “niggers” killing each other in the Ghettos
of america. We are nothing to this white culture. The thing that disgust me greatly is the
fact that i see the white youths trying to be actual gang members, not white but black
gang members. it makes me sick. If you choose to live a life my brothers or you choose to
live a life of crime, how will that make your mark on earth? in your community? These
people you associate with, you may never see them again in your life, they may die, others
will grow out of the wannabe gang life. Prison is not what you think, when you say you
don’t care about going, I can’t imagine you won’t mind being raped by five men in one
cell, tied in bedsheets and screaming as the guards give you no help,and then bash your
brains in with a prison issue bar of soap, which is like a slab of concrete. In all of the
gang members and crips i have grown up with, they regret any of there life involved with a
gang, the originals who started this, they don’t feel proud for you following there steps,
they are disgusted, as the sit in solitary confinement. There is a world out there, forget
trying to think dying is romantic, showing your peers you were a gangster, you won’t show
anything but stupidity. I have been shot 10 times, i have been beaten by police, put down
by society, and i never gave up and that’s why i am here writing to you all. I understand
your pain, your wanting to be something feared, to put fear into others hearts, my
brothers, there is other ways of life, the culture you lead now of gangs, you will pass
one day, you may not think now, i am not telling you not to be in a gang, but i give you
words that i was once told. words that i erased out of my mind. Do you want to spend your
life in prison, crying, and in sadness, being chanced of rape and violence, no family
whatsoever, or do you want to be powerful do you want to have a family, people to care
about you? Remember being a gang member is a commitment to crime, non stop, you are a
career criminal and will stay one for life, take this knowledge from one who knows life,
and gang. Think deeply about the words i have told you and have taken my time to give to
you.

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My most painful and
disturbing memories

my first is
when i was twelve years old growing up in North Birmingham Al. we lived in probably the
most disgusting place you could imagine, i remember all the cockroaches we used to have in
our apartment.

but anyway i remember the night mom and her
boyfriend really got into it bad, my brother Jonus who was almost eighteen at that time
was just coming in when i guess he found my moms boyfriend beating her up (i was asleep).i
remember waking up hearing shots and going into the living room what i saw ill never ever
forget .i saw my brother and my mother’s lifeless bodies on the living room floor just
bleeding to death. thats enuff reminiscing.

my second worst memory was when i was 15
years old and getting jumped into the North Burrow ml section blood gang. i remember i was
beat so bad i was hospitalized (but they did it out of luv) i was living with my grandma
at that time over on MLK ave.

my third worst memory was when i saw my best friend get stabbed to death in school. i was
about 17 years old .we were in the cafeteria when it happened this dude came from the
outside doors and said he wanted to talk to my boy Delron and he did right in front of me
he stabbed Delron as many times as he could before running out of the school.

my fourth worse memory is being pulled over after just doing a driveby shooting. we bent
the corner so quick we didnt see the police coming but they pulled us over for speeding,
checked us and the carn and boom! next thing i know im wearin orange and the county. i did
a bid and came out on house arrest good deal huh?

my fifth worse memory was getting shot 4 times in my leg and hip i was hospitalized for a
while on that one they blasted for no damn reason oh you dont know about strays do ya?

my last worse memory is losing my grandma to a stroke, i feel it was all my fault for
putting so much shit on her, she knew about the shit i did, i have done some bad shit to
her. i feel if i never would have joined tha gang she might be alive still but would i?

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Gang Member’s Guide to joy in poverty

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This from one of our originals Jey…

flames lick my eyes wide, pupils on blast,
head in the clouds, ride flows on gold wax,
kick rhymes for the G’s, til the days get dark,
an cascade like the clean ****, that raise these charts,

my hearts in the flow, an my fingers reach,
for the stars, an the moon, from a shark filled beach,
used to talk like a man, no hair on my chin,
now I’m old an these kids, actin like i did,

riddles i spit in the days of my youth,
each breath held a rhyme, each tooth held the truth,
i used to rock chains, got brains from the game,
still, lookin back, seems like aint **** changed,

change like obama, wont cave like osama,
catch me on the beach chillin, my peers dont say nada,
a lotta cats slaughtered, for the modern day robber,
my moderate views honest, i’m proper with my honor,

the longer i wait, gets me closer to past,
light the match in the storm, an im puffin the hash,
smash tracks with the baddest, cats who live lavish,
might see me on the street, an i still look average-

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This From Pure Jewel

Whom do you fear?
God or is it man?
Do you fear man
evil, wretched, wicked man?
Shall we fear and tremble
before a holy living God?

Man, human
We are fading flowers
a whisper
Nothing without God
Shall we then fear man?

We search people for such
love, when God
is all around.
Women look for love
in a man, who brags
bout money and women

men look for love
in women, that
don’t respect themselves
enough to say no.

Who do you serve? Who do you fear?

Shall we love, tremble,
have such holy fear
of a living God?
Where mountains melt like wax
before Him.
Fire, all-consuming fire
that consumes his foes before
Him.
Who grace is like an ocean,
nothing we can measure

who is man that we shall fear?
‘It is fear that brought us
Amazing Grace, and Grace
that we shall no longer fear’

Who then shall we fear?

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