Gang Awareness Forum At A&T
posted: August 28, 2007 | category: community
tags: crime, Greensboro, police, politics
I attended tonight’s Gang Awareness Forum at A&T. City Council members Goldie Wells and Dianne Bellamy-Small opened the meeting, which was led by GPD Detective Ernest Cuthbertson, who was accompanied by Sgt. Mike Richey. Chief Bellamy was in the audience, along with other police officers. (Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston and Guilford County School Board member Amos Quick were there, as was City Council candidate Greg Woodard. I think I also saw candidates Luther Falls and Joe Wilson. Update: Yes, it was Joe.)
Dianne Bellamy Small distributed materials at the entrance to the auditorium, and I’ve made PDFs of those documents for those of you who weren’t able to attend. (Some of these files are large.)
- “Gang 101,” — supplemental materials from Dianne Bellamy-Small
- “Gangs 101,” — from Salisbury Parks & Rec
- “Parents, Teens Have Different Role To Play”
- “Gangs In Guilford County”
- Supplemental Material Packet from Dianne Bellamy Small (includes info on prisons, parenting education, socialization, communication, adolescence and book list)
Cuthbertson’s talk was wide-ranging. He began by addressing the question: “Why do we have gangs?” And his answer was: “Racism, prejudice and cultural bias. Gangs are a microcosm of what’s going on in society.” But then he said that the media makes it more of a cultural issue, and that there are gangs across racial and socioeconomic lines. And later in his presentation, he said: “It has nothing to do with race or socioeconomic status.” So that was a little confusing.
Here are some of the other things that Cuthbertson shared, from my notes (corrections welcome!):
- Today’s “heroes and sheroes” once would have been viewed negatively by society, but now are accepted. He talked about stereotypes and pointed out that not everyone who wears a long white t-shirt is a gang member — they may just be wearing it for fashion.
- Now is the time to address the gang problem proactively — both locally and nationally — before it gets bigger.
- The #1 place where kids get high is at the bus stop.
- Gangs on the West Coast have a linear structure; East Coast gangs have a hierarchy and more formal structure.
- Gang identifiers include colors, graffiti, logos and hand signs.
- GPD response to graffiti: Read, record, remove.
- Girls now make up about 15% of gangs.
- After a beat-in (gang initiation), the gang members “I love you” to the new initiate.
- The purity rate of heroin is increasing and today’s pot is laced with acid (LSD) and PCP and soaked formaldehyde.
- Cuthbertson showed photos and told the audience how to check their kids’ bodies for gang marks. He also warned us about the internet, particularly sites like MySpace.
- As this next generation grows up, a core group of people will be permanently damaged by irreversible brain damage due to drug use and they will require lifelong care. He showed a photo of a young woman’s brain, damaged by drug use. There were holes all the way through both sides of the brain. The damage cannot be undone.
- Gangs are involved in the use and sale of drugs.
The audience feedback was very thought-provoking, particularly the lengthy comments from two individuals. I was reminded that our community has a lot of diversity, and difference and division are part of that.
See Fox 8’s story: “Gang Awareness Forum”
Goldie Wells told the audience that Council discussed gang funding earlier today and we’d see it on the news when we got home. And she was right.
>> See Greensboro Will Find Money For Police Gang Unit.
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5 Responses to “Gang Awareness Forum At A&T”
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Thanks, CM, for attending this and sharing all the good material. My husband, as you know, worked with Teen Challenge for several years. He can agree with much of what was said.
There is an incredible amount of drug use and gang activity in Oklahoma. I don’t think poverty can be ruled out as an incubator of this type of sin.
~Anna
I agree. Poverty is definitely a part of the equation, as is the lack of fathers in the homes and lives of these young people. And there are other factors, as well. It’s a complicated mess. But I was really struck by the lies that the enemy uses against everyone involved. The lies that the kids in the gangs believe about themselves and the world. The lies that people in the community believe about the kids and each other. The devil is a liar and a deceiver. And he uses those lies and deceptions to kill, steal and destroy. I have no doubt that this is first and foremost a spiritual battle.
I am reminded of Ephesians 6, verses 10-18:
“Why do we have gangs?” And his answer was: “Racism, prejudice and cultural bias. Gangs are a microcosm of what’s going on in society.”
I am so tired of hearing that everything afflicting the Black community is due to racism. Dear Lord there was rapant racism in Greensboro pre 1950 and there was no gang problem then. There was also a much, much lower unwed mother birth rate. The vast majority of Black children had fathers in their lives. That is not the case in Greensboro today unfortunately; in fact the percentages are almost reversed. The same goes for poverty. Pre 1960’s welfare the poverty rate was among Blacks was lower than today but there was sa tyiny Black middle class and certainly no upper class; still no gang problem in Greensboro. Poverty is directly connectly connected to the married state of the mother!
As you point out the problem is a mixture of many failures by society. I personally feel the greatest failure is when we allowed the scum to speak louder than the decent. (You call it the Devil and I call it the scum.) I blogged on this recently as you probably know. What I do know very well is that NOTHING is going to be accomplished by Blacks continuing to throw out the race card for everything. That puts the blame solely on Whites and allows the Blacks to continue to sit back and consider themselves victims and unable and unwilling to take responsibility for thier lives into their own hands. It is also bringing on a large and festering White backlash that scares and disheartens me. I don’t want to see what I have spent my life trying to change go down in smoke at the end of my life! Yes, Cara Michele, tears are flowing now as they always do when I get on these topics. I did not attend that meeting and if I had I would have probably walked out with the first comment, or answer, given for the reason for gangs. I am glad you have more patience that I do and waited to hear all that was said. I was more patient when I was younger and had more hope too, I guess. Brenda
Brenda, sorry for the delay in responding.
I didn’t get the sense from Det. Cuthbertson that he was “throwing out the race card” or blaming white people. It seemed to me that he was making a link between race and what’s going on with gangs. And there does seem to be a link there. Gang members are mostly black and brown. There’s something that’s pushing those kids toward gangs.
Poverty is part of it. Not having fathers around it part of it. And I think that race is a part of it. Kids of color are looked at differently and treated differently by some people and in some places. I’ve seen that with my own eyes. I can’t imagine what that must be like, growing up with that. And add poverty and no fathers (and sometimes, no mothers or mothers with issues) and bad neighborhoods on top of that, and then mix in the lure of belonging that gangs offer, and just all the other complications involved, and the lies that the enemy (and I don’t mean “scum,” I mean the literal devil, the enemy of our souls) is telling these kids about who they are, and gangs suddenly become very attractive. It’s a lie! But it apparently doesn’t seem that way to them.
The answer to a lie is the Truth. As in, the Gospel of Christ. I strongly support enforcement and accountability for gang members. But it’s even more important that the Church (big “C” Church, the Body of Christ) be reaching out with hope and Truth. Cops and jails can only interrupt behavior for a time. But Jesus can change a life forever.
I need to add a clarification to my comment above. I said that gang members are mostly black and brown and that poverty is part of the problem. But I’ve heard from multiple sources that there are white gang members in Greensboro, as well as gang members from middle class and even affluent families.