Why Do Teenagers Join Gangs?

Maritza Martinez
Ms. Diaz 3period

Question:
According to you why do teenagers join gangs?

I’m going to start this off with the truth; teenagers join gangs because they want to. No one obligates them to join it…it’s their choice whether they want to or not. Maybe at times there is reasons why they join gangs. And some of the reasons may be because of the following, make money out of it that’s if your drug dealing which most of them do, they feel like the gang is their family if they don’t get affection from their family, get protection out of it, and that’s pretty much it. Theirs other reasons why teenager’s mite join a gang which I think are kind of stupid. Like for example they think that they become cool because of it and make them feel like they have power! In some way they do have power because every one has fear over them. I’m a teenager so I think I pretty much know this stuff. And my cousin is a gang member so I should know. They just decides to take the easy way out, because if you think of it theirs better ways to solve all these problems. Scratch that they think that it’s the easy way, when its not!

Poem: The Truth about the World
By: Sherle Ajayi

Feeding of our hate and ignorance they grow bigger and stronger.
They’re destroying us one by one
This plague goes on
Fear grows, hate rose, but we do nothing but ignore this horrifying the fact that hate
Is rising above controlling us.
And they are watching every move every little mistake we make.
They make us thirsty and vulnerable, so we’ll mindlessly drink the toxic lake society.
Producers distracting us from seeing the outrageous evil in the world
Spitting poison in our eyes impairing our vision so we believe their deceiving lies.
Figuring out how to destroy us they devour.
Our innocence and our faith the same thing that tells us not.
I hate is the very thing.


Connection:
It relates because it expresses how people feel about what’s happening around them and the problems and violence outside where we grew up and live right now. And soon enough our kids as well.