Facing Our Fears - The Gang Problem

This earthly life holds unpleasant realities. It is therefore not surprising that people want to escape those realities, nor that they use such means of escape as drugs, alcohol or a change of scenery, among other things. But our present times are days in which people are losing their means of escape. Christians in particular are called, not to escape, but to a mission in the world – especially in our particular localities. If the dangerousness of that mission makes some of us hesitant, maybe it's time to face our fears intelligently.

America is a nation that needs the Gospel, and not in some abstract sense, nor as a message delivered from a distance by standoffish messengers. America is a sick nation, as evidenced by moral decline on every level, in every area of society. One symptom of that sickness is the proliferation of gangs in recent years.

A factual overview: A recent post on John Robb's blog Global Guerrillas (http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2009/02/manufactured-tribes.html) titled “Manufactured Tribes,” describes how economic depressions cause people to shift their associations to line up with “primary loyalties” – family, friends, community, etc. Unfortunately, community ties in this country are often very weak. Family ties have also been weakened over the years, leading to high divorce rates, child abandonment, and so forth. That leaves many young people vulnerable to groups such as gangs which create new primary loyalties, as in, “Yo, schoolboy, I'm from the Fullerton Town Tokers! Where you from?”

Mr. Robb quotes from a 2009 FBI report that states that current gang membership in the U.S. is over 1 million people, a 25 percent increase from 2005. These members are distributed among several types and sizes of gangs. Fifty-eight percent of state and local law enforcement agencies now report that gangs are active in their jurisdictions, as opposed to 45 percent in 2004. In some communities, gangs commit 80 percent of the crime and outnumber police 5 to 1.

And gangs are proliferating in the Pacific Northwest, migrating upward from Southern California and other places. Their signs are becoming increasingly apparent. How then should we look at them?

Some might associate gang activity primarily with certain ethnic groups. Such an association would be easy and tempting, yet dishonest. For American pop culture has itself become gang-tinctured. From hip-hop to gangsta music, from televised NBA games to the explosion of gang-themed movies like Hood Rats, the glorification of gang culture is being sold to youth from every kindred, tribe and people. There are black gangs, Latino gangs, Asian gangs, white gangs, Russian/Eastern European gangs, and so forth. Many young men (and women!) have learned the slow menacing shuffle, the scowl, the proper way to wear a baseball cap sideways, and what to do with a spray paint can.

Much can be said about the stupidity and destructiveness of gang culture – its worship of random violence, its destruction of those things of value that benefit a community, its destabilizing effect on everyday life. Much can be said about how stupid and undesirable the invasion of gang culture is at a time like this, when the nation is faced with economic collapse and troubles caused by declining resources and environmental damage. Much can be said about how evil, wrong, and deserving of punishment gang-bangers and wanna-be gang-bangers are, and it would all be true. But here are a couple of questions, in line with the theme I have been considering for the last few posts:

1. How should Christian peace-makers (strangers and exiles on the earth) respond to the presence of gangs in their communities? What is the Christian response? (My two cents: I don't think it's agitating for tougher laws.)

2. What is the New Testament telling you to do about this? (You, as in you personally.)