Failure To See Beyond The Anger

For years now, the right wing, led by the hate-talk radio, have taken a rather simplistic view of the gang-related crime in the Milwaukee area. They feel that all is needed to address the issue is to call the gangsters thugs, gripe about the "Stop Snitching" motto of some of the gangsters, and throw them all in jail and losing the key. (Never do they mention how they are going to pay for all the incarcerated people.)

Obviously, name calling isn't going to solve anything. It only makes them ineffective and closes off any hopes of communication.

The right also refuses to acknowledge that there is more to people's silence than adherence to some gang philosophy about snitching, which in itself is merely a bastardization of the honor principle.

People might remain silent out of fear of retribution. Even the city leaders recognize that fact and have created ways for people to report what they know anonymously. There are other reasons as well. Marie Rohde, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, shares an example:

Last week, I overheard a conversation on an elevator in the courthouse that presented a different take on the issue.

A 20-something woman, pushing a stroller with a sleeping toddler got on the elevator with an older woman, who looked as if she could be her mother, and a third woman dressed in a suit, who looked like a lawyer.

"I'm glad he's not snitching," the younger woman said. "At least he'll get out of jail and not be killed."

The other two women nodded grimly in agreement.

It is also irksome that the right find it so easy to dismiss these people as thugs, and never look past that to find out why there is such a prevalence of gangs and gang violence. Many people that join a gang don't do it voluntarily, but are bullied, threatened and coerced into joining. Some do it out of self-preservation. Some do it to fill holes in their lives that their families and other loved ones just aren't filling. And minorities aren't the only ones that join gangs. In my years of social work, I have worked with any number of people that are in a gang, or gangster wannabes, and they come from all races and social backgrounds.

Oh, granted there are some that are just socially maladjusted and are plain mean, or evil if you will, but by no means are all of them.

But no matter the cause for the prevalence of gang-related violence, and the seeming endless supply of gangsters, sitting around and calling them names will not help the situation. A well-devised plan to deal with not only the existing gangs, but to prevent further gangs, is needed. And for the plan to be thoroughly thought through and effective, an understanding needs to be in place first.

For more information on why kids join gangs, and ways to prevent this from happening, please go here.