The streets of San Jose are heating up, and summer is nowhere in sight. As a person who works with at risk youth here in East San Jose, I am seeing the street conflicts on the rise, even at its lowest levels of high school and junior high. And talking with other youth workers, we are witnessing a new generation of young people that are exposed to the gang mentality at an earlier age, and it looks as if there is a new era of gang banging ahead of us.

San Jose's ultimate future gang problem is that there are more elementary school aged youth imbedded with the gang idealism and are being nurtured in that direction as pre-teens. By the time they hit their teens they are more seasoned and hardcore, leaving most gang-prevention programs useless.

Talking with one student, he told me in detail about some past physical altercation he had a year or so ago, that was the turning point in his life that made him start repping his particular gang identity. Now, can you believe that this conversation was with a sixth grader? Now, I don't think that all these youngsters that portray the gangster image are hardened, jumped in, active gang members, but the problem is just as deep even if they are not hardcore. The foundation of the gang problem is the mentality and mindset of a group or individual.

They're Getting Younger and Younger

Now, this social dynamic is not a new concept, it has existed for generations in San Jose, but this dynamic is more wide spread now, hitting the Latino and Asian communities like wild fire. One of the major contributing factors is that there is a portion of the newly arrived immigrant population that has assimilated and adopted this gangster life style as their own, and they are now having children that are first generation born into this life. But regardless of this new trend, it's seem to be like clock work that there is a generation of young folks that rise up every so many years that is more violent and gang minded then the ones previous. And this generation is here.

Schoolhouse fights and gang conflicts are nothing new to San Jose school districts, but the ages that some youth are getting involved are. Before, the gang issue was detected mainly on the high school campus, big with the youth 15-18 years of age. Gang tension, fights, and the confiscation of weapons and gang identified clothing seems to be apart of the high school experience for most youth, and it is becoming more common to find these issue at the junior high and elementary school level. Youngsters from the ages of 12-14 and younger are already identifying themselves with a gangster image and soaking in the idealism, and the mentality is closely following.

Are the Parents to Blame?

I have seen a lot of different parents through the years of working with gang-involved youth. They usually fall into one of several categories. There are different kinds of parents and guardians. There are some parents that have no clue about gang culture and have no idea that their kids are involved. Other parents go into denial, and some parents that are ex gang members, or possibly still involved in gang activity, may not be condoning their children's behavior, but accept it. And then you have the parents that get involved and try everything they can to keep their kids away from this destructive life style, and they are still not always successful.

As far as dealing with these really young kids, most parents may not even be aware of the potential danger that is before them, because these little ones are soaking in more then they are acting out. And if they do act out, for instance walking around all tough, "What's up homeboy!" it could easily be seen as cute or mistaken for child's play. Between the older kids in the hood and internet access our children are learning more and know too much for their age. But that doesn't mean they understand what they know.

For the most part, I don't think the parent can be 100% to blame for their children's gang involvement. I have met plenty of good parents that discipline there kids and provide a positive loving home for their children, but the influences outside of the home can be much stronger then you think. As parents, we may be able to control what our children watch on TV or where they go, but we don't always have control of who is related to us or what neighborhood we might live in. All we can do is plant good seeds and help them grow.

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