Should Parents Be Locked Up For Their Gang Affiliated Kids?
Introduction
by David Madrid // Commentary by Foundry High School // Commentary by Lupe Rodriguez
art by Fernando Amaro
 Last week I got this e-mail about an anti-gang policy that tripped me out. It was a clipping from a black Los Angeles News paper called the Wave. They reported that the Los Angeles police department is developing protocols to begin arresting the parents of kids that are gang affiliated. LAPD's Southwest Area commnder told the reporters, ÒWe're taking the fight against gang violence to another level.Ó They claim that when they ask parents about their childrens gang involvement, most parents say they didn't know about it. Los Angeles police claim that by arresting the parents, they can reduce gang activity. Now, all of this is still in the planning process, but if this policy passes in LA, it's only a matter of time before they will enforce that law here in San Jo. So I thought I would ask some of the youngsters that I work with at Foundry High School what they thought about this proposal. They, perhaps more than anyone else, would be effected the most. Here's some of their responses to the policy of arresting the parents of gang affiliated youthÉ
Foundry High School Responses:
Princess: It won't help because kids are gonna roam the streets no matter what. People are gonna keep grindin' when they can't get, doesn't matter what happens to the parents. Sh&*would just be hella worse.
Maldito: It would affect my family a lot, because my affiliation with gangs would get my parents in trouble a lot. I'm too deep into gangs to try to get out now. If the law would pass up here, it would get my mom into lots of trouble. I would go crazy running the streets all day without her. I'd get high and drunk, putting in work. So that law wouldn't be good for me.
Rogelio: I think that law is stupid because some gang members don't give a f*** about their parents. That law won't stop gang banging, it would make it worse. The kids would go crazy. They would probably go to war with the pigs. And when the parents get locked up, the kids are gonna start mobbing with their homeboyz 2wenty 4our 7even. Most of my friends are gangbangers, if their parents were to get locked up, they would go loco.
Anonymous: It might work, but I don't think peoples moms and dads should get locked up for their kids dirt. If anything the cops just need to do their jobs better, and lock up the people who are doing dirt. I GANGBANG and if they locked my moms I don't know if I would stop, but I would try to do the best I could to get the pigs off me-n-my family.
Anonymous: This policy won't work in San Jose, cause those kids are hella hard headed and don't think their parents are cool anyways. Their gangs are the only support they have, and if their parents get locked up then that'll really be F***ed up. |
Parents Should be Responsible for Their Kids
by Lupe Rodriguez
I think it would be a good idea for parents to be arrested for the gang-affiliated kids. We need stricter parents.
A lot of the reasons why youth get involved in gangs is because of the actions of the parents. When I look around, I see alot of these parents are out in the streets prostituting, selling drugs, or partying at the clubs. These parents are not paying any attention to their kids. They need to realize that they brought these children into this world and they need to be adults, put their foot down, and tell these kids to keep their asses at home instead of trying to be friend with your kids.
Don't get me wrong, there are parents who try there best and do the right thing, like my mother. She went to work, was a single mother raising three kids on her own, and she didn't need a man to raise us. But when I was young I still went that gang path when I was younger.
I remember in time we were going go to my mom's company picnic and she told me to get ready. I came out of my room dressed like a chola. She sent me back in my room to change, she told me she wasn't gonna take me looking like that with her to her co-workers. I talked back. When I was a chola, I thought I was the sh&* running the streets, staying out late, drinking and doing drugs. I didn't care about the consequences. I just thought I was cool because I was being like my dad. He's in prison now. When I was younger I thought that was a cool thing. And now that I'm older, I think that's so stupid cause he just wasted his life away, I'll never get to see my dad ever again because his mom wasn't strict with him.
Like a lot of parents whose children join gangs, my mom worked alot. Even though they want to supervise their kids, they just don't have enough time. And that the thing about these single mothers is they don't have any help.
I'm just happy now that my mom has two little ones. My sister is seven and my brother is nine. My mother participates in there school -- she goes every week. She got them involved in sports too. The pull of gangs that appealed to me, just won't be part of my little sister and brother's lives because of her attention.
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