Trendy or Gang Related

(This is what a susceptible teenage gang member would look like. Red bandanna over his face masking his identity making hand gestures which any reasonable person would consider to be gang signs. But no one knows for sure until you understand who he is and what his involvement in the community is as well.)

It’s not just the choice to become a Blood or a Crip or which color you wear. Recent Juvenile gangs have narrowed down their gang affiliation with just the peers who are living within the same neighborhood. Gang affiliation may be glamorized by parties, drug, girls, power, or money. Some kids join gangs as a way to gain attention, popularity, or to establish relationships with original gangsters who act as parents and role models to the younger kids who have come from disrupted families.

Law enforement agents who specialize in juvenile gang membership has an objective to understand and identify the visible signs of teenagers who are involved in gangs. Colors, hand gestures, fashion, and language are a few ways an officer may categorize and identify teenagers who belong to certain gangs. Most spectators are unaware of these visual signs, and make assumptions because they are unfamiliar and out of touch with the trends and subculture of juveniles.


Shaved eyebrows as gang symbol?

"Some students at a Portland, Ore., high school have shaved vertical lines into their eyebrows in a trend recently made popular by hip-hop star Soulja Boy. School officials say the mark looks like a gang symbol. "

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/crime/archives/cat_juvenile_crime.html







This is ridiculous! Shaved eye brows and baggy pants, piercings and hair styles, most of these are simply just trends, not subliminal gang related messages. The rapper, Soulja boy who has brought back this trend of shaved eyes brows has not been accused of gang relation, so why are these kids who are following in a role model's fashion foot steps suspected of such an act? Remembering back to the year 2000 when kids would have one or both of their pant legs rubber banned to the mid calf, this was done by prisoners who wanted to send a message to either buy drugs or inform others that they were selling drugs depending upon which pant leg was up. This bled to the outside world and became a trend. Trendy dressers are not necessarily part of the gang membership or drug affiliation. It seems that people are uneasy about some of the fashions that teenagers go through and want to blame gang membership for creating a never before seen, unusual fashion trend. Leave it to the gang task force to decipher what is merely a trend and what is a warning sign of gang affiliation.