The GANG's all here!

In December of 2005 we were faced an imminent new year approaching. Amidst all the fanfare of Christmas and New Year's, however, was a story of a man on death row. That man was Stanley 'Tookie' Williams. Williams was ushered into infamy as the co-founder of the L.A. street gang the Crips. Upon his imprisonment in the 1980's he began to make changes to his life by telling his story, first to Essence magazine and later to inner city children in the form of books. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, organized truces between the Bloods and the Crips, and sought fruitlessly to end the legacy that he had started as a teen in the 1970's. December of 2005 saw the death by lethal injection for Stanley Williams. Sadly, we see our future (our children) following closely in his footsteps.
Recently, Allen Johnson of the Greensboro News and Record noted an upsurgence in gang activity (at least noticeable gang activity). He cites an expert who actually resides in Greensboro and is willing to help the local school district and community combat the problem. The issue is that the school board is not listening. Johnson notes the following in an article published January 8th:
Greensboro Police Detective Ernest Cuthbertson, a nationally recognized expert on gangs whose deep knowledge and understanding of street culture appears to be valued and respected anywhere but here, in his hometown. Cuthbertson, 36, is a former Marine who grew up in the Morningside Homes and Ray Warren Homes public housing communities. If fate hadn't been kind, he might well have become a gang-banger himself. Instead he chose to use his early exposure to gang culture to fight it.As a Greensboro police officer since 1993, Cuthbertson has interviewed hundreds of gang suspects and has built an impressive archive of information on gang culture, some of it gleaned from the gangs' own detailed "handbooks." He has been interviewed by MSNBC and USA Today. He has conducted workshops for educators, social workers and other police officers.In fact, on Feb. 24, he will be a plenary speaker at a conference of Canadian police officers, probation and parole officers, school officials and youth organizations in Niagara Falls.But his toughest audience remains the Guilford County school board, some of whose members expressed skepticism at his presentation last October about a growing pattern of gang signs, graffiti and dress in local schools."We just don't see it, this Crips and Bloods stuff," school board member Amos Quick, who grew up with Cuthbertson, said last fall at a forum on school discipline.
According to these statements and others school board members fail to recognize gangs as a having a presence in their constituent school, let alone being a problem. The statements made in the article indicate that members who are supposed to insure the appropriate function of our schools policy-wise are more interested in battling the topic as a racial or minority driven case to further distance minority youth into categories of criminals. Case in point:
"We just don't see it, this Crips and Bloods stuff," school board member Amos Quick said last fall at a forum on school discipline. Some principals bristled that he'd dare suggest a gang presence in their schools. Board member Deena Hayes said that the presentation unfairly stigmatized minority youth. A teacher disputed his contention that gang graffiti had been spotted at her elementary school. Never mind that he had photos."
Cuthbertson acknowledges that there isn't a serious gang problem here yet according to the article. But, his expertise and the early warnings indicate it is best to "deal with the problems now while they're still small."
So what does Cuthbertson propose, School Watch, a program which helps "build awareness about the threat of gangs and crime amongst parents, teachers, and students. Again the school board says this is a flawed idea.
Some school board members feel the initiative was designed to recruit student "snitches." "It's asking students to be lookouts," Quick said, suggesting that the program should focus strictly on training teachers, parents and volunteers (Johnson, 2005).
Now a year later, after the debates on whether or not there is a problem, after Tookie and America getting a closer look into the origins and reality of gangs the school board simply has done nothing. Apparently, everyone is secure with the way things are and trying to insure that this current paradigm is the way things will always be as long as they fill their school board seats.
"At some point we will all have to bear the cost of what is going on with our young people."
Detective Ernest Cuthbertson