It's sad, but the cycle isn't going to be broken if we have to wait on former bangers and dealers to get ahold of common sense and become productive in the communities
Everytime one leaves the life, a couple of more lost pawns come to take their place and so on. It's frustrating
While rehabilitation is needed, the priority should be taking care of the innocent everyday people in these communities and creating safe environments for growth and ownership for our people. It's hard to focus on that when parents have to worry about their kids getting home safe
I think we're mostly on the same page....
You don't "wait" for them to get a hold of common sense, you get in their business and get to making it happen. That Homeboy Industries thing started with just 1 guy getting himself involved in the neighborhood and now serves 10,000 guys a year....literally thousands of people have left the life due to that work.
If you ignore them, they'll keep on turning the little ones into the life. If you fight them with their own tactics, they'll just dig in deeper and the root issues that led them into the life in the first place will never change. yeah, there are "innocent everyday people" in the communities, but half of them have the same problems that the gangbangers have and are doing their own self-destructive behavior to some degree or another. We can't just patrol and secure, we've got to address the root moral/family/educational/social issues that are causing the mess.
Suburban kids are f'd up too, but they hardly do this level of violence because they have something else to live for. That "something else to live for" is what we have to be giving the young people.
