A Reminder of Reality

In June 17, 2011, I wrote my first blog post on here of substance.  It detailed how gangs are still very much alive but most of the general public and media is either unaware or in denial.  Fast forward to this past Sunday, May 17, 2015.  In Waco, Texas, at a Twin Peaks restaurant, there was a meeting of several hundred members of various motorcycle clubs.  They have been deemed 1%, outlaws, and OMGs.  News outlets from local news channels, national news site, and international online sites from Yahoo to others are leading with titles such as "Biker Wars" and "Biker Gang Shootings".  Listening to the news and watching the stories often has the same message, people saying things such as "When Sons of Anarchy meets real life" or similar.  There seems to be a thought that these bikers are copying what was an extremely popular TV show or that they live in a fantasy world.  People do not know the real presence of all types of gangs, from actual outlaw motorcycle gangs to prison gangs to street gangs.  While entire city councils and police agencies continue to deny a presence of gangs in their areas, those same gangs continue to operate.  Gangs are not dead!  This is not the 1980's. Gangs do not operate in the same traditional roles as they did when the gangster lifestyle and gangster rap took hold of this society.  While these traditional roles have gone by the wayside, so has the general publics knowledge of gangs.  Unfortunately, it took 9 deaths at a Texas restaurant to open some eyes.  More unfortunate are the untold number of young people who are victims of gang violence every day.

Video Game - Bully

As mentioned in the previous post, the first video game I am going to highlight is called “Bully”.  Bully is made by Rockstar Games, the same company who is responsible for the Grand Theft Auto series of video games (next post).   

Here is a brief intro from makers themselves, which can also be read here; 

“As a mischievous schoolboy, you’ll stand up to bullies, get picked on by teachers, play pranks, win or lose the girl, and ultimately learn to navigate the obstacles of the worst school around, Bullworth Academy - a corrupt and crumbling prep school with an uptight facade.” 

The gameplay is what earned this game a spot in Yahoo! Games top 10 most controversial games of all time.  Since the game is centered around a school, naturally taking classes is needed.  When you excel at the classes, you learn to talk the police into letting you off the hook or how to make firecrackers.  “Playing pranks” as mentioned in the overview involves sling shots, bats, and bottle rockets.  Fighting and bullying are also a central theme of the game.  Winning some fights, hence beating someone up, is needed to advance in the game.  Violence against females, smaller children, and teachers is also possible. 

The game also some sexual content, and allows the player, a male character, to kiss both male and female students. 

Bully is available for the PlayStation 2, the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360, and there is a PC version.  The game has been rated from T (teen, 13 and up) to M (mature) and won several awards upon its release.  While it may be an entertaining game to some, it is also very inappropriate for the younger consumer.

Losing Kids to Labels

Yahoo Finance published a story yesterday about entrepreneur Ryan Blair.  On the Yahoo home page news scroll, the title is “From gang member to CEO.”  The story does not mention much about his gang past, just that he was a member of a gang.  There are some interesting ideas about using lessons learned while in juvenile detention in the business world.  What caught my eye, other than the obvious title, is a quote from Mr. Blair regarding his thoughts on the education system. 

“I can tell you from personal experience that some of our brightest minds are being misidentified because of a one-size-fits-all learning environment. Because I had ADD and dyslexia I never got past the 9th grade.”

What if the opposite happened?  What if we took a segment of these students and placed them in gifted and talented programs?  What if we made them proud of themselves, boosted their ego, and gave them something to look forward to when coming to school each day?  What if we showed them how their “Thug Life” hero, Tupac Shakur, actually attended the Baltimore School for the Arts and studied jazz, ballet, poetry, and Shakespeare, and then opened some of the same doors for them? 

A colleague of mine once said that we have to think beyond gangs and develop youth.  Not only gangs, we have to think beyond labels.  We have to look beyond the negatives and develop our children’s strengths.  We have to empower them as young men or young women and teach them that they are valuable. 

Not only are those minds being lost to the “one-size-fits-all” or cookie cutter programs that many schools adopt, students are also lost once they get labeled as needing special education.  While there are some benefits to the additional services given to those who qualify, there are also several drawbacks.  A student who enters middle school (or junior high) without meeting the standards on state testing will be placed in “intervention” programs to help him or her do better on the test.  While this may help, it also hinders that student from experiencing everything the school has to offer.  These intervention classes replace electives.  Many of these students do not even qualify for special education services because the only issue they have is that they are bad test takers.  When they are given the individual assessments to determine what “label” they should receive, they do very well.  When this happens, these kids are placed in intervention or recovery classes and sometimes get labeled, but not officially, as lazy.  However, the majority of these kids are not lazy; they are just wired a little different.  They are thinkers and dreamers and often get distracted by those dreams when they are left alone (i.e. testing).  While math, English, and science are needed, elective classes such as drama, music, and creative writing allow those minds to thrive.  But instead, the school systems label kids, take away their avenues for individualism and expression, and lowers their self-esteem.  And that’s when the truancy, bullying, drugs, and gangs take over. 

NBA Tattoos

Doesn't have too much to do with schools, but I read an interesting article today on Yahoo about NBA player Kevin Durant actually having tattoos.  As the majority of NBA players have multiple tattoos, Durant's apparent lack made his image less "thuggish" to some.  Further reading of the article, which can be found here, includes this nugget,

“Plus, we've reached a point as basketball fans where tattoos are not an automatic sign of a thug. They're perfectly normal and a common feature of the league's most popular players. LeBron James(notes) is covered in tattoos, but any marketing issues he has are tied to his lack of a championship, not the belief that he's a gang member. That point of view is thankfully a thing of the past.”

As can be seen from the picture, Durant is heavily tattooed.  He just chooses to place his where they are not easily viewed while he is in uniform.  Is this for marketing?  Is it for image?  Who knows.  But the point is, it shouldn't matter.  

Many people have the misconception that a heavily tattooed individual is a gangster or thug.  The image of NBA players took a turn for the worse after Allen Iverson joined the league.  Iverson was one of the first NBA players to wear tattoos as a fashion statement.  His tattoos are heavily talked about all over the Internet.  His attitude and antics, combined with his legal problems in high school, fueled the belief that the NBA had turned into a gangster league full of thugs.  As quoted above, even Lebron James, who before signing with the Miami Heat could do no wrong, is covered with tattoos. 

Tattoos are no longer reserved for gangsters, bikers, and soldiers.  Tattoos have crossed over into mainstream life in a grand fashion.  You can find the most successful doctors, lawyers, CEO's, and law enforcement officers with tattoos.  You can also find their children with tattoos. 

In most areas, to legally obtain a tattoo, you have to be 18 years old or have parental consent.  The problem we face now is that many school-aged kids are getting tattoos from their friends.  The biggest issue here is not that the tattoos are gang related, but the sanitary condition of the equipment.  However, just like the misconception of those speaking about the NBA, just because a student in a school has tattoos, this does not make him a gang member.  Every tattoo means something different to the person that wears it.  

Looking at rapper Lil Wayne, it is easy to see that his tattoos are very significant to him.  Although he now claims gang affiliation in the majority of his songs, Wayne had many of these tattoos when he was an up and coming artist.  In some circles, the tear drops under the eyes means the person has killed someone, in others it stands for years in jail, while in others it is to pay respects to fallen friends.  And for others, they are just popular.  While Lil Wayne and those close to him know the reason for his, we cannot respectfully make assumptions.  Now don't get me wrong, several of his tattoos are easily identified as being gang related, as many of his lyrics are.  Couple that with the success of his music, it is no wonder that kids everywhere want to emulate his behavior. 

But again, just because a person of any age makes the decision to get a tattoo, does not mean they are a gang member.  As educators beginning in the earliest grades teach our children, don't judge a book by it's cover.  Unfortunately, people working in schools everywhere do not always practice what they preach (or teach in this instance).  Making assumptions about children, and then placing labels on them, can do much more damage then them running out and tattooing themselves will ever do.  There is a simple solution though; for parents, teachers, or people anywhere who wonder if something is gang related...ASK!  And if you are not comfortable with the answer, seek help.

To be fair, I can't close this out without acknowledging that there are NBA players who have gang related tattoos.  Yahoo ran a similar tattoo story several months ago about Golden State Warrior guard Monta Ellis getting a large tree tattooed on his chest.  What Yahoo (and the majority of every other website who ran the story) failed to notice or mention, is that also visible in the picture are gang symbols in each of Ellis' forearms.  The "GD" on his right arm and the 6-pointed star on his left are very obvious identifiers of his gang affiliation.