Urban Gangs Can you picture a nine year old boy in trouble for something his homeboy said would be for the cause? This young boy was on the Shelby county news 6 months ago, and charged with manslaughter of a pregnant mother. The circumstances surrounding the murder was the boy broke in to her house and she stood up to him so he shot her with his five seven pistol. Do you see this sort of thing happening in your own world? Typically not, when we think of gangs in urban areas we do not usually associate ourselves as being affected or being associated. Gangs have been in the United States since the early 1800’s whereas they once were typically blood related family taking care of the need of one another, to becoming mindless, rampant puppets who have become radical and publically violent, who are discarded depending on ranks and profit. Paul Grenada says in back to the bad old days, “We see bodies lying in the streets. Blood leaving stains on the pavement. And kids standing around, looking at another lost friend and the vibe that it will not end until someone else is put in the ground. That is a scary thing to feel from people who haven't even finished puberty yet.” Thought gangs are destroying the urban youth of tomorrow they do however provide fellow associates the sense of a family, a brotherhood if you will. Gangs take boys with broken homes and no hope poverty and give them a family, a family that at least gives them some kind of identity where without it they are just broken and lonely. According to Rob White author of "Indigenous youth and gangs as family" states that the gang performs a family-like role for gang members, regardless of specific social composition, particularly when it comes to material support. emotional refuge, psychological wellbeing, physical protection and social belonging With this the points focused on in my speech will adequately cover why gangs are a problem in the United States, Different types of gangs, and why youth turn to gang life. Gangs have become a major issue in the United States for many reasons. One major reason is the unaware presence that they have among the middle class community. The middle class suburbs are for the most parts are unaware of the presence of gangs in their community. Elizabeth H. McConnell states “of 193 middle class high school students shows that 20% of them are active gang members and 75% of the rest know gangsters personally and are aware of the nature and existence of gangs in their locality. Most students of both sexes mingle socially with gangsters, and are a reliable source of information on the nature and presence of gangs in their neighborhood.”(256+). Now this statistic I believe is significantly true, but that is my opinion, because we are all aware of gangs in our school, but do we really understand to what degree. If out of 193 20 percent are in gangs then that means 36.6 people out of 193 are affiliated with gangs, but then that mean 135.1 associate with these gang members. That is a staggering statistic in the middle class community. In the area gangs are present they set up trap houses which serve as a dope running house where people can buy whichever drug they are looking for. The issue with their trap houses is that they become hot towards the police, who start to watch the house. Also with trap houses comes a sketch life that may involve the shooting of another, depending on the sketchiness of the situation. Many things go on between gangs but, Aaron Wildavsky states “American examples: murder, rape, arson, robbery, illegitimacy, muggings, drug abuse” All gangs have a label. The label is how they get their identity. For the nine year old in the intro he belonged to a gang with the name Piru which is affiliated with Blood. There have been different types of gangs since way back from mafias, clans, and biker gangs. The new trend that has exploded into the streets of America is disorganized street gangs. Crips, bloods, vice lords, gangster