Perfect Sense? GANGS.

Perfect Sense?

Negative influences in our microwave society is what the younger (11-20) generation fails to see, being the cause for all these losses. These negative influences can come specifically from gangs. Now, with that being said, I absolutely hate the fact that ‘Youngers’ have to fear for their lives, not knowing what or who will approach them, anytime they step out the door. At least they can be safe at school, right? I mean, teachers are usually present and security may also be there so how can they not be safe at school? Well, on the 28^th April 2014, Ann Maguire (a teacher at Corpus Christi Catholic School) was stabbed to death by a pupil. So how certain can I honestly be to say that they are safe at school? This really isn’t being said to scare anyone or to put anyone down under fear, but what are they doing about these issues? Maybe they might just act as soon as these issues escalate, but it looks like we just have to witness another mother lose a son, another brother/sister lose a sibling and another person lose a friend. How many times do we have to see, ‘I will never forget you’ or ‘R.I.P’ on social media before it hits them and they realise that they NEED to do something and make better choices.

Now, i am able to understand that the love of money is the root to all evil. From drug dealing being an illegal way for money to be made, i can see how people will get so frustrated with the 'dealer' due to whatever reasons. But as drug dealing is taken seriously, because of the money, many are killed. One reason why many even join gangs. Young ones are also now joining gangs because they simply want to have respect. They think it’s cool to be intimidating. As a ‘youngster’, joining a gang has become a popular trend but honestly, why is that? Why is that the case when there are ones who are brought up on the streets and ones whose families are also on the streets, feeling trapped?

Moving onto the music aspect, I can understand that music has always had a huge impact on people’s lives, but ‘trap/street’ music has changed London negatively. Of course many people listen and love this style of music but when is enough, really enough? They rap the lyrics and then live the lifestyle. If not, they rap the lyrics and all of a sudden, words in which they wouldn’t use are now in their vocabulary. There have always been gangs, so why is it now a problem? To be honest, it has been a problem for so long. But it’s us teenagers/youth who are feeling the pain from all the stabbings and criminal activities. I need to know, where are all the voices? If we want change then voices need to be heard, and that voice will never be recognised if it’s only ‘R.I.P’ messages on social media. The younger generation needs to understand that they’ve got a stake in their life and a future; and seriously….. why would they want less?

Everyone needs to understand that many gang members are still human beings. Meaning that they have feelings and emotions, not knowing everyones story, many may have gone to the streets to get away from other things. Many may need the money to help their family. Many may have not grown with a parent so they believe they've got something to prove. But through that It really hurts to hear and see teenagers suffering due to the gang situations. So the younger generation needs to make brave, intelligent choices to tell a friend about not bringing weapons in to school. Tell them that they can have a life without risking theirs so glibly. Perfect sense? There is no sense in going to prison or the grave. We all talk about the struggles of being stopped and searched, right? Many just had a problem with it because it became such a racist issue. Now, they need to understand that their mind set should be different. Know that they’re not only being stopped and searched because they’re young black people, but they’re also being stopped and searched because they’re simply young. The younger generation should be able to walk free from fear and more vigilance, recognising the frequency of deaths, recurring these days is unnecessary.