Tom Hayden speaks about his new book ['04] Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence
L.A. Sound Posse
Though never fully acknowledged, over 25,000 young people have died in America's gang wars since 1980. Would the demonizing headlines read the same if those youngsters were white? Would there be calls for government intervention?
Martin Scorsese' s movie "Gangs of New York" reminds us of the long history of gangs in America. Despite romantic fantasies of the white ethnic gangs simply pulling themselves up by their bootstraps , the larger truth is those Irish, Italian and Jewish homeboys rose into the middle classes through unions, political parties, and the New Deal .
In cities across America , members of the Crips , Bloods, Mara Salvatrucha, 18th Street , Latin Kings, Blackstone Rangers, and Gangster Disciples are like traumatized war veterans with no way home. They are raised in violence, they've committed violence, violence has been committed against them and their parents....now they are 27 and told to simply straighten up . As if they are expected to be models of self-help. Yet gangbangers can become peacemakers--- but not without back - up. Highly respected writer Luis Rodriquez , a former hard-core gangmember, has called for an urban peace movement that includes gang members, ex-gang members , clergy and people of conscience.
Street Wars is Tom Hayden's searing indictment of the neo-conservative politics of law and order that dominates current policy and suffocates inner city youth . It is about real people who have changed from gangbangers to peacemakers. He proposes a healing process for the young veterans of street wars and prison gulags , combined with New Deal investments for the forgotten classes at home and abroad.
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