The first signs of gang activity were becoming apparent during the late 19th century as urban America began to develop into two widely contrasting and disconnected societies. The two societies consisted of the poor and the affluent. Goldfield and Brownell (1979) indicate how, during the end of the 19th century, the poor residents of New York became tangled in a downward spiral caused by poverty.
“The urban poor constituted a large segment of the urban population. The poor encountered staggering obstacles due to the very fact they were poor. In what became a perverse cycle, these obstacles, in turn, served to perpetuate their poverty.”
Goldfield / Brownell (1979) Urban America pg.271
This onset of urban poverty brought desperation to the inner cities of America. At the turn of the century the urban environment of the major cities was home to millions of poor people whose lives were now plagued by crime, violence, and prostitution. Without any feeling of belonging in the poverty-stricken environment of the city many people began to seek refuge in street gangs as a source of protection, excitement and identity.
Bourne (1999) states that by 1910 the United States population had shifted to a predominantly urban one with over half of the demographic living in urban areas. Immigrants from East Asia were one of the first notable additions to the population as many Chinese people made there way across the Pacific Ocean. African Americans who for the most part were brought to America as slaves, looked towards the emerging urban conurbations as a way out of the slavery that they were enduring in rural areas. During the 1950’s and 1960’s there was a large amount of African American migration from the rural south to the Northeast, upper Midwest and West as the pull factors associated with urbanisation, such as an increase in industrial employment opportunities, offered hope of a higher quality of life for many.
The Immigration Act of 1963 played a prominent part in American urban demography as from this point onwards the population of many cities began to swell with an influx of mainly Asians, Latin Americans and Afro–Caribbean’s due to the abolition of immigration quotas. As urban populations began to rapidly increase, many immigrants in the larger cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago became trapped in the ‘perverse cycle’ of poverty, common to inner city areas.
Before World War II urban gangs were built upon the protection of local neighbourhoods where gang members mainly from the lower and under classes partook in petty crime as a source of fun above anything else. These scavenger gangs did not have any serious forms of earning money and regularly based their existence on attending parties, fighting other gangs and leaving their trademark graffiti tags across their city. This form of gang is similar to that depicted in the classic film Westside Story, where two rival gangs – the Jets and the Sharks - fought each other over the local neighbourhood or ‘turf’. Also, before World War II there was only a small amount of large organized gangs who were based on the principle of monetary gain. These gangs consisted of middle class immigrants (especially Italians from the southern Mezzigiorno region) who by means of extortion, protection rackets and money laundering were able to build established gangs that included different internal divisions and duties. The first half of the 20th century was awash with tales of police corruption when associated with gang crime. If a gang had enough money then they were able to bribe the police and escape imprisonment.
Perhaps an indicator of how the gang problem would spiral out of control later in the 20th century was the reaction evident amongst the organised corporate gangs during the Prohibition period. Alcohol was made illegal under the Volstead Act, so gangs immediately began to bootleg liquor and earn themselves vast amounts of money. This gave organised gangs the opportunity to easily sell the illegal product, known as Moonshine, without the worry or hassle of more perilous criminal activities such as bank robberies. After Prohibition the gangs suffered, as one of their major sources of income was now legal for all to buy. The indication for the future growth of the gang problem in America was now evident for all to see. If an organised gang is able to sell a hugely popular illegal ‘product’ with relative ease and with astronomical profits then any new illegal ‘product’ could enable the gangs to develop far beyond those that originated in the fledgling cities.
The transitional point, for gangs in cities throughout America, came with the arrival of the new illegal ‘product’ in the form of narcotics. The introduction of illegal substances heralded the start of a new era in urban gang crime that would become one of the central influences for the huge problems facing American cities today. Drugs were available in previous decades in American cities but as the country moved into the 1970’s it became clear that they were becoming increasingly available and at cheaper prices, which in turn lead to a growth in popularity. At the same time the materialization of ghettos became widespread in urban areas.
“Together with demographic and structural changes in the economy, the economic downturn of the 1970’s resulted in the emergence of the ghetto underclass”
Short, J.F Gangs in America Pg. 228
The negative effects of poverty occurring in the ghettos of large American cities was becoming increasingly polarised to a point where data collected by local authorities began to indicate shocking correlations. Birth rates, single parent families, drug addicts, diseases (emergence of HIV), violence, and murder, all began to rise to high levels. Education in these inner city areas was also very poor and children playing truant from school soon became increasingly aware of the gangs who littered street corners selling drugs. Feelings of fear, hatred and bigotry brought on by poverty proved to many youths to be enough motivation to join gangs.
Gangs are very fluid in nature and can change daily in terms of members and locations, which causes difficulties for the work of a cities police department. Gang members in many cases are able to influence the local community to remain silent if questioned by police. This community silence is born from the fear of becoming another gang crime statistic. The rapid growth of the gang problem from the 1970’s to the present day has been widely criticised by various groups of people for not being recognised at an early stage and also for the apparent lack of success in relation to the amount of public spending on gang crime prevention.
By the 1980’s gangsters were a very influential part of the inner cities. Neighbourhoods became virtually untouchable to police authority as the tell tale signs of gang crime became intensified in inner city neighbourhoods. Notorious districts such as South Central in Los Angeles, Harlem in New York and the West Side of Chicago had now become extremely dangerous and began to become of interest to the media due to the arrival of the highly addictive drug Crack that fuelled the gangster lifestyle in terms of it’s savage effects and it’s monetary value. With help from the over dramatic American media it was not long before gangs were achieving notoriety throughout the country. The ‘Gangster Disciples’ of Chicago and the ‘Bloods’ and the ‘Crips’ of Los Angeles became household names due to the constant news reports detailing events such as drive by shootings and police shoot outs.
The glamorisation of gang culture reached a high point in 1989 when NWA (Niggaz With Attitude) an underground L.A hip hop band released their album ‘Straight Outta Compton’. The album featured tracks such as ‘Fuck tha Police’, which contained hardcore lyrics that detailed African American gangster life. The F.B.I acted quickly to warn the bands label Ruthless Records but the message was now out in public and a new genre known as Gangsta Rap was established.
NWA – Niggaz with Attitude
NWA’s album sold millions of copies and suddenly all of the clothing, slang, and attitudes of black gangsters were very fashionable. In reality the popularity of Gangsta Rap and the multitude of spin off movies, such as ‘Boyz in the Hood’ and ‘Menace to Society’ during the 1990’s, only served to intensify the social problems. Gangsta Rap soon became popular with white middle class suburban males, which glamorised the gangster lifestyle in such a way that it had practically become accepted as an American urban tradition.
It is obvious that America has failed to solve the problem of gang crime and in fact allowed it to become far worse. Even though it is difficult to obtain sufficient scientific data to accurately analyse the development of gangs over the last century – due to police data not detailing the involvement of gangs – it is glaringly obvious that it is a problem that demands improvement. The consensus of opinion in most gang and crime related texts is that if the majority of gang members are a product of poverty stricken cities then every effort should be made to eliminate the circumstances that lead to poverty, to reduce the likelihood of gang membership. This however raises very complex issues that would only prove how America’s reluctance to deal with gangs has led to a colossal social dilemma.
Bibliography
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Oatley, N. (1998) ‘Cities, Economic Competition and Urban Policy’ Paul Chapman Publishing
Patterson, J.H (1994) ‘North America’ Oxford University Press
Ronald Huff, C (1990) ‘Gangs in America’ Sage