Chapter Three - “I'm Down with the Bloods, What's up Cuz?” Membership Issues

Summary

I don't know. Shit man, there wasn't no joinin' in it and it was a little neighborhood thang you know, just somethin you know, we just grew up like that. We grew up fightin, we just grew up fightin and everybody hangin around so they decided to call they self somethin since we hung around like that, went out doin things and stuff. (Male #002, “Eric,” sixteen-year-old Thundercat)

Girls and money, you get to flash money. You in a gang and girls like a magnet come to you. You get respect from people. Yeah you get respect, girls, money drive around with your friends in fancy cars, saying stuff that nobody else know about. (Male #015, “Karry,” fifteen-year-old Crenshaw Gangster Blood)

Why do men and women join gangs? Why do gangs grow and spread into new neighborhoods and cities? This chapter addresses issues related to gang membership using the concept of threat outlined in the introductory chapter. Here we consider a number of individual decisions and acts involved in becoming a gang member. The duality of individual decisions and group activities raised in the preceding chapters will be quite evident as membership issues are examined within the group process and context of the gang. Here we present how gang members define a gang, the reasons they joined their gang, how they joined it, what they like about belonging to it, and the symbols of membership. In addition, we explore the issues of race and gender in gangs.