Face up to the fact that gangs are in Greensboro
Will Greensboro only deny and dream or ignite the flame of hope for our youth?
Upon assisting Darryl Kosciak of Youth First with the pushing of a communitywide program known as the Hope Project, I have come to the realization that many of us either deny or dream about the reality of gangs in the Greensboro area. I am guilty of being the dreamer: "Oh! Greensboro will overcome this! We just need to get through to the broken and angry youth!" There may be some of you out there thinking, "Gangs in Greensboro? Nah … that is just an L.A., Boston, or New York problem." Both views are wrong.
According to Greensboro Police Department data from August 2007, there were 236 validated gang members in Greensboro, representing a 46 percent increase from 2006. In addition, for every one identified gang member, there are at least five to six unidentified.
Until we awaken from our dreams and swallow our denial of the gang problem in Greensboro, the issues will only shift from a prevention and intervention stage into the sole realm of immediate intervention.
Melea Collins
Greensboro
Comments (3)
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"Will Greensboro only deny and dream or ignite the flame of hope for our youth?"
Sadly Greensboro has a very long history of covering up and hiding bad news. I was a victim of gang violence on the campus of Dudley High School in 1970 with the result being a lifetime of PTSD while local leaders denied the incident took place on school property even though an assistant principal testified in court that he found me laying in a pool of my own blood.
Keep it up Greensboro and you'll end up with a city full of angry men like me. Imagine Greensboro with a few hundred or a few thousand men like Billy The Blogging Poet?
Posted on January 30, 2008 8:31 AM
"for every one identified gang member, there are at least five to six unidentified".
I see these kind of statements all the time and I always wonder how you can identify the number of folks who are unidentified.
The silver lining in all this: spray paint sales are at an all-time high.
Posted on January 30, 2008 9:14 AM
Nitpicker, if only it was just graffitti that we had to worry about. The police department knows of hundreds, probably thousands more people that are associated with gangs. For all intents and purposes they are gang members, but the department is very strict about who they classify as a "validated gang member". It is not a title that can be thrown around lightly, but yet these people number in the thousands, easily, in just the Greensboro city limits. Now just how bad the crime problem rises with increased membership is yet to be seen. Make no mistake though, they are here and only growing.
Posted on January 30, 2008 5:55 PM