In our third fieldwork, we interviewed Ronald “Cook” Barrett. Cook runs a gang prevention program and has been doing this for 30+ years. He was inspired to start this program because of the gang rise in his area as well as losing a 16-year-old to gang violence. This program helps youth growing up in poverty not join gangs.
We also learned that the influence of movies and rappers is sometimes a problem and convinces teens to join gang life. For example, in 21 Savage’s music, he explains multiple times throughout his songs about gang violence. 21 Savage grew up in a low-income area in Atlanta, where he joined the Bloods. He is one of the many examples of rappers speaking this way on their songs.

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We interviewed Ronald “Cook” Barrett. Cook runs a gang prevention program and has been doing this for over 30+ years. He was inspired to start this program because of a gang war that was happening in Long Island, as well as losing a 16-year-old to gang violence. This program helps youth growing up in poverty not join gangs. We also learned that the influence of movies and rappers is sometimes a problem and convinces teens to join gang life. He believes that there are multiple reasons people join gangs.

The first is poverty. Young men often witness their peers flaunting designer clothes while they struggle with dirty, ripped jeans. This fuels a desire for luxury items, sometimes leading them to illegal stuff, like selling on the black market.

The second reason is security. Many young people live in neighborhoods with gang violence and feel threatened. By joining a gang, they mistakenly believe they will gain protection. After that, they often find themselves in even greater danger.

Even though Barrett says these are the problems, he emphasizes that having strong family relationships can significantly deter young people from gang involvement. When children feel connected to their families and recognize that their parents would be disappointed in their choices, they are more likely to stay away from gang life. Engaging in family activities such as sports, game nights, or movie nights can effectively keep children away from gangs and promote better choices.

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This documentary was about Curtis Sliwa, who started an organization called Guardian Angels.
The Guardian Angels were a group that protected the streets and trains in NY. They hired volunteers from around the world to survey the streets. Curtis created it because he was attacked by many other gangs when he worked at McDonalds.

This made him create the group; however, it came with repercussions. People died and were injured, including Curtis, during the Guardian Angels. The Guardian Angels were a group that surveyed the streets and protected people from violence. The Guardian Angels are still a thing today, and gang violence has gone down significantly from the 1970s when gang violence was up 325%.

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Our first fieldwork experience was with Alex Vitale, a crime professor, social justice project coordinator, and a parent at LREI. With 30 years of experience, he shared some insightful thoughts during our interview. He kicked things off by explaining what a gang is and the differences between the two main types. The first type is more like a close group of friends who hang out together regularly, while the second type refers to gangs that are involved in selling drugs or weapons. It was fascinating to hear his take on the topic! He believes that tackling gang violence starts with addressing poverty, as many people join gangs primarily for money and a sense of security. Alex Vitale said that some people live in super dangerous communities, and gangs represent a support system for the kids that live in these communities. This support system keeps gangs relevant because of protection.

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On January 28th me and my partners watched an important documentary on gang violence in New York. We learned some important facts and statistics about gang violence. we learned about people and groups that worked to stop gang violence. The most important group we learned about were the Guardian Angels.
The Guardian Angels were a group of people who fought against gangs. They had nothing to do with the NYPD or the goverment. The leader and founder of the Guardan Angels was Curtis Silwa. He was inspired to make the Guardian Angels because he experienced gang violence a lot and wanted to make a change. He was constantly peer presured to join gangs and it got to the point that he would thrive as a gang member. This is why he created the Guardian Angels.
As the Guardian Angels began to grow members the state goverment started to hate them. They even started arresting and killing them sometimes. By 1976 the Guardian Angels were over 1000 strong and growing so the goverment couldnt stop them. The Guardian Angels steped in to protect the city when the police could not.
They became a memorable group of people who fought against opression and violence putting their life on the line and will never be forgoten.

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Last Friday we visited MCNY. Specifically the Activist New York exhibit. We learned about different activists and activist organizations who fought for the rights that they deserved.
Some activists we learned about were the Young Lords who fought for clean streets when the Sanitation department was not willing to clean their part of the city. The Young Lords were Black and Latino and a part of the black panther party.
Overall it was a great experience and I definetly recommend it to anyone.

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On Friday, the 24th, my class went to the Museum of the City of New York. At the museum, we learned about the transgender movement, the women’s movement of the 1960s, and more. The artifacts we saw were simple yet very important to our discussed topics. The field trip helped me understand how to directly impact these issues. After our tour, we asked the tour guide about our topics and her perspective. She provided some excellent answers that helped me see my topic in a different light. Overall, the field trip was enjoyable, and I learned a lot.

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On Jan 9th we met with Alex Vitale, the Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College. He also works there as a professor. We interviewed him about the topic of gang violence.
Alex gave us a lot of good information about Gang affiliation, how the gang hierarchy works, how to get out of gangs, and many more things like how gangs are different in the movies than in real life. We often imagine gangs are a lot more organized which can be true from movies and TV shows but this isn’t always the case.

We learned that kids who are in poverty are most likely to join gangs as they are desperate to earn money. There are several other reasons why people join gangs though. Some join gangs for protection and some join because they can’t get a job. Some even join for amusement and to ”fit in.”
Vitale told us that it is easier to get out of gangs depending on the size of them. Some people age out of gangs or maybe just have kids and don’t want to get their kids involved. For larger gangs, it’s a whole different story. These types of gangs will try to encourage you to stay in the gang. They most likely would use many strategies like bribing or even threatening the member or even their family.

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On Wednesday, January 8th my group interviewed Professor Alex Vitale. Professor Vitale works at Brooklyn College and coordinates the Policing and Social Justice Project. We learned that Mr. Vitale’s project works with community-based organizations that address violence problems in high-crime communities. He has spent 30 years in this field. We talked about how he works with gang-involved people to mediate gang disputes. Alex would travel around the country to speak with people in that area about what they do to mitigate Gang Violence.

He told us that there are several meanings to gangs. He said gangs could range from friend groups that go everywhere together vs. 4-5 people that sell drugs and firearms or do illegal operations. Professor Vitale told us that people join gangs for several reasons. They join because of employment, protection, and entertainment. That mutual protection is very valuable to some people so that is a big reason young adults join gangs. He also mentioned that Gangs stay relevant because of these ideas.

We asked Professor Vitale more in-depth questions. One of the questions we asked him was about gang violence’s supply of drugs and firearms. He simply tells us that Gang turf is usually in places where guns and drugs are very easily accessible. That is why Gangs have these supplies. He also tells us that even though Texas is an easier place to get guns than New York, guns are still available easily in any high-violence area. Typically leaving gangs is easier than portrayed in the media. Some people just grow out of gang life. But it’s hard for gang members to leave gangs because they struggle to get a job and they cannot financially support themselves. However, on the West Coast, people struggle to leave gangs because they are “betraying the gangs”.

At the end of the interview, he told us we could get involved by contacting some youth organization that he would send us. He also tells us that Gangs are portrayed way differently than in movies and overall he taught us a lot of facts.

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