Young Boys

The men who fight wars are not the old, gray-haired men, that make the military decisions but rather young boys who for the most part don’t know the full story behind why they’re being shipped off. This is doesn’t just deal with the military, but young boys on streets across this country, fighting in gang wars. Some of the largest and most dangerous gangs in the United States today are Mara Salvatrucha, Barrio 18, Latin Kings, the Aryan Brotherhood, and the Bloods. These gangs originated in the big cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami, and Philadelphia, and from there they spread out to other cities. The first step of gaining influence in a new area is recruitement. Recruiting boys off the inner-city streets starts at ages as young as 8. What is it that motivates these young boys to join a gang at such a young age? Gangs offer an outlet for young people who feel they have nowhere else to turn, which makes them so dangerous.

Before the money, killings, and drugs are involved in gang activity, the first appeal is that it creates a family environment for gang members. The reason children that live in single parent households in inner city communities are labeled “at risk,” is because the gang will be extremely appealing for them. The gang life guarantees a newfound family, protection, and a good amount of money to be made (LAPD online). In the book Rules of Attraction,  by Simone Elkeles, Carlos got involved with Los Guerreros Del Barrio so he could protect his family from other gangs and to make a little more money. “I never complained when I made less than fifty pesos a day and worked like a dog after school. After I got canned and started running with Guerreros del Barrio, I made over a thousand pesos in one day. It might have been dirty money, but it kept food on our table,” (Elkeles 3). His older brother back in Chicago joined the Latino Bloods so he could protect his family after his father was killed during a drug deal. The idea of family and protection for young boys in these at risk communities makes the gang seem like the next best option.

The National Geographic documentary “The World’s Most Dangerous Gang,” follows the gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, around the streets of LA. The gang member they follow joined at eight years old. He killed his first rival gang member when he was twelve. One of his daily jobs is to recruit young boys. He hangs around parks and socialises with these boys. He shares with them the glamorous side of joining MS-13. He promises them a place where they would always belong, always have a family, and could make a good amount of money. After that, it becomes easy for these boys to make the choice to join the gang. If these boys have a family member involved as well, the family influence will be even stronger and recruiting becomes that much easier. Once they’re in it, they’re taught they are either going to end up dead, in jail, or in a hospital.

MS-13’s influence spans from Central America to Canada, and all the area in between. This gang was founded on the streets of Los Angeles when the first surge of Central American immigrants were making their way into the United States. The young El Salvadoran immigrants were constantly intimidated and threatened by the black and Mexican gangs already established in East Los Angeles, and when those Salvadoran boys formed their own group, they became the most dangerous gang this country has ever seen. With the continuing flow of immigrants fleeing Central America at record numbers with no family, the gang is an easy solution to a lot of their problems. When these illegal members are deported back to their home country, they take the MS-13 influence with them, making them an international gang force. Due to their international force, it makes them much more effective at drug and sex trafficking across countries, because then they only do business within their own gang.

Gangs have been present in society for a long time, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to disappear anytime soon. The current estimated number of violent street gangs in the United States is thirty-three thousand, with about one million four hundred thousand active members. The situation the police face now is that their past gang raids have been focused on taking out the gang leaders. But with that, it leaves thousands of young gangsters forming their own small sections of the same gang, making them more dangerous than before. These young boys that have nowhere to turn, nobody to look up to, are very easy recruits for gangs. Its a very harsh and sad reality that isn't just found in the inner cities, but everywhere across this country.