Post 10: Tattoos & Gangs

Why do you think more and more people wear tattoos (regardless of whether they belong to gangs or not)?

People have always weared tattoos, even in the ancient Egypt people were getting tattooed for different reasons. But it's true that in the western world the art of tattoos was not very fashionable and was regarding as a foreign custom. This situation as changed during the XXth century and tattoos are omnipresent in our today society. It can be explain by the fact that popular figure (like musicians, sportsman, actors, etc...) began to wear them, and little by little people, who always want to imitate their idol, became to find tattoos "cool" and he became the fashion movement that we know today. 

David Beckham, Football player showing his tattoos

Why do young people join gangs? 

For me the main reason of why young people join gangs is that it's now become a pop culture movement. Nowadays is associated with hip-hop, that in the nineties was very active in the fight against gang, at that time street violence was a reality for rappers and music was a way to express their distress. Now hip-hop as evolved and musicians are far from the gangs or from this violence, and what was their reality became a commercial brand for their music. They now praise ganglife, guns, violence and drugs. They're spreading this vicious message in young people minds, who now think that gangs and violence are "cool" and because of that they are more attracted by them and more easily corrupted. Young people always want to look like their favorite musicians, and if this one is a "gangsta" they still want to be like him regardless of the terrible things a real gangster do.

The rap band Rich Gang, symbol of this new rappers who praise the gang lifestyle

What link can you see between both topics and the notion of power?

Those two topics illustrates very well the notion of seats and forms of power by their attraction which may be intended or not. 

On one hand we have celebrities who indisputably exercise a peer pressure on their fan who try to look like them and their fashion which is often things like tattoos, but on the other hand we have gang members  who see tattoos as a way to represented their   membership and they loyalty to the gang, so the power of the first is not wanted but the second is. 

That brings us to the second topic, gangs. Gangs have always been here and they've always exercise a counter-power, but nowadays they have became very powerful and most important, they have become popular and young people, victims of the fashion movements created around the gangster lifestyle, are more willing to join them.

POST 9: The Draw of 'Dead Town' - A Newsweek article (February 16, 2009) + GANGLAND Video

Go there for a full version of the Newsweek article given out in class.

Questions:

1) Who is Gabriel Hinojos ?

Gabriel Hinijos is a former members of the mexican gang "Florencia 13 or F13 (one of the largest in Los Angeles)". He leaves the gang life behind and he "became a kind of poster child" because of that. His street name was "Spider" and he got many tatoos each one representing his appartenance to a gang, especially the F13 "written across his neck in huge block letters and a large black spider" in reference to his street name.

2) What is "Ya 'Stuvo" ? Explain the symbolic meaning of the name ?

Ya 'Stuvo is a tattoo removal center where Gabriel Hinojos and other redempted gang members goes to remove all their tattoo refering to their former gang life. "Ya 'Stuvo" is a spanish slang word that mean "Tha's enough, I'm done with that". This name is very symbolic, first because he is in spanish and second because when he says that people who go there are done with their gang life and by removing their tattoos they want a new life.

3)"black teardrops" (line 4) Explain the meaning of this phrase n the context of the article ?

Gang members like Gabriel Hinojos often have a black teardrop tattoo or several just bellow their eyes. Each teardrops represent a person killed in jail. Gabriel got his black teardrop at Folsom State Prison. In the context of the article, the "black teardrop" is one example of the gang tattoos that Gabriel needs to take off to live a normal life.

4) The phrase "This is his 45th visit to Ya'Stuvo" tells us two things: First, it means that Gabriel Hinojos came a lot at Ya'Stuvo (45 visit is a lot for sure) so he pulls himself out of the gang a long time ago. But it also tells us that he was deeply involve in the gang life, more you have tattoo, more you have done things in this kind of gang.

5) Getting out of a gang is very hard like the article says: "a gang banger can never leave a really brutal gang like Mara Salvatrucha 13.", But escaping the pull of gang life is extremely difficult". Gabriel Hinojos left behind his gang life and for this is "became a kind of poster child".

6) It is not always possible, because even Gabriel Hinojos who is seen as a hero in the article, like the perfect example that leaving behind his gang life is possible. Even him who has met Laura Bush at the White House, "A few months later, he was back to jail". So leaving a gang is very tough and actually they not sure that this is really possible.

7) I think it is feasible if you really suffer to get out of it. For example, Gabriel Hinojos who has done terrible things and who still has tattoos to testify of this gang life. The fact that he decided to remove those tattoos is more symbolic than effective but it means a lot, it's a sort of redemption, it can be seen as a small detail in the leaving gang process but it's very important because without those tattoos Gabriel Hinojos can reintroduce the society that before saw him as a gangster.

8) "Extremely difficult" means that to get out of a gang you need to have the strong will to do it. When you leave a gang their is an enormous pressure on your shoulders because you still have a sort of attirance to your former gang life, one mistake and like Gabriel you can fall again into the criminal routine. That's why Gabriel Hinojos is seen as a hero in his neighborhood and that he is celebrated in the White House.

9) For my point of view, the last three lines of this Newsweek article are very pessimistic on the gang situation and on the question "Can you really get out of a gang ?".It begins with great news for Gabriel Hinojos, he's became a kid hero, he is celebrated at the White House for all he has done and he is drinking wine with Misses Bush. But the final article end up with the phrase, that tells us that a few months after the White House party he was back in jail.After all the achievement and the pain hundered to get out of F13, Gabriel Hinojos has failed to do so.

10) The photograph illustrates very well  the theme of this article. On it we can see a man (most certainly Gabriel Hinojos) who is in pain because he has his tattoos remove by a laser. We can also see that he has a lot of them so with this and his hispanico type he is most certainly a former gangster. So this photograph is a very good picture of the tattoo removal process.