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 By Steve Nawojczyk From The Coroner's Report Urban street gang graffiti is the most common way for gangs to communicate their message. Organized graffiti is one of the first signs that street gangs are taking hold in your neighborhood and is also an excellent way to track gang growth, affiliation, and sometimes even provides membership information. Graffiti serves several purposes, all of which is understood by other "gangbangers," even members of rival sets. Graffiti has been called the newspaper or bulletin boards for gangs and communicates many messages, including challenges, warnings, and pronouncements of deeds accomplished or about to occur. Local authorities should establish procedures to deal with this public eyesore. This is an area where the community can band together to show gangs they will not be tolerated. Graffiti should be removed or painted over after it is documented and investigated by the police. Some graffiti is nothing more than "tagging." An example of this is "Johnny loves Mary". Police departments and school officials should be sure someone within their respective departments develops an expertise in reading and understanding graffiti. Officials should understand that graffiti also develops local flavor which must be identified. Some examples of street gang graffiti found in central Arkansas are as follows:
This is considered gang "knowledge" and is only a small part of what gang members must learn. In fact, many gang sets have extensive books, usually handwritten, of rules and regulations and gang history. These rules must be memorized. Often, gangs have set meeting dates and read from their "Book", and discuss gang business. In a strange sort of way, these meetings resemble fraternity or civic meetings. Many gang members have told of being "violated" for not knowing certain portions of their knowledge when called upon by a gang leader to recite it.
Other gangs use other codes and alphabets which must be broken locally. It should be understood that gangs may adopt other types of graffiti or make up their own. That once again illustrates the importance of developing local intelligence about groups by exercising cooperation among law enforcement officials, school authorities, and the general public. Gangs are certainly a community problem, and the community must galvanize to properly respond by dealing with those already involved and offering alternatives to those who accept. While these illustrate gang activity in the Little Rock area, many of the same or similar markings will be found throughout the state and region. Roll call, "RIP", graffiti for a Little Rock Blood gang member killed in a shooting was recently found in a small community three hours away. While many gang members wear certain types of clothing, one must be very careful in assuming that a young person is a "banger" simply because they are wearing a Colorado Rockies or Los Angeles Raiders cap or jacket. Much other criteria is required. Some gang members have said that they joined up because it was trendy and cool while others are intimidated into joining for protection. Other kids who exhibit gang style are, in fact, only "being cool" by dressing the part. Gang members are not all black. Indeed, one of the largest street gangs in the Little Rock area has only a few black members. Several members of this gang were recently arrested for attempted murder after fire-bombing a home in an attempt at retaliation. We have also identified several all female gangs who have their own reputations that are as ferocious as any of the male gangs. Male gang members privately have even expressed fear of several of the ladies of the female gangs. There are also many white teens who are joining hate groups and various other groups who promote racial disharmony. These groups appear to be growing in number and may have organized recruitment efforts planned for your area. Recently while speaking to a parent/teacher group, I was told by a mother of her son's activity burning crosses and wearing white robes and hoods. When asked why she allowed this activity, she said she was afraid of her son and would not intervene. Any activity by or information about these groups should be passed along to your local police authorities. Copyright 1997 The Nawojczyk Group Reproduced by permission |
