Gang Initiation
When we hear the term gang initiation, we think of grotesque acts of cruelty that may be justified. However, many gang initiation ceremonies are quite similar to that of fraternity and sorority initiation ceremonies. What makes fraternity initiation and gang initiation different? One might be quite surprised that the reasons persons go through gang initiation are quite similar to the reasons for fraternity initiation.
By now many of us may have heard of the sordid details of gang initiation. Before we frown upon the matter of gang initiation or become extremely disturbed by the notion, we should ask ourselves the why? Why do people especially youngsters, sign up for gang initiation? Is there something that gang initiation promises that other forms of rites of passages do not?
There is enough confirmed and ongoing research to suggest the reasons why children go through gang initiation. Gang initiation is a passport giving the nation’s children access to many things. Gang initiation brings them into the respect and admiration of their peers and sometimes their mentors. Given the rate of divorces in our nation, gang initiation is the passport to a ‘stable’ home environment. Gang initiation becomes the doorway to love and affection. Gang initiation is also the entryway into money. If one is to become the beneficiary of all these things, gang initiation is a small price to pay. And what would a group be without its own set of rules to test loyalty, eagerness and sincerity to be a part and commitment.
Children nowadays are learning pretty quickly to choose their gates wisely. Instead of walking through the gate of broken homes, poverty, psychological and physical abuse, they choose gang initiation and the rest is history.
To them, gang initiation is a rite of passage as is the bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah for Jewish boys and girls respectively. Gang initiation is no different from the very painful rite of passage inflicted upon young men in many African and Pacific cultures. Gang initiation becomes a special experience that many come to share and respect. Gang initiation makes a distinct barrier between one state of existence and another. When one has gone through gang initiation, he knows he has transcended one form of life for another and it is usually a one-way street with no signs for turning back.
We clearly see that gang initiation has its roots in something bigger than just a bad gang or a drug gang. These rituals give participants a sense of belonging like ancient cultures do. Gang initiation helps to give and shape their identities. Gang initiation says ‘I am now a part of the elite’.
Since gang initiation is sort of an entry test, there are some who will fail. The pain of failing a gang initiation is at times unbearable. One may spend a great deal of their time hereafter feeling a sense of worthlessness as he would not have even been given a chance to be a part. Though grotesque at times, one’s perspective of gang initiation and another will forever differ. Until you have had to pay a price to part of an exclusive society, you may never understand the respect successful gang members have for gang initiation. Though we must admit that gang initiation is mostly consisted of deviant activities, there are many social clubs for which their entry requirements could rival that of a gang. Gangs are becoming ever more sophisticated and so are the gang initiation ‘ceremonies’. We need to redefine what a gang is just as children need to know at a very early age, who they really are.