Business owners see the evidence on their store fronts. Teachers see it sitting in their classrooms. Police officers see it in their daily reports. Graffiti. Clothing. Violence. While the term “gang” can conjure images of crusty inner-city slums, it is not a term that is lost any longer here in Elkhart County.
Last week Rich Matteson of Concord Community Schools spoke to local police, probation officers and social workers. Matteson is the director of transportation and safety at CCS and is considered a local gang expert. Imagine that, a “gang expert” at Concord Community Schools. That speaks volumes about the situation we’re in now.
Gangs are often vaguely defined as a group of kids or young adults who engage in illegal activities such as drug dealing, theft, vandalism and physical assault. Gang members can share a common identity through clothes, colors or insignias.
As Matteson pointed out last week, gangs can also be disruptive to the public around them and they thrive on recruiting their school-aged peers, especially those who are struggling to keep up with their studies. He also suggested that school and safety officials can’t be afraid to learn about gang members and their backgrounds and show them respect in the process. He’s right. We can’t strong-arm a thought process out of this society. We have to encourage it away by listening and helping as best we can. We have to recruit even harder than the gangs. We do that through education and a respect for each child’s potential.
If only it were that simple. Still, we cannot shirk that challenge.
It’s nearly impossible for a newspaper such as this one to address gangs without sounding square or out of touch. The vernacular of a published editorial is not the language of our streets or even our school hallways. Without much of a doubt, our children likely know more about gangs than our parents can even fathom. That is a scary prospect, but it’s also a reality.
We should remember that it’s natural for us to seek social distinctions within certain groups of people with common interests and outlooks. In high school there are sports teams, musical groups and academic clubs to choose from. In college students seek out fraternities and sororities. As adults, we raise families and join service clubs. Kids join gangs for many of the same reasons … most notably to feel accepted. That path, however, is often much darker than what society tends to accept.
So, we commend Rich Matteson and other school officials for attempting to shed light on a situation most of us would rather not see, even though it’s staring us in the face. We should not be afraid to talk about gangs (especially you, parents). Denial is not a solution, but rather an enabler. Let’s not make that mistake.
Opinion
Gang 'talk' is what we need
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