The description of my project is Gang Violence. The percentage of gang violence has went up from five years ago. We as a community is going down all together, Orange in particular. My main goal for this project is to try to understand why gang violence takes place. If i can do that, then maybe i will be able to drop the percentage in gang violence in my community. Which brings me to my next goal. Try to stop gang violence because it is tearing Orange apart with all the violence. I remember when orange use to be a city where everybody loved everyone as a community, as a family. That wasn't to long ago neither, a couple of years ago. But now everybody is joining a gang to be cool or to prove something to someone. You don't have to be in a gang to be " down " or to prove something. Prove it through your school work and the things you do around your community. Don't show everybody that you are a negative person, when you are really not.
I've done a couple of things to understand this problem. I asked my peers what they think on the situation. Some of then gave really good feed back, which made me think about the violence in my community. For example, one of my peers stated " In my opinion, people join gangs to prove that they can be tough as well. They try to prove to everybody that they are no one to be messed with because they are in a gang. But little do they know being in a gang doesn't make you tough or cool, it makes you stupid and irresponsible. " When he said that response, i started to think about people i know personally who is in a gang. By joining a gang, you are putting your life in risk everyday.
I chose this issue because i see gang violence going on at least once a week. And it is really breaking my heart to see younger kids than me getting into fights, because of a gang they in. They are only fourteen years old, they should want to live their life to the fullest. Instead of worrying what color they can or can't wear.
I think the community leaders can do a lot to stop this situation. For one, they can put more cops in the area that has the highest gang violence rate. Second, the mayor can hold meetings about the violence in the community. Lastly, lock some of the participants in the gang violence up. Instead of just giving them a ride home.
