To the adult world the casual violonce of gang life was horrifing
But in the distorted world of gangs risking death by getting shot was one sure way of winning a gangs respect

I was shot when I was 15 or 16
(shots fired in the area gang fight in the parking lot)
When my longs collapseduhm.. the the 22 is still lodge in my chest to dis day

See getting shot and livin was more for my ego it was more for my image
I could now I could walk around like supeman. Id been shot I'm you know I'm I'm the great I am now in my chest at that?

They show off their scars the way war veterans display purple hearts.

I got shot in the heart and um...

These are other scars that Ive had from other neighborhood fightings and doesnt stop

Do you get used to death? Do you get used to the fact that you could die anyday?( Do you get used to it?)

See i dont worru bout that till you get hit by dat bullet, see like thats just like when people steal cars they dont worry about getting caught till they get caught right? Same when we shooting at a person i dont think about getting caught till i get caught

The explosion of gangs in the last to decades of the 20th century grew under a much larger problem. The rise of a social under class and americas failure to provide hope. The children bored into a world of disitigrating family life and grinding poverty. All though there small successes with programs designed to create a future for some of those children, no one came up with a large scale program that delt effectedly, with the forces of dispare and alienaion that promted some many young americans to look for their identity and theit self asteem in the world of street gangs. (street gangs street gangs street gangs street gangs)