We hear so many sad stories today about youth violence, juvenile delinquency, runaways, etc. Shootings among teenagers seem to happen more and more frequently, teenagers and even pre-teens are heavily engaged in the street drug trade, and our children are even exploited through child sex crimes such as prostitution and pornography. Juvenile gangs are common among both delinquent and nondelinquent boys, though delinquents tend to be members of gangs more often than nondelinquents. (1)

The topic of gangs will be the focus of this paper. Gang membership has been the topic of books, movies, and even a musical. The Broadway musical and later, the movie West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein, put to music the advantages and disadvantages of belonging to a gang. In this production, the most dangerous offense one could commit was to be alone in the wrong neighborhood, and true violence such as murder tended to be an accidental occurrence. This is not so with today's gangs. Violence is an intrigal part of gang membership. Part of the process of joining a gang includes being "beat in" where members of the gang beat a prospective new member to see how tough the initiate is.

I will only mention some of the other gangs by name. I do this not because I do not know anything about them, but because I wish to spend my time allowed in this paper to discuss the advantages of joining my gang. These gangs, the Bloods and the Crips out of Los Angeles, California, the Folk, and Black Gangster Disciples, out of Chicago, Illinois, are only four of the more well known gangs. What is sad is that here in Goldsboro, North Carolina, our children are starting to emulate, at least by the names of the gangs, these groups. It was earlier thought that delinquent gangs were highly disorganized groups whose members behaved impulsively, and in which there was no particular goal or organized direction for conduct. (2) Gangs offer many things that homes and families today cannot. Gangs offer a sense of belonging. They offer loyalty to each other. Gang members speak of their fellow "gang bangers" as family. Gangs are identified by the colors of their clothing and have a distinct rank structure.

With all this in mind, let me introduce my gang. My gang also offers a sense of belonging. My gang offers loyalty to its members. Members of my gang also speak of themselves as belonging to an extended family. They have their own "colors" and a distinctive rank structure. The main differences between my gang and other gangs is this: my gang attempts, through adult guidance, to create positive learning experiences from the simplest activities. My gang strives to serve other people with no thought for reward other than to live up to the slogan, "Do a good turn daily." (3) My gang learns to be self sufficient and to respect the environment, other people and cultures and to welcome strangers. My gang is called the Boy Scouts of America. Yes, this gang is for boys. Girls have their own gang, too, the Girl Scouts of America. These are only two of the "gangs" available for our kids.

My gang does many things to put youthful energy to positive use. We go camping. Not only during good weather, but in bad weather too. Not only that, we teach our members to build and maintain a camp fire during rain. I do not always like camping during the cold or rainy times, but, "If we take kids camping only during good weather, then they only know how to camp in good weather." (4) We also teach outdoor cooking. Imagine the good feeling a young man gets when he has successfully cooked a hamburger in an onion skin, or an egg in an orange peel. We teach survival skills in the woods. A couple of camping seasons with my gang and a kid will never get lost in the woods, or for that matter, anywhere.

One other benefit I offer is that my gang sports an international membership and is rare indeed to be unwelcome. I don't suppose that the Bloods or the Crips would be welcome to camp in the Capital Mall Area like the Boy Scouts did in 1994. I can also brag on some of our previous members. People like Gerald Ford, 36th President of the United States, who, by the way, was the first Eagle Scout to become President. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, was also a Scout. Of 214 former and present astronauts, 142 have taken part in Scouting. Even Paul McCartney, of the Beatles was a Boy Scout in England.(5)

So: why do kids join my gang? They join because:

So, there you have it. My gang. I am proud that I am a member. I am even more proud my son is a member. How many parents of Blood, Crips, Folk and Black Gangster Disciples members can say that? If you give me the chance, I'll make your son a member of my gang, too.

1. Enclyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition, Vol 16, page 857
2. Ibid
3. Boy Scout Handbook, 10th Edition, Page 9
4. Lacy Britt, Scoutmaster, Troop 8 (my troop), Sponsored by New Hope United Methodist Church, Goldsboro, North Carolina
5. Famous Scouts, Randy Woo (Boy Scout), America On-Line
6. David Easton, Editor, United Kingdom "Scouting" Magazine, April, 1995