Middle Class Gangs: A Growing Valley Problem

Middle Class Gangs: A Growing Valley Problem

There is an ugly secret working its way to the surface in many of the Sacramento region’s most stable and sought-after neighborhoods, where homes are new and the prices high.

People living in these communities won’t even utter the "G" word for fear it will drive home values down, the result of having the stigma of gang activity surrounding their neighborhood.

But gangs in middle class neighborhoods are more than just a fact -- they are on the rise. It is a perplexing and growing problem that police are finding has little to do with income or race.
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But on a recent Wednesday night, a swing across wide sections of the city by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Gang Unit showed that neighborhoods that don’t fit the conventional image of "gangland" are becoming more and more common.

On the far east side of south Sacramento, investigators pounded on doors of homes in neighborhoods where prices range from $300,000 to $400,000. From inside one home, officers brought out 17-year-old Giovanni, his right ankle tattooed with a gang insignia. News10 is not including his last name because he is a juvenile.

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=24687

Nouveau riche types buy trophy houses in the burbs "for the children," and then both parents spend all the time either working or commuting to their jobs to pay for the trophy houses.

The kids are left alone too much and are angry and aimless. What better way to freak out an upwardly mobile nouveau riche parent than to join a gang?

much truth there

tract homes in charmless subdivisions.

How ironic that all those parents probably moved to the burbs to get away from "crime and drugs," which is transparent code for dark-skinned people. They're probably shocked out of their minds to think that white kids could form gangs.

flash forward to 2007 and the population is a little over 130,000 without the infrastructure to support it. Many people moved to Elk Grove because of the school system, that same system cannot come close to handling the amount of students anymore. The demographic age breakdown in Elk grove--50% under the age of 18. There is a whole lot of blame to go around.

on music and videos.

that they don't have because both parents are working so they can afford that house in the burbs.

and is still a problem-only now access to guns and non-stop violence on TV (the war-courtesy our pres), other tv shows, movies and video games and they have the combined effect of making gun battles seem a "normal" part of life and a way to resolve disputes.

Add parents that are too busy working to pay for the above entertainment, along with rising prices that are forcing parents to work even longer hours and you have kids with minimal supervision left to make up their own "Lord of the Flies" rules to live by.

I talked to one teenager that is terrifed because her older brother is in a gang here in Chico. She is powerless to stop him and is worried that somehow she may end up in the crossfire...

There was and always has been a gap for those kids in high school that are not athletic or academic.