That ain't even cool.

Let's start off with this:

We know gangs exist. They are everywhere. The members live next door to you. They are driving the car beside you. They are at the park with their kids. The same park you take your kids to. They are responsible for unspeakable crimes. They bang on different sets for different reasons. Certain sets and groups bang on other sets for different reasons.
Let me just say this: I am a gang banger. I'm inactive now because I'm "too old." Somebody else has taken my rank. Somebody else has the responsibilities of the set I once had. I am a Blood. I belong to the Westside Ballers set.
Just recently, I had an eye-opening experience. A person I know was banged on by a gang, whose set and origin I wasn't able to find out, because she is different.
I was brought into the lifestyle by family. I didnt have to be jumped in or take out a rival. My family before me gave me the choice: join or struggle. At 10 years old, I was in. I saw things and did things I'm not proud of today. While I'd back my set up 100% to this day and lay down for any one member, I'd never advise any one of them to bang on a defenseless, different person. In fact, Id take it upon myself to make sure that member were taken out if I had knowledge of such a vile act.
Gangs are stupid, blah blah blah. All the hate. I'd never condone the acts of a gang today, if I knew then what I know now.
So much blood, so much dirty money, so many dirty people doing crazy things.
Let me explain my position:
I moved through the ranks without regret. Anybody flagging the blue color was drawn up as a target and taken out. High schools kids stayed high. They saw drunken nights. They made their way to county jails, some ended up in prison because I personally partook in feeding and supplying them with the things they felt they needed. Kids from 9, all the way to adults as old as your English grandmother looked at me for their necessities.
I fueled their hunger. When they were starving, I took them to Krekel's and bought them food. When they needed a place to get off the street for the night, I opened my trap house to them. They were loyal. Didn't steal from me or anybody I was associated with. My set controlled the quality of life in this city. All the way from our red light district to our schools and government. Senators paid my set for protection from other gangs, financial crisis, other candidates. At 15, I bought my first car. At 16, I was shot twice by a rival gang member and left for dead in Kentucky. At 18, I paid my own way through college and bought my second car. At 19, I took full-time custody of my nephew and have been providing for him since then. At 20, I went inactive. Family is too important to a set to jeopardize for a member.
At induction, I felt that I fit in somewhere. I was shown respect and loyalty. I was shown how to treat my mother, how to forgive my sperm-donating father for never being a father. I was taught the value of life, the value of honesty and respect. Most importantly, I was taught how important my family is. I was taught confidence and independence. I was taught the value of a dollar. At 19, when I took in my nephew, I had my own cars, a luxury apartment, and food in my fridge. My bills were paid and I was a college graduate. I worked in a factory, making an honest living, all the while belonging to a gang.
No, all gangs don't have values and morals. Personally, I'm glad my family was associated with red, rather than blue. Many times I saw people die, with my own eyes, because they looked at a blue banger "crazy." I don't agree with the solicitation of drugs of any kind and I'm proud to say I've been clean for going on 13 months. I'm proud to say I'm a cashier and back room stocker at Walmart, rather than a dealer with bands holding my cash together.
I leaned a lot in my younger days. I saw a lot and I did a lot of things I'll never be able to forgive myself for, but I learned that nobody hands you anything. You want that shiney car, you work for it.
Don't get me wrong. Yes, I banged hard and it was my livelihood for many years. But I graduated high school, overcame the death of some very close loved ones, graduated college, lived through two bullets in my chest, have raised my nephew and given him a life. I worked little odd jobs in my neighborhood before I could legally work. I mowed yards. I cut down trees.
I knew hard work and I knew hard work paid off.
Wether we like to admit it or not, we work alongside gang members all the time. We share the streets and the parks and the grocery stores with them. They are people, too. And, if you're lucky enough to fall into the arms of a member from a set organized and morally-motivated like the one I belonged to, you're falling into the arms of a loyal, honest, hard-working male or female, who will be there for their family and children.
The point is: So much is wrong with this world that it takes a cold-blooded drug toting killer to show some kindness and that was never the way it was suppose to be. We're the scum of the earth. We take lives and ruin families. We crush hopes and dreams, take futures from smiling basketball stars.
In reality, we give back to the communities we represent. We show kids the light when everything is dark. Yes, some sets are equal to hell. Some sets have a real desire to help. I was given the option to die hard or join a family of people who could teach me the way of life. I struggled. I fell on my face more than once. But, when I couldn't pull the trigger, nobody did.
Don't look at us like we're destroying this place. Like we are the reason communities fall apart. So much more goes into being a banger that nobody could ever understand it all or know why people choose the life, until they've lived it. Don't live that life. Just try to lose the judge mental sense of mind that so many of you were taught, had inherited, hard about from birth.
Our President (USA) has screwed up more than the set I'm from.

 

I didn't copy and paste anything from anywhere.
Look it up. You won't find a testimony like mine anywhere else.
I lived that life. You go in young, thrown out after you can buy alcohol.

 

Lol.

No, I'm affiliated now. There's a difference.

 

Nope. Never posted a picture of myself on here.

The point of this thread wasn't for hate. It was to show you closed-minded people what's real.
It was to point out the awful crap SOME gangs do to people because they're not "normal" looking.