THE UNSEEN SIDE OF EASTSIDE
THE UNSEEN SIDE OF EASTSIDE
By Jetzabelt Morales
The streets of the eastside have a lot of young kids from 11+ already affiliated. These young kids probably haven’t even experienced playing with kid toys and are already being sent to do gang tasks, the gang is the only thing they know and are familiar with. A gang makes a little kid feel good to be a part of because they want to know what the feeling of respect or authority is. These young kids get their young life taken away from them because of gang life, they either die by getting shot or getting in a car crash because they stole that car for an adrenaline rush or get locked up for many years because they did impulsive things.
The kids that are affiliated with the gang since they’re born do have loving families and relationships but they get carried away because of the need to do something exciting. The shootings in the Eastside are very consistent, they sometimes happen every other night.
“A gang makes a little kid feel good to be a part of because they want to know what the feeling of respect or authority is. ”
I’ve experienced a shooting at my school and someone I knew was involved, it affected the other students in school because we had to get put on lockdown, nobody could get home. It was very scary and I was very worried about the person that I knew that was involved. My friend and I escaped from being put on lockdown and we ran towards the sounds of the shots to see if the person we knew was okay. The shootings affect everyone because whoever the person is that’s involved has friendships and relationships and a family that cares about them.
The people who are around that gang life but aren’t in it get misunderstood a lot. They like to be around it just because those who they love are involved in it. Those people sometimes can get caught up in the middle of problems one gang and another has just because they have some type of relationship with a person from one of the gangs. It’s hard to stay away from that type of life when the people you love are in it and you only know how to communicate well with people like that.
“It’s hard to stay away from that type of life when the people you love are in it and you only know how to communicate well with people like that.”