Article

From Gang Member to University Professor

by José Lúis Aguirre
from El Heraldo Católico
as reprinted in USF in the new, Fall, 2005

What is happening to our youth? This is the question that arises after looking at the growing number of teenagers involved in gangs and who are losing their lives to street violence.

"The longer a kid stays with a gang, the more access he has to weapons and the more likely he is to kill or be killed," said Victor Ríos, a 27-year-old former Berkeley gang member, now a Ph.D. in sociology and a university professor dedicated to helping youth.

According to Ríos, parental attention, affection, and upbringing are essential to keeping children from becoming gang members. "If parents don't want to see their kids dead or serving life sentences, they need to start talking to them early. They need to find out how their children are doing in school-even if parents don't understand the school system or don't speak any English-meet their friends, and offer guidance without being too rough, so the parent-child relationship is preserved."

"I know parents that give up on their children, the communication ends, and the children are headed for the trash."

After watching several of his friends die, seeing them messed up with drugs or watching them end up in jail, Ríos decided to leave the streets and became a living example for those in trouble. "It is difficult to quit the gang because it offers you a kind of diversion that you don't want to leave-it's your family. I could leave because I found a job, which kept me busy. Little by little I found my way out. What's important is to find a new environment with constructive activities, and even move if you have to. The key is to get out on good terms; otherwise, there could be consequences."

Ríos says many youngsters are going to jail for minor infractions. Many go to prison just for belonging to the gang, having a pistol in their car, or sitting next to somebody who fired a shot. "Some are serving 15 years to life without killing anybody."

The fate of many juveniles in jail is uncertain because the laws have changed. Ríos, who is an expert in the juvenile prison system, says that 75 percent of the population in California prisons is Hispanic or African-American.

"We (minorities) are the ones going to jail in large part. These two groups (Hispanics and African-Americans) live in the worst conditions, study in the worst-equipped schools, and have hardworking families without resources. That is why they end up in gangs." Ríos said that one out of three African-American youngsters and one out of five Latinos is in jail or on parole.

According to Ríos, taxpayers contribute about $30,000 a year for every regular inmate and $50,000 for every prisoner on death row. This money could be used instead to pay for community programs whose budgets have been severely cut in recent years.

"From the government, we have to demand better community programs, a support net to help raise our children, better resources for the schools, and counselors for youngsters at risk of becoming gang members," said Ríos.

Ríos asks teens to draw up a ten-year plan to help keep up their self-confidence, and to fight for a better future even if they have no one to help them. "I invite these kids not only to think about tomorrow but also to think about what they want for their future: education, children, a job or, instead, to be treated like trash."

He urges parents to try to understand their children and learn how to talk to them.

Besides being a faculty member at USF, Victor Ríos helps young people to distance themselves from gangs. He has worked as an anti-gang adviser, and as a director of juvenile programs. Currently, he has a column in the Diario de Cultura Juvenil Urbana (Journal of Urban Youth Culture), www.juyc.org.