TATTOOS & GANGS

Why do you think more and more people wear tattoos (regardless of whether they belong to gangs or not)?

Everyday more and more people decides to wear tattoos on their bodies, regardless of whether they belong to gangs or not. The tattoo phenomenon isn't brand new, but the phenomena that almost everyone wants to get a tattoo, or even more than one is new.  Before, one single tattoo was enough, now people want their bodies to be more and more covered in ink. Also, once ages ago, tftooes were associated with sailors, and gang members, now everyone has one. But why ? We could think that people nowadays have more and more tattoos, independently of their history background. Maybe some people do it for the seek of  adrenaline. Others maybe, to feel unique as individuals. People exist of all kinds, which mean that they can get a tattoo for different reasons: as a memorial of a person, place, date etc. Some people claim that they decide to have a tattoo to express their personality and passions. while others argue that they decid to have one just to feel beautiful, and more in peace with themselves and their body. Yet we can't deny that people get tattoos for all kind of reasons. The human race is unpredictable.

As far as i'm concerned, I must admit that I'm definitely convinced the reason why people feel every time the need to get a tattoo is directly linked with celebrities. We feel the urge to be identifies with a group, and to feel perfect. A lot of people believe that to be famous, successful, perfect, to feel identified with a group of people, etc, they have have to look like celebrities. So they think that by being just like famous people, they could be all of the above.

Adam Levine from Maroon 5

Wiz Khalifa

Why do young people join gangs ?

Gangs are often a really good alternative for young people who had lost everything (their home, parents or any other thing), or who are in a really difficult situation. The Complex situations young people come from are often related to their families, such as domestic violence, or the lack of parental supervision. For young people in these situations, Gangs represent a foster family. They welcome them with arms wide open. Once they want to leave, they can't  do it as easily as they get in. An another reason young people could join gangs might be the lack of jobs for youth, leaving them in poverty. As we live in a consumer society, people see those people who have lost their jobs are seen a failure, Which is why those young people are left in a social isolation.
It is true that not all gangs are the same. Basically a distinction can be made between really violent gangs and "normally violent" ones. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that it isn't always easy to escape the pull of gang life, but it is possible. Getting out of gang lifestyles is an opportunity, that only a few take. Even though we can't deny that a large percentage of people who leave gang life, return sooner or later, to their habits. As they were used to live a life full of adrenaline, the fact that once they leave, this adrenaline goes missing, makes them go back. This same adrenaline could be an another reason why young people join gangs. 

What link can you see between both topics and the notion of power ?

The way we see tattoos have evolved through time. Paradoxical as it may see, ages ago only sailors and gangs wore tattoos, now everyone wears them. In politics and social science, power is the ability to influence people's behavior. In order to live together, members of a community have to accept rules, regulations, laws. This helps to create social cohesion. 

Tattoos could be seen as a form of counter-power, and by definition a gang is a counter-power. Counter-power is a form of power that goes against the establishment. We could then say that tattoos and gangs have more in common than we thought.
It is generally agreed that in gangs, or in prisons, tattoos take a whole new explanation. They can show the number of times a person was sent to prison, or how many people the person has killed. 

Actually it would be more accurate to say that for criminals, tattoos are a mark of power in gangs. The more tattoos you have, the more criminal things you have done, the more power you have, the more respected you are. Which is contradictory, because for us, the more criminal things you have done, the less respected you are, the less power you have

To cut a long story short, it all comes down to saying that in both cases, having a tattoo or being part of a gang have the idea being powerful. People have tattoos to feel powerful, just as young people join groups. Which is why we could say that this topic illustrates the notion of power. The flip side of the coint is that feeling powerful with a tattoo has nothing to do with feeling powerful by joining a gang. The truth of the matter is that by having a tattoo you don't hurt anyone, whereas once you join a gang you start hurting a really important amount of people.

The Draw of 'Dead Town' - A Newsweek article

Go there for a full version of the Newsweek article.

1. Who is Gabriel Hinojos ?

Gabriel Hinojos is the main character in this article. He is the father of four children. But first, he was an ex-gang member. His gang was F13, or Florence 13, it is actually, as the article say "one of the largest street gang in Los Angeles." His whole body is covered of tattoos, either from the time he passed in prison, like the teardrop under his eye; or "the name of his gang ... written all across his necks in huge block letters".

2. What is " Ya' Stuvo". Explain the symbolic meaning of the name.

"Ya' Stuvo" is a tattoo removal center. It stands for the Spanish slang "that's enough, I'm done with that".

We could interpret it as if someone who had hi tattoo removed, was speaking about it to someone, and said the tattoo "Ya' Stuvo aqui" (=It was already here, but it' gone now). It is in Spanish, because of the position of the local: It's in L.A, where thee are a massive number of Spanish speakers. Also because a big number of the people who go there, to get their tattoo removed, are hispanics.

3. "black teardrops". Explain the meaning of this phrase in the context of the article.

When someone has a black teardrop tattooed under his eye, sometimes means that this person has killed someone. Even though most of times, it means that the person having it has passed time in prison. Like Gabriel Hinojos, who got his teardrop from doing time at Folsom State Prison.

4. "This is his 45th visit". What does this short sentence imply about Gabriel Hinojos.

  This sentence means that Gabirel Hinojos is willing to leave the gang life behind him and start a new life with his family. The fact that he is already in his 45th visit to the tattoo removal center, means that he really want to do the right thing.

5. Is getting out of a gang easy ? Quote to back up your answer

Getting out of a gang isn't always easy. "Escaping the pull of gang life is extremely difficult" (L.22) To be able to walk free, gang members have follow a few steps: "If he has served time in prison and <done the work>"(L.20).  It is also a really slow procedure. "Getting out of a street gang in L.A is about like getting a tattoo removed: slow, painful, scaring." (L.17)

6. Is it always possible ? Quote to back up your answer.

Getting out of gang lifestyle is an opportunity, that only a few know how to take and handle. Even though it is extremely difficult to achieve, people who are convinced that they want to leave their gang, they succeed to do it. It is true though that not everyone prosper. "In street lore, a gang banger can never leave a really brutal gang" (L.19) A  big percentage of people who really manage to get out, never really leave, because at one point their gang was a part of their life, they could feel like leave behind them their families. All in all, leave a gang depends also of the brutality, and the size of it.

7. On what conditions is it feasible ? Explain in your own words.

Leaving a gang depends on a series of things. One cannot leave a gang like they can leave the supermarket. To leave a gang like F13, Gabriel hinojos, had to serve time in prison and "done the work", with doing the work they refer to dealing with drugs, and using a gun. Wich indirectly means that to leave a gang, you have to served in it during a couple of time.

8. What is "extremely difficult" (lines 22-23)? Explain in you own words.

Escaping the temptation to return to their former gang life is extremely difficult. They were used to live their daily life full of adrenaline. They’re were used to live an "attractive" life, so the fact that by leaving their gang, they live a boring lifestyle, make them miss their old time passed with their gang.

9. Explain the last three line of the article in your own words.

Gabriel, with the process that he followed to leave his gang life behind, with his appointment to the tattoo removal centre, became a model, an honorable person to follow. To celebrate all the thing that he archived, he was invited to the white house, to have a drink with the former first lady Laura Bush. But sadly a few months later, he was sent back in Jail.

10. Briefly describe the photograph and exlplain how it illustrates this article.

In the photograph we can see Gabriel Hinojos, in the tattoo removal center. He is wearing black sunglasses to protect his eyes from the laser's lightning. We can see that he is feeling a lot of pain because of the grimace he is doing. His body is still covered of black ink