Gang violence is destroying my hometown

Hey folks, no sports this week. Our community is in peril, four homicides in less than two weeks with no arrest. There is nothing more important than helping put an end to the deaths of our youth.

Everybody must do their part. Anyone who thinks this is a problem that doesn't involve everyone is not being honest with themselves.

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Missing: My hometown. Looking for Danville, Virginia. I grew up there in the 1960s and 70s, but the place I called home for so long has disappeared.

The place I'm looking for was a great place to raise a family. Kids walked to neighborhood schools, summer nights were spent chasing lightening bugs until way after dark, and doors were left unlocked for teenagers arriving home in the late hours of the evening.

The downtown was bustling. Even as a young kid, parents never thought twice about letting a couple of kids hop the D & M Bus into the city. The bus station was down on Main Street and once the bus pulled in, it was paradise. Booth-White Sporting Goods, the Woolworth lunch counter, and an afternoon movie at the Capital Theater and Life was good.

In the last 18 months, there have been 20 homicides alone, not to mention the home invasions, assaults and other violent crimes. What happened to our city?

According to one city official, the rise in gang activity is simply outweighing the pressure being applied by the local government. "In this age of social media, we have become accustomed to instant news," he said. "This problem was not created in an instant and will not be solved in an instant. What has to happen is more action and less talk. "

What is happening in Danville has been the status quo for more than twenty years in other places, particularly California. In a study done by Stanford University in 1991, gangs accounted for one of the largest threats to public safety in the state. The Stanford Study pointed out that the recruitment of youth into gangs is a possible starting point as to eventually curbing the gang problem.

Gangs, in the simplest of terms, substitute for relationships that are absent from the lives of the individuals. The gang provides the member with the sense of friendship, camaraderie, and family ties that are missing from home and school. It provides the member with successes that replace the failures experienced elsewhere.

In a time of an economic downturn, the gang lifestyle can offer a lucrative lifestyle while others are struggling in poverty. Although a member may lack the skills necessary to find successful employment, the gang becomes the outlet.

Often, gang activity is a learned behavior. Parents or older siblings may introduce the activity to younger family members growing up in the household. This may explain part of the problem in Danville. "The youth involved in gang activity now are the kids of gang members. It's all they know," the official said. "It's a shame to see 11- year-olds get into the life, but when they have nothing and gangs have something to offer, that's why they get in."

The Crips and Bloods, known throughout the country as the most well-known of gangs, are also part of the Danville landscape. "It seems that the Crips and Bloods are now mixing," he said. "It appears they are trying to one up each other, which use to be taboo.

A lot of the gang members have been influenced by out of towners. If they go to prison, that's where they usually start banging if they hadn't started already."

Newburgh, New York, a city of 32,000, has a history of gang activity and violent behavior. National stories were written about Newburgh in the 1990s because of 16 homicides in 28 months, four less homicides in 10 less months than in Danville.

Irving Spergel, late professor from the University of Chicago, studied gangs for more than four decades prior to his death in 2010. "Police alone won't do it, an economic approach alone won't do it and a school approach won't do it," Spergel said.

Spergel said success in Newburgh would require coordination from several different angles. "Newburgh needs schools to identify at-risk kids and have counselors to help them. The city need jobs to give gangsters an alternative to the streets and programs to train them. It needs citizens to stand up and yell at kids who break the law and police to arrest the ones who cannot be diverted from street life."

The local city official agreed. "Schools, community churches and police all need to get together," he said. "Most concerned citizens are tired of what's going on, but it will take the community to fix the problems. Citizens need to be willing to help the police solve the crimes that are taking place."