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OP-ED: Why Children Migrate Towards Gangs

Published

10 years ago

February 20, 2015

By Richard Johnson, Folsom State Prison

The question parents and guardians often ask is, what do gangs offer that is so alluring that we lose our children to them?

There’s no single occurrence that answers this question. However, cumulatively, the answer covers a lot of aspects.

To begin with, we must understand that our youth are very impressionable and the sense of belonging that the gang mindset offers can blur their vision.

You may think that you have all the correct answers, and you may believe you have provided an adequate home structure with all the necessary disciplines for your child.

But underneath, unknown to you, rebellious tendencies can still be brewing in your child. And gangs will prey on those tendencies.

I have very little knowledge in the psychology of mental disciplines, but I do have an enormous amount of experience as a wayward youth and as a misguided adult.

My rebellion began early, from little things such as not liking certain foods, how I wore particular clothing, not going to school and rejecting church teachings.

So the lesson is, based upon m my own example, is that by the time parents realize the full combined effects of a youth’s digressions, it’s often too late because that youth is already are on the way to the clutches of the gangs.

From my own non-scientific observation, I think parents can slow down or prevent children from joining gangs if they adopt a balanced approach and get more involved with every aspect of the child’s life, while at the same time giving them the space to make sound choices for themselves.

A form of this true balanced approach to parenting can be termed (democratic centralism), in which ultimately you set the parameters for the child to function while giving them ample room to choose for themselves from the available options.

This method allows young people to feel self-sufficient and responsible for their own choices and actions. Quite naturally their decisions will fluctuate and be in error in some instances.

However, given the fact that whatever the situation, you outlined the choices and boundaries for them to minimize irreversible errors.

Unless we engage them in positive open dialogue and provide alternatives to unacceptable conduct, the gangs will definitely fill that void by offering a sense of belonging, a substitute for what the child thinks is lacking in their home situation.

Let the child know that you don’t have all the answers but are more than happy to hear what they have to say and then be willing to work hand-in-hand to fill any gaps.

I think it is vital that parents must be truthful and decisive.

And for adults and guardians who are not the parent, its paramount even more so, to be honest with all your communication. Truthfully speaking, it all begins with trust, because how can you or the youth relate to each other if there is no foundation of fundamental trust to build from?

Gangs will fill any communication gaps left open by us. That’s why it’s vital that we learn to talk to our youth, instead of talking at them.

They will respect your views more when you give some appreciation to what, and how they feel as well.

No one said it would be easy to compete with gangs. But nothing is unmanageable once you apply yourself toward a conscious consensual resolution through real communication.

Can we talk?

Editor’s note: Please send questions, letters or comments to Richard Johnson, 405-14^th St., Suite 1215, Oakland, 94612, or info@ postnewsgroup or at the Post Facebook page.

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Fighting to Keep Blackness

BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

Published

1 week ago

March 7, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum

Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025

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Rep. Al Green is Censured by The U.S. House After Protesting Trump on Medicaid

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question.

Published

1 week ago

March 6, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote today in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.

On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.

All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,” Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market dove down over one-point hours from close. The jobs report will be made public tomorrow.