Consider the questions: Read (1 of 3)
As you read Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.. carefully consider the following questions. These will serve as a guide for our discussion at the end of Topic 2.4.
• What factors led Luis and his friends to form/enter gangs?
• What were the different gangs fighting over?
• Why were gang members involved in sometimes deadly situations? (that is, why were they willing to kill and die for their barrios?)
• What, if anything, do you think Luis's family could have done (within their economic means) to keep him out of gangs and away from the violence?
• What was the role of school and education in the lives of the youths? According to Luis, on what basis were students placed into curriculum tracks? What types of violence occurred in and around school?
Read (2 of 3)
• What factors promoted the brief ends to gang violence? What happened when efforts (both individual and community) were made to get the gangs to stop fighting and end the violence?
• What were the reasons for the riots (both the proximate and broader societal factors)?
• How are the police viewed and why? What was the comment that the corrections officer made to Luis about arresting youths for minor offenses and what are the implications of such a practice?
• To what does Luis attribute the large number of rapes?
• What was the role of alcohol and drugs in violence and everyday life?
• Why did Luis engage in violence, even at times when he did not wish to do so?
Read (3 of 3)
• What factors led Luis to end his involvement in the gang and in gang life?
• Was Luis's way out the "typical" way most people were able to get out, or what he particularly fortunate? Why?
• How many of Luis's friends were able to leave the barrio and gang life behind? Why did not more of them do so? (What factors helped preclude this?
Requirement:
For each of the above questions. consider the implications of both the proximate factors and, where appropriate, the broader role of
• Racism, discrimination and exclusion from mainstream society
• poverty
• lack of economic opportunities (i_e_.beyond the occasional minimum wage or less job)