Jordan,
To answer your question, gang violence began to rise in New York because during this time the economy was dramatically suffering and ultimately white, upper class families were moving out of these desolate neighborhoods, while poorer people of color were forced to remain in these neighborhoods even as their quality of life became to also deteriorate. Apartments began to suffer as many did not have running water but were scouring with rats, and renters were often times unable to pay their rent. Landlords then began to hire professional arsonists to burn the complexes in order to collect insurance money because this would provide them with a guaranteed income that the current tenants and the neighborhoods could not. Families of color were left abandoned in these desolate neighborhoods and crime rates, and thus, gangs often increased as a matter of survival, since the government nor …show more content…
Because quality of life was down and these people felt like they could not trust nor rely on anyone, they formed these gangs to fulfill a family unit, as well as to gain respect, retaliation and reputation in an area that rid them of their humanity. More specifically they wanted to gain these "Three R's" from the New York government that put them in this turmoil. As Orejuela explains in Rap and Hip Hop Culture, "many of the youth in the South Bronx referred to their organizations as clubs and not gangs" (2015, pg. 12). I would even suggest that gangs, defined by Orejuela as "a loosely organized group of individuals who collaborate for social reasons," may have only began to carry a negative connotation because of stereotypical whites who dubbed a group of dark men as "dangerous" (2015, pg. 12). These gangs eventually turned into social clubs "designed to encourage constructive rather than violent forms of competition" and was one of the most prominent founders of hip hop culture and rap music, and therefore were very important to this history (Orejuela,
To answer your question, gang violence began to rise in New York because during this time the economy was dramatically suffering and ultimately white, upper class families were moving out of these desolate neighborhoods, while poorer people of color were forced to remain in these neighborhoods even as their quality of life became to also deteriorate. Apartments began to suffer as many did not have running water but were scouring with rats, and renters were often times unable to pay their rent. Landlords then began to hire professional arsonists to burn the complexes in order to collect insurance money because this would provide them with a guaranteed income that the current tenants and the neighborhoods could not. Families of color were left abandoned in these desolate neighborhoods and crime rates, and thus, gangs often increased as a matter of survival, since the government nor …show more content…
Because quality of life was down and these people felt like they could not trust nor rely on anyone, they formed these gangs to fulfill a family unit, as well as to gain respect, retaliation and reputation in an area that rid them of their humanity. More specifically they wanted to gain these "Three R's" from the New York government that put them in this turmoil. As Orejuela explains in Rap and Hip Hop Culture, "many of the youth in the South Bronx referred to their organizations as clubs and not gangs" (2015, pg. 12). I would even suggest that gangs, defined by Orejuela as "a loosely organized group of individuals who collaborate for social reasons," may have only began to carry a negative connotation because of stereotypical whites who dubbed a group of dark men as "dangerous" (2015, pg. 12). These gangs eventually turned into social clubs "designed to encourage constructive rather than violent forms of competition" and was one of the most prominent founders of hip hop culture and rap music, and therefore were very important to this history (Orejuela,