www.exposure.org.uk created by
Actors/models used for all images
Shaun and Devon’s story When we see a newspaper article about a gang it’s always about stabbings. But all a gang is in real terms is a group of people that get together. They sometimes give the group a name, but they’re not always doing illegal stuff.
Most of the time these people won’t even consider themselves as a part of a gang, but the public does, because the media create that stereotype.
For us gang activity occurs when a group of people start to do certain activities like ‘ride-outs’. A ride-out is when you go into another area and look for people specifically to settle a problem with them. It’s not a verbal thing, it's a violent physical thing. These problems are usually not your own: it’s historical as issues with other areas come from beef that the older people in a gang have. It's programmed into you to not like certain areas because of things that have happened in the past. It’s like the football team you support – you hate your rivals. Like Tottenham and Arsenal fans hate each other.
But then you get your own problems with people your own age from other areas as well. New people joining the gang will inherit our beef. It’s the way it is.
We get into things like selling drugs because it’s a way of making money. And if your friend is doing it then they’re going to ask you to help, and you want to because you need to make your money. But don’t think that we want to do this instead of school.
I would give up all the bad behaviour if it meant I could just go school. But they see our records and they don’t want us. If school said "wipe the slate clean" then I would go and I would work. The problem is that you’re most likely to get involved in gang activity when you hit secondary school. So you start making new friends and, by the time you’re 14 or 15, you’re tight with them. Then when they get problems, you want to back them. So you go on ride-outs to back them. It doesn’t feel good if you don’t help them. Once you’re in, it’s hard to get out. It’s not like you can just say that you want to leave and that’s it. If you do that and you get seen you will most likely get beaten up.
Saying you want to leave is like saying that you’re better than the group of people you used to hang with, so they’re going to have problems with you. Some people might want to get out because they are scared. Like if they have to go on a ride-out, but they don’t have the heart for it, but they have to go anyway. Being scared isn’t reason enough to leave though, it’s not seen like that, the other gang members don't care. You have other reasons, like your family getting caught up in your troubles: your little sister or brother becoming a target. It often happens.
Jamal’s story My life changed for the worse when I turned 13. I saw the way the olders were going on and I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be big, popular, to have new trainers every month; the jewellery, the respect. They would walk through school and everyone would know who they were. All eyes were on them.
I managed to get to know the group through someone in my year that talked to them already. I used to go with him to meet them. Eventually they let us in. It was great at first. People were noticing me more. I was getting attention from girls. And no one tried anything with me because they knew I had people who would back me.
Things started to change when we started playing Penny Up, which is a gambling game. At first I was winning, but my luck changed fast. I won ÂŁ11, but by the end of the day I had none, and lost the money I had brought to school. They let me win so I would keep betting, only then would they start playing for real and take everything I had. They explained how the hustle worked, and encouraged me to do it to other people if I wanted cash. They kept my money though. Still, I was starting to call them my friends. I would hang with them outside school and go parties and stuff like that. Everything was okay.
My uncle was in a gang and I saw him go to prison a few times. The longest was five years. He was my role model though. He would sell weed, go parties and bring all types of girls home. I thought to myself "that’s the life", so I asked my new friends about where to get weed. They told me to get £60 and they will give me a ‘Q’, which is a whole load of weed. They showed me how to start selling on the street, and that’s what I did.
The money came rolling in. Everything was going cool for a while, but then the older boys started getting arrested for selling weed, and most of them went to jail for a long time. So things changed for me as well. I was on my own in school and on road. It wasn't too bad though. Girls were still interested in me. I went out with a few of them, one for six months. We broke up and she started going out with a boy from a rival gang. We didn’t like each other much because of the issue with the girl, and the fact that we were from different areas made matters worse. These situations tend to end up with fights and stabbings. My uncle just came out of prison and I told him the problems with the boy. I had to go meet someone in another area and my uncle agreed to pick me up when I was done. When he did, the boy I had problems with happened to show up with some of his boys. All hell broke lose. One of them took out a massive knife and tried to swing for me. I caught him by his hood and he sliced my jacket. He was swinging the knife and I let go. The fight went on for a while, lots of punching and knives slashing. People who lived in the street were out in the road watching, some were looking from their windows. I remember a woman crying. One of them must have called the police, because the next thing I remember is being on the floor, handcuffed and then bundled into a van. I spent the night in a cell. next page
Jamal’s story continued My school heard about my arrest and I got excluded. I was 13 and in unit already. I didn’t know what to expect, but I found some of the older members of my gang had been released early and were in unit also. I started jamming with them and a couple others. In the unit we had to stick together against everyone else. We had people in there from all the different areas that my lot were beefing with. Things were on the brink of kicking off all the time, and someone would get hurt easy in those small classrooms. We stopped going unit because some of the boys really started to hate each other. We had no school, no unit. We were on the streets all day smoking weed, driving cars, riding 'peds. Sounds cool. But in that time I saw some bad stuff.
Most of the time it wasn’t fun: looking over your shoulder all the time, never being able to relax; those boys that did relax ended up getting shot or stabbed. You see a car coming down the road and you think nothing of it. I see one and wonder if it’s full of boys with bats coming for me. Worse than that is that people can find out where you live. If you have a little brother or sister believe that they will become a target. Mine did. My little brother was beaten up badly. He had nothing to do with anything other than being related to me. My whole family ended up having to move. I’m 15 and my whole family had to leave the area that they call home.
Some of the others in my gang have been banned from London; they can’t even come back in to see their family. And me, well I’ve been in trouble more times than I can remember. I’ve been in countless gang fights, robberies, and I’ve been caught driving without a licence. If I get in trouble with the police again then I’m going to prison. The judge told me that the last time I was in court, and if I do who will protect my family? I don’t know man, perhaps they will be safer without me there. Sometimes it feels good being a part of a big group of people. You feel untouchable. But you’re not. Believe me. If I could change anything in the time between when I first played Penny Up with the olders and now, I would change everything.
Jonathan’s story I used to be heavily involved in a gang in my area. We used to get up to all kinds of anti-social behaviour, and I’ve been arrested a couple of times. I was mainly involved in postcode issues. People would come into my area and get banged up, and if we went into other areas we risked getting the same. It just works out that there are certain people that you don’t like, and who don’t like you. Then you and this certain person have a particular problem. So when you see each other you are going to end up fighting. Young people get involved in gangs if there are problems at home. You have problems and you know there isn’t going to be someone at home to help you. So you go out looking for people to support you, someone who will give you attention. It’s not about going out to cause problems for the community, it’s about belonging, and the rest of the stuff just follows.
When you are young and poor you look at rich people in your area and you wonder how they get that money. In my area the easiest way to make money is selling weed. So they do it. Not because they want to sell drugs, but because it works. And then they drop out of school because they feel they don’t need it.
The problem is that they don’t think about their actions, like I didn’t think about mine.
Then one day I realised what I was doing, and how it was messing up my life. I was getting into situations, getting into trouble. But it was just me, not my friends, and all the consequences of my actions followed me, not the other people I hung around with. Like if I get arrested and charged that is going to affect my future, no one else’s. So I chose a different route. I’ve been studying at college for three years, and I’m going to university next year. Don’t think that if you’re in a gang you can’t get out. There are opportunities out there, but you have to work for it.
Akin Akintola
Senior Practitioner, Youth Community & Participation Service I come across many people involved in gangs who regret the decisions they have made. They look back at their lives and now they can’t get a job because they have a criminal record. They can’t visit their mum because they can’t go through certain areas. They worry about their mum becoming a target. They spend all their time looking over their shoulders, and they can never relax.
Think about joining a gang before you do it – it’s a lot easier to get into a gang than to get out. If you are already in a gang and want some help to get out , it is possible – give us a call.
‘Talk to someone about getting out of a gang. Call or text Haringey Youth, Community and Participation Service on 020 8489 1410 and we will get in touch – it’s all confidential and you can speak to someone on the phone or meet up somewhere to talk it through.’
Contributors: Ali MacFalane, Andrea Klotnick, Heather Thomas, Charles Duntoye, Rui Da Silva, Jalil Gibson, Steve Perry & Loga Suren. Thanks to: 'Jamal', 'Devon', 'Shaun' & 'Jonathan' created by
www.exposure.org.uk