Expendable Youth

...What do you do when your penis is smaller than normal, you’re illiterate, you smoke crack on a daily basis, and you don’t know who your father is because your mom has been with more men than a $5 whore? Why, you become a gang member, of course.

...I apologize to anyone who is accustomed to PG-rated vocabulary, and may have unfortunately happened upon my harsh R-rated verbiage. I have little interest in restraining myself this afternoon, however, because I’ve been informed that my small town is becoming one more battlefield for the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings. I think that it’s a good reason to become fired up, because it’s something that is permeating throughout America, and it’s something that seems to be accepted—if not embraced—by more and more people.

...When I was younger, hearing about kids getting into fights wasn’t anything unusual. Sometimes they fought over girls, sometimes over personality conflicts, sometimes over exchanged insults, sometimes over cars, and sometimes over petty nonsense that wouldn’t even merit fisticuffs. It’s now 2006, though, and all that has changed in small-town America.

...A few nights ago I saw an ambulance screaming by my house, and later learned that a 16-year-old boy had been involved in a street fight. Early reports from my neighbors were that the boy had been done-up pretty badly, having lost several teeth and winding up with a bloody face. I thought to myself, “Oh, just a bunch of punks who have nothing else to do than beat each other.”

...How wrong I was.

...It’s now a few days later and I’ve been informed that the victim had no association with the victimizer. It was revealed that the perpetrator—who is only 14-years-old—targeted the 16-year-old because the boy was wearing red clothing, and the 14-year-old was going through an initiation into the Crips street gang where he had to brutalize someone—anyone—who might be wearing the “enemy” color. The 16-year-old is now lying in a hospital bed with a fractured skull, toothless mouth, and ruptured spleen—all because he was wearing a certain color of clothing.

...The 14-year-old criminal was charged, but will probably spend no more than a few weeks or a few months in a juvenile detention center because “children’s advocates” are opposed to anything harsher. Hell, they might even say that the 16-year-old shouldn't have worn red clothing. Eventually the 14-year-old piece of shit will then be back onto the streets where he can assault a few more people for wearing the wrong color, rape a few little girls and murder a few people for kicks. He’s just a child after all, and we need to stand up for all these good children.

...The proliferation of violence has become fashionable, gang membership is a status symbol, and anyone who calls for accountability for such heinous acts is labeled an “extremist.”

...Maybe the Soviet Union should have nuked us in the 1960s and done the rest of the world a huge favor (save for the radiation fallout).