Word: gangs
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...Earlier gang cultures defined themselves by clothing, musical taste or - in the case of some skinhead groups - right-wing politics. Today's gangs aren't even that discriminating, determining fitness for membership by nothing more meaningful than postal codes. Hanad Ahmed and Tashan Edwards, both 14, live in east London. "I can't bring friends around my area because I'm putting them in danger, as well as myself," says Ahmed, who lives in a different district from his school. "If they don't live in the same postcode, there's a chance they'll get robbed...
Ahmed says he joined a local gang when he was 12 but left after he was pressured to carry a knife and sell drugs. The son of a childminder from Somalia and a retired academic from Kenya, he plans to become a doctor. Edwards is aiming for a legal career. Why have the two of them turned out so differently from friends who are embroiled in gang life? "Most of them come from poorer backgrounds," says Edwards, who then adds what may be the most important factor. "We're smart," he says, "and we've got our education...
...peach-colored house. Just beyond the front door, a toilet has exploded into the foyer and a thick sludge of feces seeps across the tiles and into the living room. Beer bottles, wine boxes, cigarette cartons, condom wrappers, dirty clothes and dog chow pile up on the soggy carpeting. Gang tags and drug-addled poetry splash the walls in red, gold and black spray paint. The decimated kitchen counters sag beneath jugs of curdled milk and rot-encrusted dishes. Scratched in the entrance hall is a fitting salutation: "Welcome to Hell...
That desperation may only increase, as Beijing appears unwilling to making any conciliatory move. In a familiar phrasing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang bitterly criticized the Dalai Lama on March 13, blaming the protests on "a political conspiracy schemed by the Dalai group, aiming to separate Tibet from China and to destroy the normal, harmonious and peaceful life of the Tibetan people...
Another one of our classmates, let’s call him Vinny*, also cavorted in her neighborhood. I’m going to avoid cheap Sopranos references, but let’s just say Vinny and his gang sported spiked hair and gold chains rather than Yankee sweatpants...