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Experts say many factors draw youths to gangs(Record, The (Stockton, CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 23--STOCKTON - Marcos Martinez figures he's been shot at no fewer than 30 times. The 14-year-old recounts the times he and his buddies have gone Buster hunting, his term for picking fights with Norteno gang members. "We jump Busters or just white boys," he said, laughing and sipping a soda near Lodi's Hale Park on a recent day. "It's all fun." Martinez - his friends call him Chucky - was 9 when he became a member of the Surenos, one of the largest Mexican gangs in the country. He was "jumped in" during a pummeling session that served as his initiation. Soon after, he began a spree of breaking into cars and stealing items such as clothes from stores. "I met my homies in the neighborhood and got to know them," Martinez said. "I seen my sisters and brothers do it and thought, 'I am a wetback, so I'll do it, too.' " Children join gangs for many reasons. Some come from abusive families, while others have parents who are seldom at home, according to experts. Several studies have shown that some immigrant children may be more likely to join gangs because they're often caught between their parents' culture and that of a new country where they're eager to establish themselves. "If they are not anchored in one culture or the other, they are more likely to join the street culture," said Diego Vigil, professor of social ecology at the University of California, Irvine. And they are far more likely to do so if they live in a poor neighborhood or have parents who don't speak English, according to Vigil's research. Martinez's parents emigrated from Mexico and in 1990 settled in Lodi with their five children. He said his father, who died last year, was abusive and often drunk. "At my house, it always be screaming and fighting," said Martinez, who attends a continuation school in Lodi. "I'd be like, 'I am outta here.' " The problem is not unique to Latino immigrants. Among Southeast Asian immigrants, few parents speak fluent English. So when their children have problems at school, they may never find out or know how to get involved, said Sovanna Koeurt, executive director of Apsara, a Stockton nonprofit group that works with immigrants from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. "Parents are coping with discrimination and the language barrier themselves," Koeurt said. "They stop parenting because they don't know how the system works." That, coupled with rough schools where bullies lurk in every corner, makes a fertile climate for gangs, she said. Bullies inspired Martin Valenzuela to join a gang. As a kid, Valenzuela, now 28 and living in Stockton, was frequently beaten up. His father told him to stand up for himself. So Valenzuela started fighting. He also befriended older boys who cut classes and played with guns. When he was 13, he joined East Side Stocktone, an offshoot of the prominent Norteno gang. "The first time I shot a gun, I was scared, but then I kind of liked it. I felt powerful," he said. He moved on to robbery and car theft. "We'd strip cars and use the money to buy drugs, guns and alcohol," he said. When he was 15, he was sent to juvenile hall and continued to cycle through over the next three years on a medley of auto theft and strong-arm robbery charges. During his last sentencing, he faced a judge who told him that if he broke the law one more time, he would end up prison. The words left a strong impression on Valenzuela, who started thinking of a future beyond gangs. With help from an outreach worker from Stockton's Peacekeepers program, he enrolled at Heald College. He now has a steady girlfriend, works at Costco and plans to become a certified public accountant. "I want the things I didn't have when I was growing up," Valenzuela said. Gang violence is far from a new phenomenon. But until cities and counties find ways to fund prevention programs, violence will continue, said Nancy Patron-Perez, a former gang outreach worker in Stockton. The problem is that while there are numerous after-school programs, not one targets kids already in gangs, Patron-Perez said. Peacekeepers, which relies on grants to pay for outreach workers, is the only one that comes close. "You can lock them up and do whatever you want with them, but you're going to have to pay one way or another for them," she said. "So we can spend $1million on (a city-financed) Neil Diamond (concert) and close our eyes all we want, but this problem is not going to go away." Contact reporter Karina Ioffee at (209) 546-8279or [email protected] |