Post 8: Gang Activity in Lincoln Schools

Gangs are just something you see in movies, right? Wrong. Surprisingly, even in Lincoln, NE, there are gangs. This may not be a huge shock to some, but for me, coming from small-town Nebraska, it is. After reading the article, “Officials see signs of gang activity in schools” in the Lincoln Journal Star, I realized just how soon gang activity can begin and how troubling it can be. It not only affects the person involved in the gang, but also those who care about them.

The article talks about a girl, who had a lot of potential, was a student at Lincoln North Star High School, and at age fourteen she was recruited into a gang. I think this is very sad and something should definitely be done to deal with this pressing issue so it doesn’t become worse and more widespread. According to this article, gangs begin recruiting kids as early as middle school and about 400 or more people in Lincoln have connections to gangs. At this age, some kids don’t know any better and tend to be very vulnerable, meaning they are perfect targets for gangs. This is especially true for kids who come from spilt families, like the girl in the article.

For me, it’s hard to imagine how somebody with so much potential to go far in this world, could get sucked in so easily to the evil of gangs and throw all of that potential away. It just shows that it can happen to anybody and that teachers, parents, etc. really need to begin paying a lot more attention on their students and look out for signs of any possible gang involvement.

Middle school is a tough time for everybody, when the need to fit in is very prevalent; therefore, it’s a fragile time in a child’s life. If they make wrong decisions, such as joining a gang and getting involved with drugs, sex, and/or alcohol; it can have a huge impact on the rest of their lives. All we can do is look out for the signs and try to prevent gang activity in schools and the community.