Forum takes hard look at keeping kids out of gangs

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Ermalinda, a young mother from Yakima, came for her son, now 12 years old.

"I saw a tendency," she said Saturday through an interpreter at a forum on preventing gang violence. "A tendency toward becoming involved in a little group being formed at his elementary school."

Like many of the some 300 parents, students and community members attending the forum at Lewis & Clark Middle School in Yakima, the woman didn't want her last name used out of concern over identifying herself and her three children to gang members.

Also in the audience were Yakima City Council members Kathy Coffey, Dave Ettl and Maureen Adkison, who supported a measure that ultimately failed in the state Legislature that would have given law enforcement more tools to combat the problem.

Parents came to find out about resources to prevent gang violence, to hear the agonizing stories of mothers who have lost children and to get practical advice on what clothing to prohibit their children from wearing and how to talk to them and become more involved in their lives.

The universal message -- presented in separate English and Spanish sessions -- was to embrace your own children, other people's children and your neighbors in an effort to become strong against the temptations of a street life riddled with danger.

"Talk to your kids," said Dora Treviño, whose son Auggie was shot by a gang member in Quincy in 1999. He was 17.

Parents listened rapt as Treviño showed slides of her son. There was Auggie through the years -- in a fireman's hat, playing baseball and swimming with friends.

A founder of Stop the Violence in Our Community, Treviño urged parents to contact their lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and Olympia to toughen criminal penalties for people convicted of gang violence. Her son's shooter, she said, received five years in prison.

"What are you going to do now? Are you going to drop that ball?

Christina Pelayo admitted she dropped the ball leading up to the murder of her daughter Anna, age 13, in Pasco in 1997.

"The ball was dropped by me. I was working too much, my husband had left me and I wasn't paying attention," Pelayo said. "But everyone else along the way failed my daughter," she added, from the schools and teachers to the judicial system. Her daughter's case remains unsolved.

Pelayo, also a founder of Stop the Violence, said she doesn't like to be characterized as "fighting" gangs.

"We are not about fighting. We are about helping families that are in this situation," she said.

Maria, a mother of four from Yakima, said preventing gang violence is a communitywide responsibility. "I came to get more involved. It's about everybody," she said.

Jose Martinez, 15, a student at Davis High School, came with his stepmom, Elizabeth. He said the forum was worthwhile.

"It increases awareness and lets parents know what they can do," Martinez said.

Elizabeth said the talks made her want to spend more time with all of her children. "I want to pro-tect them anyway I can," she said.

David Cortez, the gang prevention and intervention specialist with the Yakima Police Department, said one way to protect children is to establish structure and discipline in the household.

Part of that is setting rules for appropriate clothing, he said.

"Parents, when your children ask for clothes that a gangster rap artist is wearing, what are people going to think of your kids? They're going to think thug, violence, drugs, guns and problems, problems, problems," Cortez said.

Children, he said, turn to gangs when they don't get their needs met at home. Gangs, in turn, reflect a family structure with a hierarchy of power.

"Children have got to know who's boss at home. Once it's lost at home it's going to be lost at school," he said.

Cortez said legislators who killed anti-gang legislation out of fear it would amount to racial profiling are missing the point. Behavior, not racial or ethnic identity, betrays gang involvement.

Parents shouldn't believe their children when they say they are not gang members but have friends who are. "It doesn't work that way," Cortez said.

Sadly, gang behavior can begin very young with elementary children mimicking older kids by wearing gang colors or drawing graffiti.

Teachers at the 21st Century After School Program in Toppen-ish, for example, came to the forum
to learn how to identify such behavior.

"We were seeing elementary school children trying to wear the clothing or spotting the graffiti on their notebooks," said Aida Flores, a supervisor in the program. "This is a training we were waiting for."

Organizers, which included Yakima School District and Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health, said they were pleased by the turnout and hope it's the beginning of a culture change in the Yakima Valley.

Cortez said such a change could take effect in three years. But those currently in the gang culture have to make a deliberate, permanent break from it.

"Children can get out of the culture but they have to leave it entirely," he said.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.

The danger of gangs

? 95 percent of youth in gangs won’t graduate from high school.

? 90 percent will have a criminal record by the age of 18.

? Just being around gang members increases chances of death 60 times.

Source: Yakima Police Department

Factors thatcontribute to gang involvement

? Parents should look for a change in their child’s behavior and lifestyle.

? A family in crisis can leave children vulnerable to gangs, which provide rewards they aren’t getting at home.

? Youth at risk may begin using drugs and alcohol, typically a result of low self-esteem.

? A child may begin associating with others who are experiencing similar social, academic and family problems.

Warning signs of gang involvement

? An informal dress code followed by a group of friends; Can include hats, scarves, jewelry, shoelaces, colors, tattoos and insignias.

? Street slang, use of new nicknames and hand signs.

? Newly acquired and unexplained wealth, often displayed, worn or shared with peers.

? Graffiti on personal property, book covers, notebooks and clothing. Gaffiti may include initials, numbers, names, expressed racism or hatred of religious groups or sexual preferences.

Source: City of Davis, Calif., police department