Discussing the territorial issues of gang colours and the impact they have on community members.
So they are renovating buildings in a known “bloodz” area putting a blue covering on the exterior…WHAT? For many of us, living in the JF is a problem because of the notorious implications that the gangs residing in the area inflict. For myself, leaving the house is a complicated issue, as my mother is very frightened of the colours we wear sometimes. Being well aware of the fact that we do in fact live inside a Blood area, technically, she has a hard time allowing us to wear either blue or red. With popular quotes such as ” Eh,ah, you know what kind of area we live in!” and “The police will stop you if you wear this!”, my mother in her deep Nigerian accent authoritatively tells us these things in fear. I wonder, if it has effected us this much, then how much more fear can these simple primary colours instill into us?
My question is, “why a blue cover”? What are “they” trying to do? Why not renovate it from the inside rather than the outside.Some concerns that i do have as a resident from the buildings is what type of problems will happen within the neighborhood..Will there be more beef with youth?..How are youth living in the building that consider themselves as “bloodz” react to this?
Criminals, gangs, even colours, will always be a part of a normal society, but the it’s how law and order handles these issues that makes a difference. In this case, I think the government is trying to impose power and control over territories to make believe that gangs and their colours definately don’t influence geographical land and territories. Their success in delivering this message across, may even make the community feel safer than before and instill a positive impression about the government within everyone.
First of all there are no “real ” gangs in Jane and Finch, mans from different “turfs” will beef with one another and sometimes draw friends into this beef causing for turf wars. Some of them might come from an area that the media helps to reinforce as a blood area, and crip area where the stigma is put there and those in the community buy into it. So ya i wear red and i live in a certain area, and i wear blue and im in another area im I automatically gang affiliated? what if one day i wear a blue shirt in an area full of bloods? In a real “gang” area i would be shot dead on the spot no questions asked (eg L.A, certain areas in America). Dudes don’t beef over colours in JNF. Its deeper than that, if mans from different turfs are beefing its deeply rooted to a more complex issue that is not seen by the media, because the media often twist the facts around and never give you the real story. We see dudes wearing a red bandana one day then chill with next set of dudes and rock blue ones are these gangsters? We see these in school uniforms, why are school colours Red in one area and blue in another? Are we sytematically trained to follow one colour over the other based on our environment? You want to paint a building blue in an existing blood area your just asking for vandalization. If you “know” this area is stigmatized and labelled by the media as a blood area, why would you further perpetuate the stereotype by painting a building blue? Do you put crack on the table in front of a crackhead and expect them not to use it? Do you put stacks of money in front of a homeless person and expect them not to steal it? If you know the obvious, its best to refrain, or else youth will be detained, arrested, and further continue on with the criminalization feeding into this falsified “bloods” vs “crips” mentality when in reality its just regular beef, just like in any other area.
Now it’s funny how we can talk about “colors” and automatically we bring up “Gang!” or “turf war!”
First of all, Femi I like your examples about the homeless guy as well as the crackhead… if something is that obvious then you really don’t do it! At the same though, it is up to us the insure that we ourselves do not feed into the sterotype placed upon us over the years. A lot of the times the things that come up in regards to “color”, “beef”, “turf” or “gang” is mostly caused by pride or principle…!
For example ,if someone feels that they are being disrespected or that they are being played for a fool… they would most likely want to “war” about it, instead of talk about it… because talking is for “punks” especially if it’s with someone from “off the block” so you start “beefing” with them because you feel that you must take ownership over where you live (turf)!
Now… the “colors” blue & red are not so much “a gang thing” it’s more of away to indentify your side from the other side just like how each area has its own name so that you can identify it better on a map or GPS.
All I can really say is at the end of the day if you put people in a box, one of two things will happen… either people will try to find away out, or they’ll become complacent and stuck in the moment!
Sooooo… are ‘gangs’ just a thing the media has created in an attempt to instill fear into the public or just to get a good story or are we just classifying these young people who are ‘at risk’ to sort of separate them from the community instead of taking correct action??? Because to me, it’s a huge tug-of-war between these youth and the rest of whoever may be involved.
I think the medias interpretation of the word “gang” doesnt even have a solid definition. when they see violence in a priority neighborhood with black or minority males involved it is a “gang affiliated crime”. in the jane and finch area i dont think they are any gangs. just like any other neighboorhood people affiliate with different street signs or corners. there is lane then theres connections, there is uptop then there is shoreham, although certain individuals in lane might not get along with certain individuals in shoreham, why must we attach a red or blue bandana to both individuals? the media does not understand the issues in this community so it is very easy for them to just call it gang related, people will read that and what is the media there for if they are not giving the viewers an listeners something they want to hear or read about?
The word “Gang” is just a classification to explain what you don’t know!
Just like how people think all “Black” people are Jamaican, or all “homeless” people are mentally sick… if you don’t know what something is you name it!
Well that’s a fact. But, then, if this is also true, then why do these same men affiliate themselves with this term, ‘gang’? What’s the meaning behind it? Or rather, What’s Behind The Colours?
I see several really well thought out points everywhere. It’s not really surprising that every blogger here understands what truly is “behind the colours.” Why is that? Simple, all (or most) people posting live in a “priority neighbourhood.” I wonder what a police officer would think if he/she read our posts… Anyways, personally when I moved into the Jane and Finch area (more specifically “lane”) back in 2007, I was a terrified 14 year old boy of what might happen to me in the neighbourhood especially since I knew it was a “blood” area. I thought along the lines of Enoruwa’s mother and assumed I might have to watch how I dress. Now going back to Femi’s point, people don’t even care what colours you wear. The term “gang” is misused and outdated without a doubt. What’s disturbing is that it appears over and over again in our articles. Since the newspaper editor holds full power in what is covered, usually the reader is left with an unclear statement that completely manipulates the meaning of the word “gang.” This of course makes these stories inaccurate accounts of what happened. The word’s implications are so misleading and gangs don’t really exist in low income areas. As for the renovation of the particular building, I don’t know how that’s going to effect the city and the building itself, but I hope it won’t lead to any violent outrages. It shouldn’t if colours are as meaningless today in Jane and Finch as I think they are.
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