I want to thank everyone for listening to what I am about to say because it is clear we all know that there are many problems plaguing our communities today. However one of the main issues I continue to battle in all communities throughout America is how do we deal with the war on our youth.
Now this war on our youth is about many issues our youth have to tackle but the most prevalent issues that need addressing are violence and criminal activity. It seems as if youth violence and criminal activity amongst our youth has seen a sharp spike since the beginning of this century.
This shouldn’t surprise any of us considering what our youth are facing each and every day from a single parent home due to the fact many fathers are not taking care of their kids. However the reality is that much of the violence and criminal activity that has been going up is a result of many youth today wanting to be thugs but not respecting the code of ‘Thug Life’.
Now I don’t condone ‘Thug Life’ but the truth of the matter is that there is a part of our society particularly our youth who believe in ‘Thug Life’ and this notion has been passed down from the 80’s babies to the 90’s babies to now this 21st century generation.
That is why I need to take the time out to speak this issue of ‘Thug Life’ in order to address it head on in hopes of creating a new generation of ‘Thug Life’ believers that aren’t as violent and unproductive to our communities as they are now.
Now the word ‘Thug Life’ is a word that “Evolved” by the late American rapper and activist Tupac Shakur or simply 2Pac which was his stage name. It is commonly mistaken for a ‘Criminal’ but ‘Thug Life’ is the opposite of someone having all he needs to succeed. ‘Thug Life’ is when you have nothing, and succeed, when you have overcome all obstacles to reach your aim. Tupac was famous for saying, "When my heart beats, it screams THUG LIFE."
In fact ‘THUG LIFE’ has an acronym which means, "The Hate U Give Little Infants F***s Everyone". Now if many of us think about it, this is what we are facing in today’s youth and why the violence and criminal activity that we see amongst our youth is getting higher and higher. A lot of our youth today don’t have love in their life and too many adults are doing nothing but spewing hate toward them that results in what we see whenever some of us encounter youth who have this hard knock life persona.
Still ‘Thug Life’ today has lost its way and has reverted back to violent ways of the 1980s and early 1990s in which violence amongst gangs didn’t just hurt gang members but hurt communities due to the fact innocent bystanders were being gunned down rapidly. These issues were more prevalent in California particularly the urban areas where the Bloods and Crips were warring with each other each and every day.
Now as we fast forward today, it seems as if gangs are on the raise in nearly every urban community and throughout every urban city. However the violence and spike in youth crimes doesn’t just happen in urban areas now days but it has spilled over to suburban communities where many youth see opportunities to score big in the game by robbing from those who they perceive have some money or are living better than them.
That’s why many of us have to understand that our youth today never got the codes of ethics for Thug Life that were created by Tupac and Mutulu Shakur in 1992 at the ‘Truc Picnic in California, which was a peace treaty picnic and this code was signed by the heads from the Bloods and Crips. Now these codes where designed to give order to the rise of gang violence and drug dealing. In fact the codes made certain actions immoral actions, against the code which, would become a code of the street for thugs to use with consideration when on the streets. Simply put these codes were created to help the innocent stay safe within their community.
However as we can see today, many of our youth who want to be thugs and claim to be living ‘Thug Life’ aren’t living by these 26 codes or no one never taught them these codes because many quote unquote thugs don’t abide by them anymore.
So it is time to revive many of the codes that were created 17 years ago in order to teach our youth how to respect their communities as well as understand that their actions have consequences and repercussions like no other.
These are the codes that thugs shall live by according to Tupac:
1. All new Jacks to the game must know: a) He’s going to get rich. b) He’s going to jail. c) He’s going to die. Many of our youth probably don’t understand that being a part of the streets will only lead to three things and those that do don’t acknowledge the latter 2 options because all of them think they will get rich.
2. Crew Leaders: You are responsible for legal/financial payment commitments to crew members; your word must be your bond. Now as we know, our youth today usually don’t have crew leaders and if they do, it’s usually no loyalty amongst most gang members now days when it comes to taking care of their members legal/financial payments which is why you see a lot of youth/gang members having public defendants while the quote unquote leaders get the high prices lawyers. This is not holding to one’s bond and why those who claim to be thugs need to understand code 2 and what it really means.
3. One crew’s rat is every crew’s rat. Rats are now like a disease; sooner or later we all get it; and they should too. I have no commit on this matter, well actually I hope all quote unquote thugs understand that eventually someone who is gang banging with you gets a conscience eventually either to save their own life from a long jail sentence or because they just saw someone they dearly loved die because of nothing.
4. Crew leader and posse should select a diplomat, and should work ways to settle disputes. In unity, there is strength! All disputes should be solved peacefully instead of in the streets like what was caught on camera that lead to the death of a Chicago honor student two weeks ago. That image was truly horrendous but is just one of a few occurrences that get caught on tape where innocent bystanders are attacked by gangs and eventually killed because gangs don’t resolve their issues peacefully or behind closed doors but instead allow it to spill over into the streets resulting in the melee video seen all across America.
5. Carjacking in our Hood is against the Code. I’m against all carjacking and criminal activity but it is clear that none of our youth or current gang bangers today respect this code by the way they are constantly robbing from their own communities and those that do respect it only do so because they know the people of their communities don’t have nothing so why rob from those with nothing when you can rob from others with something.
6. Slinging to children is against the Code. This is a code that needs to be abided by but it is clear that so many of our youth today are sold drugs young and younger each year. If you don’t believe me, ask how many of our youth smoke weed and I guarantee that nearly 70% of them say they have tried it once or are still smoking weed. Therefore it is clear that our youth children are being sold drugs.
7. Having children slinging is against the Code. This is yet another code that isn’t really respected as we can see by the amount of youth who are selling drugs today or are consuming drugs. Youth are selling to youth or are helping youth find the drugs they need because that’s all many of them know.
8. No slinging in schools. I guarantee you people that drugs are being sold in our nation’s schools at least the drug deals are being discussed and the transactions take place either immediately after school on school grounds or they take place near schools. I think we can all agree on this to a degree and sadly many of our urban school districts don’t conduct searches on a frequent basis so it is no telling what is in our students’ lockers when I hear reports from some youth that they smell weed smoke when walking through their hallways.
9. Since the rat Nicky Barnes opened his mouth; ratting has become accepted by some. We’re not having it. Simply put a rat is a snitch and a snitch is not what our youth think it is today but a snitch is someone who participated in a criminal activity and when they get caught they start spelling the dimes on other people in order to lessen their sentence or charges by working with the authorities.
10. Snitches is outta here. Well I feel that authorities should give the same sentence and charges to all parties involved in the crime no matter who cooperates because they all committed it. The only reason a person is snitching is because all the information points toward them and they are trying to get off.
11. The Boys in Blue don’t run nothing; we do. Control the Hood, and make it safe for squares. Well I believe neither gangs nor police run our community but we the people do so we have to take care of our streets. We must work with the police and the gangs to make sure certain standards for our communities are adhered to. Therefore we let’s take our communities back and make them safe for our all residents. However if gangs respect these codes and are willing to help in the protection of our communities than let’s be willing to work with those that do.
12. No slinging to pregnant Sisters. That’s baby killing; that’s genocide! We as a people are already seeing genocide in many other areas so we should not add to it by killing off future children.
13. Know your target, who’s the real enemy. I don’t believe in violence but the reality is that most of the killings that are taking place in our communities involve too many innocent bystanders and that is something we can’t have.
14. Civilians are not a target and should be spared. Well if only the gangs of Chicago knew that than perhaps 16-year-old honor student Derrion Albert would still be alive. This code is perhaps one of the most important codes for thugs to adhere to.
15. Harm to children will not be forgiven. This is a code that all quote unquote thugs should adhere to but the problem is that many of them are children themselves so they usually do harm to other children. Nonetheless our young thugs need to understand that they don’t harm each other or anyone unless they are trying to do harm to them first. Like I said, I am against violence but if our youth are being harmed by others and it seems that the harm against them is not stopping than our youth have a right to protect themselves to a degree. I’m not calling for our youth to murder or kill those who do harm to them but I am calling for our youth to protect themselves by not allowing adults to sexually abuse them and not allowing other youth to put their hands on them without fighting back. Still the latter should not happen if our youth adhere to this code.
16. Attacking someone’s home where their family is known to reside, must be altered or checked. This is so true because the senseless violence that leads to houses being bombed or shot up is not good for anyone.
17. Senseless brutality and rape must stop. When will it stop, when will people in our communities and quote unquote gangs realize that they need to stop the senseless violence as well as the rape that takes place in many of our communities. Rape and sexual abuse should be things that our gangs today should not tolerate and should be trying to prevent in order to protect our communities. Also the senseless brutality like the melee that occurred in Chicago two weeks ago is just another reason why this gang warfare must end and must stand for something greater than what it stands for now. I can see if the gangs in our communities today were going door to door to capture a rapist and once they captured the rapist they beat the rapist down, although I don’t encourage that but for gangs to be warring with each other and killing innocent bystanders in the midst of their violence is just shameless. Gangs today and quote unquote thugs need to stand for more than they stand for today especially when they are a part of the problem in our communities rather than a part of the solution.
18. Our old folks must not be abused. If only the 19 year old who killed Clarence (Sonny) Jones, a beloved 86-year-old southwest Detroit man known for helping others, had of adhered to this code than one of our senior citizens would have been saved from the abuse and ultimate death of him. This is why this code is yet another code that needs reviving now more than ever before. Our senior citizens should not be victims of gangs attacks, well no one should be especially not our elderly who have fought for years to give us as a people some of the opportunities and chances that we today.
19. Respect our Sisters. Respect our Brothers. This code is important because it is clear that today’s ‘Thug Life’ member doesn’t have any respect for anyone when in fact they should always have respect for others especially if people are showing them respect.
20. Sisters in the Life must be respected if they respect themselves. Simply put those sisters who want to be in gangs must still represent themselves as ladies and sisters not like males and brothers. At the end of the day, have respect for yourself and others will have respect for you.
21. Military disputes concerning business areas within the community must be handled professionally and not on the block. An important code considering that too often disputes are resolved in the streets instead of behind closed doors.
22. No shooting at parties. Parties are places for people to enjoy themselves and that is why no one should have to feel afraid at a party. Also if disputes break out at a party than they need to be resolved outside peacefully in fist to fist combat if it comes to that but ultimately both sides should just squash it and avoid each other for the rest of the night at the party. This is what this code should tell our youth.
23. Concerts and parties are neutral territories; no shooting! The same rules that apply to Code 22 applies here which is people are trying to enjoy themselves and should not be have to look over their back in fear.
24. Know the Code; it’s for everyone. It’s clear that our youth today don’t know the code and why they need to be taught the code now more than ever before this violence gets way too out of control.
25. Be a real ruff neck. Be down with the code of the Thug Life. All those who claim to be thugs should adhere to the code and be down with it but as we know, they don’t adhere to it like it should be adhered to it.
26. Protect yourself at all times. The best way for one to protect their self is to leave this quote unquote ‘Thug Life’ mentality alone once and for all.
Nonetheless, these are the 26 codes of ‘Thug Life’ that Watts, Compton, and many other cities' gangs agreed to use the Code of Thug Life to help keep those, who are innocent, safer. But from what we see today, our youth and quote unquote gangs are not adhering to these codes today.
So it is clear as I address this ‘Thug Life’ issue, that not only do our youth today need to know these codes and live by them in order to make our communities better but we as a community need step up our efforts to prevent this war on our youth from getting too far out of control.
In Detroit when we have well over 40 teenagers and a 12-year-old sitting in local jail cells on murder charges or attempted murder, the tendencies are two: Wring our hands over the sorry state of society or pass even tougher laws to get these young thugs under control.
Neither has proved particularly effective. We know that as society what does work: strong, skilled parenting; early intervention for troubled kids; the right kind of peer pressure; instilling a system of values. The best way to deal with ‘Thug Life’ is to have a "community authority" that is clear so that enforced lines of acceptable behavior are known throughout the community for everyone to adhere to but particularly our youth.
While none of these steps are as easy as just reacting to the worst offenders, but any or all of them can prevent a lot of damage.
It's interesting and telling that the recent wave of heinous local crimes in which children are suspect comes at a time when violent crime overall is dropping. Yet four Warren kids are accused of beating a man to death over a trifling marijuana debt; a 16-year-old Detroit girl is alleged to have ordered the execution of a carjacking victim who saw her face; a 12-year-old faces a murder charge in the shooting of a woman in a robbery after midnight. And nine young people assembled for a battle royal in Wixom that ended with an 18-year-old dead from being bludgeoned with a golf club.
Somehow, the message isn't getting through to enough kids that settling disputes with violence only spawns more trouble; that civilized people protect the vulnerable rather than prey on them; that lawless behavior can have drastic, long-term consequences, not just for victims and their survivors but for the criminals and their families, too.
Meanwhile, competing messages come from the make-believe violence of movies and video games -- stuff that never has real consequences. There's plenty of evidence about which kids are at risk of putting themselves or others in danger. They tend to be male, often from poor or broken-down families, and many have either low IQs to match their self-esteem or such a sense of entitlement that they lack empathy for other people.
They've had little or no good direction from the adults in their lives, and many have been neglected and abused. Chances are pretty good they had some contact with authorities before facing charges that would land them in an adult jail or prison, where their chances of salvaging a normal life drop precipitously.
Unless we as a society are willing to invest in intercepting them early and working through their families to set them on a better course, there will be a bill coming due somewhere down the road.
When troubled kids turn bad, everyone pays the cost -- in public safety, prisons and lost potential. The chances of a return on that investment are pretty slim.
The better investment starts much sooner, in homes and schools and communities. Identify, intercept, correct. Or watch out.
We have to pray for our youth, lobby to them and work with them if we are to prevent these violent acts from continuing to prolong and fester throughout our communities. Or wise we are simply adding to “The Hate U Give Little Infants F***s Everyone.” We must stop the hate and give our youth love so they can have a better future than the present life they currently have.
SAVE OUR YOUTH!
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