Jordan's Blog

the reason being for this post is to reflect on what we have recently read as a response or a report to the struggle of Latin American migrants and their attempt to find steady and dependable lives in the United States. As a person who is in believe that the way of society that is taken place in these countries where struggles occur to seize the pressure applied to all kinds of personal from powerful gangs is completely inhumane and unorthodox.

Life is tough in all aspects, though as a college student, believing that I am in a struggle just trying to end the semester so I can enjoy my summer, these people have gone through literal hell and back attempt to gain a better opportunity at working a decent job and making a living to support a family. This book has been an eye opener, to the risks that people are willing to take, the amount of pressure these gangs place on people and the attempt to terrorize innocent people just because these gangs have infiltrated government and politics and there is no logical way of stopping them from a local perspective. This raises the question as to when and how does the state or national government become involved in order to make their countries or cities a better place for opportunity so that their population does not have the desire to leave the country based on threaten circumstances that they must live in or travel within in order to make that better living.

The struggle is real and we just sit back and watch. It raises eyebrows on how the situation was or is being handle although our laws are strict and we send them back to their countries as to where they come. It should then be placed on the shoulders of their national governments to make an effort to rid of the disease that plagues them and step forth an effort to improve the conditions in which these people are fleeing from.

As the semester is coming to a close and as we are finishing up our last book for the semester, I was interested to see what Martinez’s views and understandings were and what was the main focus for his adaption to write his book, “The Beast.” Throughout the book, we experience a vast majority of the struggle millions go through as they attempt to leave behind a life that is filled with controversy and terror to a life where there can be promise and steady work in a country that allows such, the United States of America.

As we were able to witness through the eyes of Martinez of the struggle and how exactly these migrants or people were able to accomplish what they had to do to reach their eventual goal, we find the true brutality of the struggle for millions in search of a new life in the United States. In a interview given by Martinez, soon after the book was published in English for the American audience to gain a glimpse into the struggle and horror of the path to America for these Central and South American migrants, he states that the purpose or the hope in which Americans are able to understand through the book is the brutal struggle that these people go through as well as to open the eyes of the American people into a humanitiarian crisis within these struggles.

We talk about the underground economy here in America as seeing one as a struggle between deals and transactions being committed under the eyes of society. The same can be said of the migrants coming to America, although their struggle results in more brutality and death, coming at the threat of the powerhouse known as the Los Zetas, leading the charge in the attempt to grow as a terror through their efforts to control the migrant trails and gain resources and capital in any possible way while extorting migrants looking for a better way of living.

http://www.texasobserver.org/oscar-martinez-new-book-beast-plight-migrants-exploited-organized-crime/

As a class we have begun to dig into the last and final installment of what our Gang’s class has to offer to us in reference to the final book we will be reading entitled, The Beast, By Oscar Martinez. As we dig into the beginning chapters, a name pops up in the beginning that can draw the attention to those reading and make one curious as how they relate to the story that is to be told. Los Zetas is considered to be a influential gang within the Mexican society, but not only in Mexico but from Guatemala and El Salvador stretching into the United States. As some may dig deeper into the history into how they were to become an operating force in these Central American countries as myself, I stumble upon an article that depicts what exactly the gang is doing and how they seem to be growing as in gaining territory into the United States.

The best way for these gangs to gain more members is through the prison system as to where they have connections on the inside and continue to recruit members from former gangs as to get rid of competition and create more personal for their own operations. The worst feeling for the United States from this is that we are having a very powerful, violent gang enter into the United States territory and stepping up their recruitment efforts to grow their business and become more powerful and terrorizing within the communities of individuals that could soon become victims to these gangs.

This only means that there is a need for an attempt to put aside these troubles and put forth an effort to seduce these efforts presented by this gang in order to gang a fix on the violence that occurs at the hands of this gang as well as an attempt to show support to those who may be in trouble of gang influence to become apart of this violence group.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/7/ruthless-mexican-drug-cartel-recruiting-in-the-us/?page=all

As the year is coming to an end and as we discussed recent material in class time, we recently discussed the more recent book we have finished, Adios Nino and watched a small segment of the movie, G-Dog, in reference to Greg Boyle and his industry, Home Boy Industries. The last chapter in the book, as well as the movie are closely similar in discussing the aspects of what it takes for people to leave the gang life, using the resoruces that are available to them in their region of living. As we have read in the book, Levenson mentions the Pentacostal churches in Guatemala and their role of what they do to help individuals that have been affected by gang life and the violence that had occured in Guatemala over the years and how they can escape their current situations to attempt to resolve troubling lifestyles.

It’s important to note that these churches and groups are the leading provider in the country to provide such services as the attempt to preform reform within individuals so they can better their lives and get out of the violence that is in the gang life. The similar aspect can be said for the opportunities provided by Greg Boyle through his Home Boy Industries network for former gang members and convicts. Though criteria is provided for these people to pass in order to gain the help that they desire, it comes at a great cause as we were able to witness in a small sample, as most people who join our able to gain access to help and the resources needed to obtain a life that is gang free and return to the standard norm of what we consume to be as the american lifestyle.

In a recent article published a few short days ago, describe a nearly 6 week investigation into the use of the typical street gang member being used as part of a bigger, transcontinental criminal organization as an attempt to supply these gang members with drugs and other things in order to sell on the streets of the United States. The United States department of Homeland Security made an effort to combat these members of gangs in an attempt perhaps to focus on what these gangs are being used for and how affected is the movement of drugs from the Central American societies establishing ways to get their produces sold in the United States economy.

These cartels that are using the smaller street gangs to gain access into the United States economy while attempting to distribute their drugs. What has been noticed by Homeland Security is that these cartels do not normally have connections or strong ties with these gangs that are in control of the streets in the United States. Though these connections are through border towns mainly in Texas and are described to be the focal point of the investigation developed by Homeland Security, witnessed that these cartels will go to full length to ensure their products are well protected and being delivered to proper locations or personal, or else they will resort to violence when they need to.

So what does this investigation do for the American government is that it allows to understand what exactly is the problem with cartels and their influence in the United States that has led to the growing violence within the United States, though it should allow the government to adapt and create changes to a system in which it provides better discipline to be able to control these types of affairs.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/04/11/authorities-acknowledge-us-street-gangs-are-foot-soldiers-for-transnational-criminal-groups/

Following what seemed to be harsh rules and laws passed by former ruler and dictator of Guatemala Jorge Ubico, the people of Guatemala wanted changed and needed to present resistance towards ruler of a capitalist mindset and wanted to present the country with a democratic society. Unrest in Guatemala presented it’s opportunity near the end of the second world war, which led to the resignation of Ubico and the installment attempt of the democratic government and an attempt to limit and control the involvement of organized labor and capitalist companies taking advantage of these conditions that were established in the society.

10 years of spring was known as this time period were Guatemalans voted for their president, though as it has been witnessed, they were really under military control, as well as the attempt to form unions against the organized laborers that controlled or were main sponsors to low wage labor work environments that contributed to the ideology of a capitalist society, the most notable company involved was the United Fruit Company.

With the CIA coup in 1954, the revolution came to an end and the installment of military dictators gained control over the Guatemalan government. These companies that were installed into Guatemalan society and were using their land were mostly supportive of these military leaders to ensure that American companies were to gain control of their land and use the cheap labor to attempt to gain massive amounts of resources and gain the greatest amount of capital it can achieve.

The outcome of the revolution was that the Guatemalan people attempt to seize some control of the government authority in order to gain freedom and rights that did not exist due to capitalist society and tyrant like qualities of companies taking advantage of cheap labor and access to lands. The Coup helped reinstall favorable leaders to those companies in order to gain the majority of control to support said companies.

As I have come to the conclusion of the novel Always Running written by Luis Rodriguez, several thoughts and emotions come to my mind about how he managed to get out of the gang life and what effect that the gang life had on his life, even to this day. The amount of violence that surrounded his life up until the point in his life where he managed to understand that the gang life will either get him killed or led to a life behind bars serving time for a crime in which he probably would have committed through peer pressure in an effort to ensure that he was truly a key member of his gang society and culture.

The effect that the gang life had on Rodriguez makes me believe that people can truly change their appearance and lifestyle as long as they can be able to put forth the effort to do so and therefore this story of his life and how he became the person in which he is to this day can have an effect on others that are willing to take the chance to have change occur in their life.

Upon reaching the ending, I was struck with the amount of times that he was thrown out of different schools, battled so many struggles and yet was able to find the programs and mentorship that he needed to succeed enough to reach his potential at some profession that would lead to a more successful lifestyle than that of his gang life.

Reading the title of this article, you would think that I am just making this up and I must be out of my mind trying to discuss this sort of topic. Well I am not lying. In a recent article writing in the early part of 2015, I found a article that describes the disappearing violence that was created by gang life in the Los Angeles area. It’s hard to imagine that L.A. has seen their number of violent crimes committed by gang members or of the direct result of gangs take a nose dive and heading in the direction in which more and more people are becoming involved to help keep these numbers at a minimal for the safety of the people of the greater L.A. area. These statsistics that were gathered to compact this article were receieved and interpreted over nearly the last 10-15 years ending in last’s year statsitics.

What could be the result of the drop off in gang related violence and deaths? Well one can imagine that in an area that is so diverse, there must be a need for community involvement and the need for properly trained police forces that are also good in the number of personal that are able and willing to take a stand against gang violence.

Numbers do not lie as they tell the true tale as to what is going on in L.A. 2002 was a difficult year for the greater L.A. area as they saw nearly 1,250 people die at the hands of gang violence and or as a result of gang related incident. That number dropped to below 700 in nearly ten years. Some changes have been made and they are making an impact on the attempt in Los Angeles to make an impact and attempt to create changes and stop the over violent abuse at the hands of the gangs.

http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20150123/decline-in-gang-violence-leads-to-dramatic-drop-in-los-angeles-homicides

August 11th 1965. A day that lives in infamy in the Greater Los Angeles area as a moment in time that people who were around during the time will remember. I cannot describe what happened personally cause obviously I was not there to witness the mayhem. What I have learned and discussed can be described as a moment in time where racial tensions reached a boiling point in a society where the racial segregation within the city was at an all time high, as a 20 year period after war-time in a city where African-Americans ventured out to on the hunt for jobs and a place to settle and start a family.

People still reflect upon the incidents of what had happened during those days. The effect that it had on people was so great, that it has led to have an effect on their lives and people reflect on those events and how it has affected their lives back in 1965 and how it affected their lives in recent years. I currently found an article dated a few years back to 2005 from the Los Angeles times, although it discusses interviews that were conducted with people who were directly involved with the riots and others who remember and are able to reflect on the riots.

What is shocking to know is the effect that it had especially on the African-American population that were and still are a minority within the Los Angeles region of the United States. Rena Price was a pregnant mother of the man whose arrest started it all. She recalled those events that led to the arrest of her son and her actions that led to her own arrest and how it affected her own life. The representation of the riots leads an image of struggle for many and a shadow of what has been known in America as segregated uprising within struggling communities such as Watts.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/aug/11/local/la-me-watts11aug11/2

As I was looking for articles to do a my next blog post for the week, I could not help but notice a recent article written yesterday about Gang Violence in Sweden. Granted when we think of Sweden, or at least in my case, I think of snowy mountains and peaceful landscape across the land, with villages and cities tucked into the mountains. Though I do admit, that my landscaping of the country is a bit off, none the less a normal person would not think of Sweden as having it’s fair share of gang problems to report off. Well once you read my blog you will think otherwise, (This is not the first article I have posted about Sweden and a gang problem appearing in the country.)

The problem that they are facing in Sweden recently as been compared to similar aspects of gang life that we have seen here in bigger cities within the United States. What has been recently seen in the Swedish community of Goteborg, where these incidents of criminal activity and homicides have been occurring the most, is a fight between rival gangs over similar reasons as to why American gangs have been fighting over territories, the drug trade within the regions of the violence. We see a growing epidemic as to where these gangs have been fighting over territories to sell and distribute their narcotics. The violence though has spread to communities as to which you would not categorize as gang territory.

These gangs may be battling for these communities, although what is going on is the installation of fear into communities as to where the have been numerous occasions of gang violence and drug trafficking.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/swedish-police-several-people-shot-some-dead-in-goteborg/2015/03/18/5514239a-cdde-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html