In Ishmael Ishmael says that takers forgot what it is like to be leavers. Are gangs takers’ way of trying to remember what it is like being a leaver?

Gangs are not “trying to remember” anything. For threatened people to form small, self-protective groups that follow the principle “One for all and all for one” just makes good sense. The homeless naturally gravitate toward tribal groupings, not because they’re “trying to remember” anything, but because this is just what works best–no great mystery to it. I don’t consider gangs to be tribes because they’re not about making a living together. They’re just about controlling a territory.

ID: 454
posted: 13 Jan 2000
updated: 13 Jan 2000