Just who is a gang member? What is a gang affiliation? How does a child go to public school in many parts of Los Angeles without knowing a gang member? Does that constitute "gang ties"?
Witness LA, an excellent blog about crime and social justice issues, examines those questions by looking at the case of Jamiel Shaw, Jr., the 17-year old high school football star who was gunned down by a gang member outside his home in March.
The local media has jumped all over this murder, advancing the storyline that the young victim was the ultimate Good Kid, victimized by a gang member. Over the past few days, news has leaked that Shaw made some gang references on his myspace page, prompting some to question whether he was really was the Good Kid, and subtly suggesting that gang ties would have made his murder slightly less tragic. (Surely, it would have caused the media to give it less attention.)
The truth is this: for most kids in LA, life ain't that black and white. As the Witness LA blog post illustrates, it is murky, gray, and all too dangerous. There is no straight and narrow; just a windy, bumpy, hazardous road.
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