June 15, 2008
L'il Gangstas: The Pre-K Gangs of New York
A is for Apple..B is for Blood and C is for Crip? The Daily News has a disturbing story about gang-member parents indoctrinating their children from birth in gang life. Before they can even speak, some of these tots can flash their signs and are adorned with gang colors and accouterments. Are gang-themed line of onesies far behind?
Blood parents call their offspring Blood drops, stains, or rims, which is just the cutest. One Latin King father described his son's blessing at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Morningside Heights four years ago during a quasi-religious ceremony.
"It's like a christening," he said. "The priest holds the baby and we say our prayer at the same time. We have to have the window open and the baby pointed toward the sun."The first child Iron baptized, though, was killed in a drive-by at age 2; Iron says he was the target.Once blessed, the child is given yellow beads - the gang's color.
"He's a true gangster. The way he acts with people, the way he just wants to beat you up and punch you," Iron said of the 4-year-old "Latin Prince" he hopes will preach peace within the gang.
In a separate article, a 38-year-old mother of two describes how she also had her four children christened as Latin Kings and Latin Queens. As they became older, she started to reflect on her life of being subjected to beatings, shooting and slashing people, and being raped by Latin Kings, and then decided to flee the community. She is now a minister and hopes that her former gang life will never catch up with her, or her children.
And last year, Yankees caps with gang colors were pulled from the shelves.
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"First of the gang with a gun in his hand and the first to do time, the first of the gang to die. Such a silly boy."
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Gothamist is Racist! Selective Journalism again. How come you don't show white people teaching their kids to eat cottage cheese and dance badly? They grow up to steal millions from hedge funds everywhere
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they're called Ponzi schemes. scams for the ultra rich.
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"The priest holds the baby and we say our prayer at the same time. We have to have the window open and the baby pointed toward the sun."
what the hell is this, the lion king?
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[vicious] circle of life?
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remember elmira from tiny toons? remember how it takes her 20 minutes to feel pain and then freak out cause she is so stoopid? i feel like some ___fill in___ are like that!
Btw, #4, that was HILARIOUS. Babyhitler, u soOooO crazy!
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I find this such a heart warming story for father's day. Like father, like son. The part of the child facing the son reminds me of an ancient Aztec blood ritual.
Perhaps before they finally shut down Yankee stadium the city could invite all the gang members, their bitches, and their offspring for a nice get together. Free 40's for everyone. During a four hour rap concert, the gates are sealed and they implode the whole thing and pave it over.
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"The first child Iron baptized, though, was killed in a drive-by at age 2; Iron says he was the target."
I'm imagining Martin Sheen's character at the climax of The Dead Zone. You sound like a great dad Iron. Happy Father's Day!!!
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why doesn't the government pull social services from these gangsters.
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If the authorities had any guts at all they would declare all gangs "terrorist organizations" and bring the full weight of the Patriot Act on their heads.
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What happened to the good old days when the criminals built their own gallows?
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The saddest thing about this article is that the caption on the little picture of the infant with the pistols placed on his pillow reads something like, "Police later removed the pistols from the home."
Yep, I'm really scared of the pistols. Not at all of the possible sociopathic person who could be formed by parents who would be taking pictures of pistols framing their baby in his crib.
Calling ACS . . . Keep the pistols, grab the kid!
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Believe it or not, I agree with Snoopy on this one.
Horrible, horrible people.
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I don't understand the timidity of the police in regards to street gangs. Cops are real brave when they're telling people to shut up and giving them tickets for standing somewhere but they seem to have a different set of rules when these gangs are concerned.
Message to the police: You know where they gather - go take care of it.
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Al Sharpton, this is your chance to make good on your deal with God.
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Yeah. Where iz yous Al?
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#4 FTW
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it disgusts me that you write an article and don't proofread it.
"The first child Iron baptized, though, was killed in a drive-by at age 2; Iron says he was the target."
that is obviously not clear.
"he" could mean the child or the ad. i am disgusted by the obvious grammar mistakes everywhere.
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The 2 year old child really doesn't give a shit about any grammar mistakes in his life anymore.
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Thug life.
And cuntry, this is the internets, also known as a blog, not the application for a nobel peace prize in journalism. If you want to have a laugh at bad grammar and spelling go to http://icanhascheezburger.com/, though you probably wont get it.
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Comments by grammar nazis make me want to tear my eyes out.
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I thought the Latin Kings were trying to go legit? Remember when they wanted to march in the PR parade?
Anyhow, what a pathetic existence.
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If you are worried about a misplaced pronoun, cuntry, what about the use of the semi-colon?
Apporpriate or not? (This should get her panties in a knot.)
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i agree with snoopy.
cuntry, get the fuck over it. yeah, it's sad, but if you're just arriving at this conclusion, you're about five years behind a lot of us. if you don't like it, go elsewhere--the info's still good. meaning comes through if you're halfway sentient.
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i agree with splicer on #14 too.
dear nypd: instead of shooting raccoons out of trees, why not fight crime? whatever happened to that idea?
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this doesn't come as a total surprise
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# 10 put it best.
"If the authorities had any guts at all they would declare all gangs "terrorist organizations" and bring the full weight of the Patriot Act on their heads."
Why aren't they considered terrorists and dispensed with? Sad when you have to turn to violent gangs because you have no family to turn too.
They are all statistics in the end.
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Hey, fantastic parenting there. Way to raise the bar for your community.
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these people are garbage.
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my tricycle rims spin son. tossin back a 40oz juice box. wearin my jeans low so you can see the pampers label. that's how i roll.
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@cunty - That's not bad grammar - pronouns by default refer to the most recent subject.
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"If the authorities had any guts at all they would declare all gangs "terrorist organizations" and bring the full weight of the Patriot Act on their heads."
Why aren't they considered terrorists and dispensed with?
didn't you get the memo? terrorists don't exist in America, only in islamic countries.
/sarcasm
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""He's a true gangster. The way he acts with people, the way he just wants to beat you up and punch you," Iron said of the 4-year-old "Latin Prince" he hopes will preach peace within the gang."
Wants to beat you up and punch you? Preach peace? What am I missing here?
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One could make an argument that these kinds of people are like a virus. Then again, where do we draw the line?
Certainly, these people have no business with custody of children. They are little better than wild animals, except that they should know better.
Is there any justification for the continued existence of organized crime in any form?
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I'm not worried about someone who lives 3,000 miles away who hates me. I'm worried about the thug who's on the same subway car as I am and thinks its funny to punch people in the face.
If you ask me the wrong people are at Gitmo. I'm home - Homeland Security should be protecting us from garbage like this. Go to this kids home and not only remove the gun but remove everyone in that apt. from society.
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I can't wait for the day when I can help pay for health care for these horribly needy people.
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What's needed here are concentration camps in Wyoming for gangs. Throw them in there, strip them naked, and let them have at each other like the animals they are. Then dig mass graves, throw them in there and burn them alive. Bill their shitty families for the gasoline. Gangstas have no civil or human rights. They just need to not exist anymore.
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All the cities in the United States need to activate our U.S. Armed Forces and do a sweep to clean up all the gangs. We can't keep having these thugs thinking the United States is a battle ground nor a play ground for cutting up innocent people. All these gangs know better but want it easy and doped up. It's a slap in the face to America. When Washington gets fed up there will be a change in how groups of urban people run there blocks because it's a cancer to this country "America". If you don't want to build more prisons from tax dollars then get these kids off the brain wash of gang life and being doped up. And it starts with a clean sweep.