Conundrum Of Being Ex-Gang Member

Everyone gets old. Getting old for some is requirement for changing their lifestyle. Gangsters are no different. So what kind of change can an aging gangster do? Or do they think they can still sell girls, sell drugs, collect money with violence?

The thing about being in the gang, particularly the Indigenous gang, it means belonging to something bigger than themselves, even if it is something disgusting, loathsome and parasitical. Still the gang has a draw for the stupid lazy Indian. Some members are not really given the choice but to join the gang, an ugly reality for the Indigenous youth.

Being in a gang affords the individual a base of power. They won't get respect but will gain audience and have a raised voice because of the fear they bring to the community. Chiefs and Councils fear the gang member. The fear gives the gang member some power over others. Who wants to be beaten up by a bunch of goons, thugs? This is the voice the gang member has. So what happens to their voice when they decide to leave the gang?

The ex-gang member expects to have the same power and the same voice as when they were in the pack of rabid dogs. They expect people will fear them or even respect them. No one respects the gang member. The gang member is a bottom feeder and a user of people. No one respects them. People fear the gang member because there is the threat of harm. With the loss of the gang, the threat disappears. The voice they have gained due to numbers and fear is now mute. The perks of dirty fast money is gone as well. Yet the ex-gang member still thinks they have the power they afforded by being in a  gang.

So the gang member has a problem. They want to shed the skin of rot from being in a gang and join the community. They want to be respected. They want to have a voice. They still want to have the power to influence. The thing is the only reason they had those things, was because they were part of a stink and toxicity of a gang.

How should the community react to the gang member or I should say the ex-gang member? Should all be forgiven? Should they be embraced?

I think its good to have the individual recognize the ugliness of the gang life. The harm it causes to the family, to the community, to society.

However, there is the process of redemption and the act of reconciliation. Reconciliation with what you, the gang member have done to your community, your people. Shouldn't a gang member have to earn their way back into the community?

"I have my Integrity"

How would you handle the test to your integrity?

Me I don't really know. I like to think I would do the "right thing" (what ever that is). There is this meme on social media where a young guy found money and turned it into the police. The text reads "Boy turns in bag with $12,000 cash  inside.  I pray my kids aren't this fuckin' stupid". 
It is funny but you know it is a commentary of what would I want my child to do? Everyone can use the cash for sure. We can rationalize keeping it for sure. A bag of money? It must be from "ill-gotten gain", right?  It might be okay to keep it. Still you want your kids to be honest and good people.

I have been on the receiving end of good honest people. So I know they are out there.

I tell you what, integrity is a shifting earthquake.

We see integrity or lack of it everyday on television. The public life of the politician and the public personalities, like celebrities. The politician is the master of a contortionist. They can twist and turn better than any garter snake.     

2 Headed Contortionist 

So what does this say about integrity?

At what point do we draw the line? What amount of money will we turn in when found?  We will turn in a wallet with someone's rent money but just how much rent money?

With politician's you can actually see how much money? Canada boasts that it is the "good one", the voice of reason, the country of moral superiority. Still it continues to undermine the lives of the Indigenous people. They continue to sell the notion of "burden of the tax payer" to the public.  They are also the government of Equality for Women. They are also fighting for the future of the Earth with Carbon pricing. Like the two headed snake they are adding to the toxic emissions with the increased production of the dirtiest oil on the planet; the Tar Sands. They twisted and put forth policy in place making a Pipeline  a National Interest. When this failed, they bought the Pipeline to make sure it snakes its way through forest, mountains, waterways towards the Ocean.

The twisting is easy when integrity is absent.

Women are constantly being attacked for speaking up. The lack of integrity on display by men and women.

There was this Women who once said "when they  go low, we go high". Obviously she is talking about acting with integrity. She is naive because being reasonable and having integrity has been a losing way. In boxing you are told "no hitting behind the head, and no low blows".  It is because the low blow is devastating.

Living with no integrity has been leading the world. Remember the whole Occupy Movement, the Me Too movement? They are all movements working towards others having integrity. Hard to teach people integrity when they don't know what it is.

Sure Its All About Race. Isn't Everything About Race?

"Why is everything always about race?"
The question


https://www.facebook.com/brutamerica/videos/2131138767102015/?t=137

Will come back to post here. For now just enjoy the tune.

Steve