Nearly 80 summer campers listened intently late Thursday while Channell “Mama G” Braxton spoke to them about the perils faced by girls who join street gangs.
Those perils, she said, include rape, sexual exploitation, the possibility of going to prison, romantic infidelity and violence.
“We don’t get no respect,” Braxton said about a woman’s life in Raleigh’s street gangs. “It ain’t what it used to be.”
Braxton, 27, is a former general, a “First Lady,” of a Crips gang in North Raleigh. She was a leader of her “set’s” territory.
“When the Big Homey gets locked up, I stayed in touch with him, as well as kept the set together, as well as made sure the homeys got cards and letters while they are locked up,” Braxton said.
Braxton spoke to the campers at Torchlight Academy as part of a mentoring program whose participants are former gang members. The mentors were among nearly a half dozen sets of Bloods and Crips throughout the city who declared a truce earlier this month to end the fights, shootings and other acts of violence they have committed toward each other in their neighborhoods.
Braxton joined the gang when she was 11 and still in elementary school. She is now the mother of three small children. A petite, pecan-tan woman with a warm smile and bright eyes, Braxton looks like a young Lauryn Hill. She says she followed in the footsteps of her grandmother, who was a member of the Gangster Disciples In Delaware.
Most law enforcement authorities describe gangs as violent criminal enterprises with, at their nexus, the sale of drugs or other illegal activities to finance the organizations. But Braxton described a more honorable explanation for the emergence of gang culture, telling campers that street gangs got started in response to police brutality taking place in Los Angeles.
“We were made to protect those who didn’t want to join the gangs against racist people who are against us,” Braxton told them. “Our organization was made to give back to the community and to protect our women and children.”
“Are there white gangs?” a girl camper asked.
“Of course,” Braxton quickly replied. “There’s the KKK, the Nazis, the Aryan Brotherhood and the skinheads.”
Braxton said that the largely African-American Crips and Bloods gangs changed, started warring among themselves and resorted to violence to settle “personal beefs.” The violence fueled a need for revenge and a cycle of violence that has spiraled out of control.
“There’s not brotherhood or sisterhood anymore,” she said.
Braxton was one of two young women formerly involved with gangs who spoke to the campers Thursday at Torchlight, where former gang members have been working as mentors and trying to deter kids from the life they chose.
Missy Wright, a teacher at Torchlight and mentor who works with young men and women involved with gangs in North Raleigh, said a young woman’s participation with gangs is complex because many of the girls come from broken homes and think of their fellow gang members as family. That’s particularly true if they become romantically involved with a male gang member. That oftentimes leads to emotional ties and children, whom the women are often left alone to raise.
Wright said the younger gang members are okay at first. “They’re happy,” said Wright, who mentors three young women between the ages of 16 and 24 who are gang members. “It’s like an outlet for them.”
Wright said the lure of gangs looms even larger in some Raleigh neighborhoods because there aren’t many constructive outlets for girls who are 16 or older.
“They can’t go to the Girl’s Club anymore because they are 16,” she said. “It’s nothing for them to do. So they go into the circle and be part of the gang.”
As the girls become women, they want out, Wright said.
“Sleeping from guy to guy,” she said. “There was one case where a girl had to sleep with five different guys to get jumped into the gang.”
Those perils, she said, include rape, sexual exploitation, the possibility of going to prison, romantic infidelity and violence.
“We don’t get no respect,” Braxton said about a woman’s life in Raleigh’s street gangs. “It ain’t what it used to be.”
Braxton, 27, is a former general, a “First Lady,” of a Crips gang in North Raleigh. She was a leader of her “set’s” territory.
“When the Big Homey gets locked up, I stayed in touch with him, as well as kept the set together, as well as made sure the homeys got cards and letters while they are locked up,” Braxton said.
Braxton spoke to the campers at Torchlight Academy as part of a mentoring program whose participants are former gang members. The mentors were among nearly a half dozen sets of Bloods and Crips throughout the city who declared a truce earlier this month to end the fights, shootings and other acts of violence they have committed toward each other in their neighborhoods.
Braxton joined the gang when she was 11 and still in elementary school. She is now the mother of three small children. A petite, pecan-tan woman with a warm smile and bright eyes, Braxton looks like a young Lauryn Hill. She says she followed in the footsteps of her grandmother, who was a member of the Gangster Disciples In Delaware.
Most law enforcement authorities describe gangs as violent criminal enterprises with, at their nexus, the sale of drugs or other illegal activities to finance the organizations. But Braxton described a more honorable explanation for the emergence of gang culture, telling campers that street gangs got started in response to police brutality taking place in Los Angeles.
“We were made to protect those who didn’t want to join the gangs against racist people who are against us,” Braxton told them. “Our organization was made to give back to the community and to protect our women and children.”
“Are there white gangs?” a girl camper asked.
“Of course,” Braxton quickly replied. “There’s the KKK, the Nazis, the Aryan Brotherhood and the skinheads.”
Braxton said that the largely African-American Crips and Bloods gangs changed, started warring among themselves and resorted to violence to settle “personal beefs.” The violence fueled a need for revenge and a cycle of violence that has spiraled out of control.
“There’s not brotherhood or sisterhood anymore,” she said.
Braxton was one of two young women formerly involved with gangs who spoke to the campers Thursday at Torchlight, where former gang members have been working as mentors and trying to deter kids from the life they chose.
Missy Wright, a teacher at Torchlight and mentor who works with young men and women involved with gangs in North Raleigh, said a young woman’s participation with gangs is complex because many of the girls come from broken homes and think of their fellow gang members as family. That’s particularly true if they become romantically involved with a male gang member. That oftentimes leads to emotional ties and children, whom the women are often left alone to raise.
Wright said the younger gang members are okay at first. “They’re happy,” said Wright, who mentors three young women between the ages of 16 and 24 who are gang members. “It’s like an outlet for them.”
Wright said the lure of gangs looms even larger in some Raleigh neighborhoods because there aren’t many constructive outlets for girls who are 16 or older.
“They can’t go to the Girl’s Club anymore because they are 16,” she said. “It’s nothing for them to do. So they go into the circle and be part of the gang.”
As the girls become women, they want out, Wright said.
“Sleeping from guy to guy,” she said. “There was one case where a girl had to sleep with five different guys to get jumped into the gang.”
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