The Gang Issue of America Essay -- Legal Issues, Crimes

Gangs are very dangerous to everyone in society. â€Å"Gangs are groups of people (mostly young males) who band together for protection and a sense of belonging. The U.S. Department of Justice officially defines a youth gang as a group of young people involved in criminal activity† (Gangs 1). About one million gang members are in more than 20,000 criminally active gangs in the United States. Also, that group of about one million people is accountable for up to eighty percent of our nation’s crimes. Since 2005, gangs have nationally added about 200,000 members to the already high total (Targeting Gangs 1). This is why more action from the community needs to be taken to help with the growing gang-related crimes here in America. Additionally, what kinds of people are in gangs? To begin with, Latinos make up forty-nine percent of gang member population; African-Americans, thirty-four percent; White, ten percent; Asian, six percent; and the other one percent is just the â€Å"other† category (â€Å"Facts About Gangs† 109). Also in 1996, the National Youth Gang Survey stated that members of gangs were fifty percent adolescents (under eighteen years of age) and fifty percent were adults (eighteen or older). In that survey during 2006, the number of juveniles dropped to only being thirty-six and one half percent of members, on the other hand, the percentage of adult gang members consisted of sixty-three and one half percent of the gang population (Gangs 1-2). Gang members wear similar types of clothing; which is a T-shirt, tennis shoes, and either nicely creased blue jeans or khaki Dickies (baggy men's pants or shorts). Also a member usually has a patterned bandana hanging out of his back pocket; also around his pants is a cloth belt that almost re... ... possible that gangs and gang violence will be stopped completely. With help from the communities in every city and town it is possible to stop and decrease the excessive number of gang members and gang-related crimes. We need to remember that there are many possible ways to help decrease the population size of gangs in America. Some different alternatives to being in a gang are alternatives in the school and community, educational programs for parents and children, and arresting some hard-core gang members and leaders. It is necessary for the safety of the future American citizens to start the process of controlling and containing gangs now. Without helping stop gang membership, America will become more violent and dangerous for innocent people. This is why more action from the community needs to be taken to help with the growing gang-related crimes in America.

How to Stop Bullying Essay

On April 16th 2009, eleven year old Jaheem Herrera woke up acting strangely and did not want to go to school, but he packed his bag and went to Dunaire Elementary in DeKalb County, Georgia. When he came back from school that day, he was much happier and gave his mother his report card full of As and Bs. She gave him a high five and he went upstairs while his mother fixed dinner. A little while later his younger sister called him down to eat, but Jaheem didn’t answer. So, his mother and younger sister went upstairs to check on him and found him hanging by his belt in the closet. (CNN 1) Bullying is a horrible crime that has always affected many young people and we need to find a way to stop it. There are four kinds of bullying and they are physical, verbal, covert, and cyber. Physical bullying includes kicking, tripping, pushing, hitting and damaging property. Verbal bullying includes insults, teasing, name calling, intimidation, and homophobic or racist remarks. Covert bullying is harder to recognize because it is done behind the bullying victims back, this kind of bullying can include spreading rumors, playing cruel jokes to embarrass and humiliate, mimicking unkindly, encouraging other to socially exclude someone, or damaging someone’s social reputation or social acceptance. The last type of bullying is cyber bullying; this kind is done in the digital world and it can include harassment via a mobile phone, intentionally excluding someone from social networking spaces, or setting up an insulting personal website. (NCAB) In order to stop bullying at school, school districts now have to find a way to budget their money to afford bullying programs. The money they use is tax dollars and those tax dollars â€Å"get spent just trying to make sure that people are treated with respect. Something we all should do freely, without the imposition of consequences.† (Burns) Another thing is that teachers usually get paid by their student’s attendance and everyday 160,000 students stay home from school due to bullying. (Burns) Bullying doesn’t just happen at school because â€Å"according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety Health, there is a loss of employment amounting to $19 billion and a drop in productivity of $3 billion due to workplace bullying.† (Burns) Also, since 1999, â€Å"the Office of Violence against women has spent around $98  million in assistance to address campus sexual violence.† (Burns) I believe that verbal bullying has the most affects on the bullying victim because they will never forget what the bully said and how it made them feel and that’s what causes them to go as far as committing suicide. From a survey taken in March 2011, twenty percent of high school students say that they have seriously considered committing suicide within the last 12 months. (Burns) An example of this statistic actually coming true is Jaheem Herrera. Jaheem Herrera’s mom, Masika Bermudez, believes that bullies at Jaheem’s school pushed him over the edge. They would call him words such as â€Å"gay, ugly, and â€Å"the virgin† just because he was from the Virgin Islands.† (CNN 1) Jaheem finally got tired of it and now his mother will never get to see her son grow up. Jaheem’s school has an anti – bullying program that was â€Å"considered exemplary and includes programs to raise awareness and a specially trained liaison. Students are even asked to sign a no bullying pledge.† (CNN 1) Masika Bermudez and other parents say that they have complained about bullying as well. Another statistic says that sixty-five percent of teens are bullied each year and most believe adults can’t help them. Another example of verbal bullying is 11 year old Carl Walker – Hoover, who committed suicide by hanging himself on the stairwell banister on April 6th 2009, just 10 days before Jaheem Herrera. When Carl Walker came home from school that day he told his mom, Sirdeaner Walker – Hoover, â€Å"†¦his backpack had hit the TV stand and that the TV stand hit a girl. The girl got really upset and threatened to beat him.† (CNN 2) However, that’s not the only thing that happened, since fifth grade Carl had been having problems with other students. For example, they would call him ‘gay’ and he’d be verbally teased every day. It got to a point where Carl was so afraid of being bullied, he ate lunch with a guidance counselor. Carl’s story is also an example of sexual bullying which is really a form of sexual harassment. An example of cyber bullying is Ryan Halligan who committed suicide in 2003 also because of sexual harassment. Ryan started to get teased in fifth grade and his dad’s response was â€Å"It’s just words. You need to just ignore him†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (CNN 2) However, the maltreatment still continued up until seventh grade  when Ryan came home to tell his parents that he was becoming friends with one of his bullies. Soon later, the bully backstabbed him and spread a rumor around school that Ryan was gay and because of that, kids who didn’t normally pick on Ryan got in on the bullying. Ryan started to receive rude, wicked, and homophobic emails but he still didn’t tell his parents about them. One day Ryan went to go talk to a girl whom he had been chatting online with for a long time and the girl told Ryan that he was a loser and didn’t want anything to do with him and then laughed in his face. This is another thing that pushed Ryan over the edge.  "Cyber bullying is far more dangerous than what we had to deal with a generation ago. The level of pain that can be brought about by this behavior is unbelievable.† (CNN 2) In 2009, a survey took down what percentage of high school students have been bullied on school property by race/ ethnicity within 2008. Twenty percent of all children say they have been bullied and this survey shows exactly that. (Burns) Out of all the students at this high school, 19.9 percent report that they have been bullied. The top three races that were bullied were Caucasian at 21.6 percent, American Indian/ Alaska Native at 33.8 percent, and non Hispanic multiple race at 23.9 percent. (CDC) Bullying is a horrible crime that has always affected many young people and we need to find a way to stop it. These stories about Jaheem, Carl, and Ryan being bullied are just a few of the hundreds of thousands of bullying problems that kids, students, and even adults have to deal with everyday. To help this problem, I believe that at every school in America it should be necessary to have an anti – bullying program because according to a statistic, in a school where there are bullying programs, bullying is reduced by 50 percent. If every school in America has one, then that’s cutting the bullying problem in half. Works Cited James Burns. (28 March 2011) April 5, 2012. Proactive Behavioral – Management website:  . James Burns provided many statistics about bullying in school, in a workplace. He also provided how much money is spent and lost in a workplace because of sexual harassment and sexual violence. CNN 1.(23 April 2009) April , 2012 â€Å"My bullied son’s last day on Earth.† CNN U.S. Website: . This article provided for me a story about a little boy who was bullied at school to the point of committing suicide. It provides me a lot of quotes and the pain a family feels when a person is bullied. CNN 2. (May 26, 2009) April 5, 2012 â€Å"When sexual bullying turns deadly.† CNN Living Website. . This article provided me with two stories about two boys named Carl and Ryan who were also bullied at school and they also both committed suicide. This article also provides for me statistics about sexual bullying. MCHB – Maternal & Child Health Bureau. (March 2011) April 5, 2012 â€Å"Bullying.† Child Health USA 2011 website: . This website provided me with a graph that shows high school students who were bullied on school property in the past year, by Race/Ethnicity in 2009. NCAB. April 5, 2012 â€Å"Who’s Bullying and Who’s Being Bullied?.† National Centre against Bullying. Website: .

Analysis Of The Poem My Papa s Waltz By Theodore Roethke

The poem â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke tells the story of a moment between a father and a son. The father smells like he has had a little too much to drink, and he is dancing around in the kitchen with his son. The dance doesn’t seem to be as much fun for the son, because he is continually scraping his ear against his dad’s belt buckle. Similarly, the poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† by Robert Hayden tells the story of a particular moment between a father and son. The son tells the story of his father doing particular tasks every morning for the family. The speaker makes it clear that the father was never thanked for everything he did. It is only now at an older age, that the speaker realizes these small tasks were his father’s way of showing affection. Both poems have similar subject matter, and use strong imagery to describe their relationship, but they express different attitudes about father son relationships. Although both p oets use a specific form throughout their poems, the both use different forms. Roethke’s poem is written in iambic trimeter, and has a ABAB rhyme scheme that continues throughout the entire poem. Something that Roethke does beautifully by using iambic trimeter, is relating the rhymes back to the subject matter of the poem. The dance of a waltz is done in three beats, similar to the beats of each line in this poem. However, every single line does not follow this particular beat, which works in this poem considering the dad is drunk. The beat ofShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem My Papa s Waltz By Theodore Roethke Essay1368 Words   |  6 Pagesphysically and emotionally scar him, and those scars can last for a lifetime. In the poem â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke, the speaker describes the abuse that his father dealt to him under the guise of a dance. Although this abuse is hidden to some readers on the first read through, there are a few instanc es in the poem that are typical signs of abuse. The evidences of abuse in the poem â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† that are typical to child abuse are the alcoholism of the father, the striking of theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem My Papa s Waltz By Theodore Roethke1020 Words   |  5 Pages My Papa s Waltz, by Theodore Roethke, and Those Winter Sundays, by Robert Hayden, are two of the most famous American poems dealing with the theme of fatherhood. Each of them detail the narrator’s own experience with their fathers and some things are the same about them and some are different. That is what makes poetry unique. There are millions of poems out there so some may appear to be the same upfront, but they always have a factor that separates them from the rest. Both of these poemsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem My Papa s Waltz By Theodore Roethke909 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke is an intriguing poem because of its ambiguity. One could see this as a poem about a child having a playful dance with his dad before bedtime but I see it as a poem about a child being abused by his father because he is an alcoholic. A dance is supposed to symbolize an expression of joyful spirituality and love especially the waltz. Specifically, the title may give the impression that this dance between father and son is a smooth romantic dance but some wordsRead MoreMy Papas Waltz Personal Analysis1473 Words   |  6 Pagesbe able to encounter the various meanings, tones, structure, my personal opinion and analysis of the poem â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke. For more to add, you will also encounter with a brief biography of the poet Roethke which will explain why the poet wrote this poem a nd how much meaning it has for him. The reason why I chose this poem out of the other seven choices that were given was because this poem captivated me. The poem itself has a lot of parts in which it amazed me, but what amazedRead More Analysis of My Papas Waltz by Theodore Rothke Essay521 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of My Papas Waltz by Theodore Rothke My Papas Waltz is by Theodore Rothke it is about a childhood memory written later in his lifetime. Theodore Rothkes dad was an alcoholic drunk. Theodore Rothke went through a period where he was depressed and mentally unstable. Theodore Rothke was fascinated by the nature of the world; many of his poems were about this subject. Some people who read My Papas Waltz come to the conclusion that it is about a drunken abusive father. However, I thinkRead MoreAnalysis Of Theodore Roethke s My Papa s Waltz958 Words   |  4 Pageswith Love: An Analysis of Form in Theodore Roethke’s â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† In â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† there are a plethora of word twists, hidden meanings, and thought provoking terminology. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the meaning of the word waltz is â€Å"a dance performed to music in triple time by couples who, almost embracing each other, swing round and round in the same direction with smooth and even steps, moving on as they gyrate.† The term of the â€Å"waltz† in this poem has many intricateRead MoreMy Papas Waltz: an Analysis of Speaker and Situation Essay772 Words   |  4 PagesThe poem My Papas Waltz by Theodore Roethke is a moving representation of childhood spent in a working middle class family. The speaker of this poem is a man recalling his childhood, his father and his mother through the means of a waltz. The following essay will present a detailed analysis of the dramatic situation and speaker through the explanations of the various poetic tools used in this poem such as similes, cho ice of words and style. Theodore Roethke portrays the father figureRead MoreEssay about My Papas Waltz vs. Those Winter Nights1521 Words   |  7 PagesKoch Literature and Culture 5/6/13 Research Paper My Papa’s Waltz Vs. Those Winter Nights In â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Roethke and â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† by Hayden, the two narrators speak about their fathers in a way that shows there were two different sides to their fathers. One side was abusive and strict, while the other side was loving and caring. Each narrator has a different attitude toward their feelings for their fathers. Roethke has a more fun and understanding view of his father,Read MoreBishop And Roethke On The Contradictions Of Perception1968 Words   |  8 PagesBishop and Roethke on the Contradictions of Perception My Papa s Waltz by Theodore Roethke and The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop depict the seemingly disparate subjects of a rough, playful dance between a drunken father and his son and a fish just pulled from the sea. Different in this way, the poems share an intense desire to render the ambiguity of subjective experience. More specifically, they show how embracing this ambiguity produces rich, potentially ecstatic modes of perception. While My Papa