When you ask a fourteen to seventeen-year-old gang member, "Why are you with those guys and girls?" his usual reply will be, "It's the guns, the cars, the girls, the drugs, the money, the excitement, the fun." It's very hard to change that kind of attitude. We began to see that even earlier, in elementary and junior high school, certain kids were getting involved in certain activities, wearing certain kinds of clothes, and acting out certain behaviors. I would ask them the same question, "Why are you with these folks?" And they would tell me something that frightened me to hear this from a seventh or eighth grader: "I am with them because they listen to me, they care for me, they take care of me. If I have problems, I can go to them any time. They feed me when I'm hungry, and no matter what I do, they care about me. They even help me with my homework."

How am I supposed to tell a student who answers like that not to be going to somebody for that kind of help and assistance. What I found even more frightening was that there was really nobody else they felt they could turn to. As a matter of fact, that was a critical factor for us to find out. These are students who are being recruited—seduced, if you will—sometimes right on the campuses of the schools. A young person who is having trouble at home, some kind of conflict, would usually say something like, "Oh, I can't stand it at home. Mom and Dad are so old fashioned, they don't know what it is like to grow up in this country. They told me I can't start dating until I get to college, or maybe a little later." Then they will say, "I can't talk to them; we can't communicate. There is no communication." After school, during vacations, and on weekends, when the guys and girls have nothing else better to do, they hang out on the school campus basketball courts. If you look off into the corner, you will see a couple of guys sitting there waiting for them to finish their workout, ready to take them to lunch so that they can talk about what's going on in their families.

After many years, we have discovered certain questions that need to be asked the students early on. By asking the right questions, we have found it possible to characterize a kid who is in danger of getting into trouble. We have seen the same thing over and over again. For example, we will ask students—those between the ages of 10 to 13, sometimes even younger—this very important question: "If you or your friend were in serious trouble and you needed help, assistance, or ad- vice-whether it's pregnancy, drugs, gangs, or anything else— who would you go to for advice and assistance?" We began to recognize that we were getting, in general, three types of answers. The first type of answer would come from the kind of student who rarely needs assistance from our clinic: "You mean if I got my girlfriend pregnant?" "Yes." "Oh my god! Oh no! She would kill me, but no matter what, I would tell my mother." Or it might be the father; or, some other appropriate and reputable adult. These kinds of kids don't need to come to our center very frequently—maybe one kid in a hundred.

The second category of students, when asked that same question, would answer, "Huh! Adults? No way! I will go talk to my 'pretend' big brother or sister." By the word "pretend," they mean "street," "peer". And to them, an adequate adult would be any eighteen-year-old. There is no coincidence that leaders of gangs are referred to in Cantonese as dai lo—"big brother" or "big sister". There is a lot of meaning behind that terminology.

Teens in general have a sense of immortality, "I'm not going to die. The guy right next to me might, but not me!" Consequently, the most recent number-one cause of death statistically has been death by accident. Suicide is second, unless the boy or girl happens to be from a certain ethnic background, living in a certain metropolitan area, in which case it would be gun-shot wounds.

This sense of immortality on the part of teens is something we must keep in mind. When a parent and child comes to me for a consultation, and I ask the parent, "What is the most horrible thing that you are afraid could possibly happen to your child?" Mom or Dad would reply, "Homicide, suicide, decapitation, drugs, kidnapping...!" They are imagining the most horrible things. They are panic-stricken. They think these kinds of things might happen to their own child. Of course, a good parent would worry about such things. What does the teen say? "Ma, Dad, get real! That's not going to happen to me!"

And so we need to deal with the problem of that sense of immortality teens have. Sometimes our efforts consist simply of our trying to help these adolescents survive their adolescence. Sometimes we have to help the parents survive their children's adolescence, too. But the main point to remember is that these teens are "adults in training".

The third category of student is the one I worry about from a mental-health point of view. When the question is asked, "Who would you go to?" This kind of student would reply, "Nobody. I keep it inside. I go to nobody. I talk to nobody." These kids are most in danger. They are often the ones who act out suddenly, whether it be suicidal or homicidal activity or behavior. And then people who knew them will often comment, "He seemed okay, but he never really talked to anybody about anything."

There are certain mannerisms, activities, or behaviors by which we are able to identify adolescents and teens who are now or who are becoming at risk. These are classified as late, intermediate, and early signs. First I will describe the late signs. We work very closely with law enforcement and school officials with whom we regularly collaborate on projects and programs. When we ask law-enforcement officials at what point do most parents become aware that their child is involved with gangs, they usually answer, "When their kid is arrested by the police." I do not consider that to be a first sign; I consider that to be a late sign.  

There are more late signs:

•The gang lifestyle is the only way for them to live; they feel there is no alternative.

•Regarding truancy, they spend more time out of school than they do in school. In other words, when parents get called before the Board of Education and are told, "Your son (or daughter) is a problem," that is not an early sign.

•At home, curfew has little or no meaning to them—or else there is no curfew at all. Runaway behavior is to the point that the son or daughter is not home much at all.

•Open defiance to all authority figures: teachers, police, as well as parents.

•The use of weapons and other means to threaten, hurt, and/or kill.

•Gang-related tattoos everywhere on the body.

•Regular and consistent use of drugs and/or alcohol, and possibly even dealing in drugs.  

Those are the kinds of things that police officers look for when they stop kids on the road. When the police find such "Behaviour, they will keep an eye on that person because they know that he or she will probably be involved in other criminal activities later. Those are all late signs. When a young person manifests late signs like those, it is very difficult to convince him or her to turn away from such dangerous activities.

                To be continued