BUENA PARK : Gang? Club? Children See a Difference

“What is a gang?” Barbara Baiz asked the classroom of fifth-graders at Buena Terra Elementary School.

“They steal and kill for drug money,” a student said.

“They do a lot of vandalism,” another said.

Baiz, gang prevention adviser for Buena Park Police Department’s Positive Avenues for Youth (PAY) Gang Prevention Project, explained to the class the difference between a gang and a club.

“A gang gets together to commit crimes,” she said. “A club gets together for a special purpose.”

She asked the class, “How many of you have seen graffiti in your neighborhood?”

Lots of hands shot up.

The 10- and 11-year-old students defined graffiti as writing on walls with spray paint, symbols of hatred and the way in which gangs identify their turf.

“Even though they’re marking their territory, they’re ruining the community,” said student Jennifer Gross, 10.

Baiz then asked students to describe a drive-by shooting.

One student said it’s when gang members get in a car with a shotgun or a machine gun and start shooting.

Justin Bueno then blurted out that his cousin died in a drive-by shooting.

“Everyone was really sad,” the 10-year-old said.

“Gangs are bad because they kill people, they harass people and the graffiti they do is really ugly,” he said.

For these students, gang activity is real; it’s happening at their schools, in their neighborhoods, and in some cases, it even hits home.

“The main reason young people join gangs is because they’re not aware of life-threatening hazards of being involved in gangs,” Baiz said.

Baiz’s job is to teach students about the illegal activities of gangs, the effects of joining gangs and what they can do to “Say No to Gangs.”

“Early prevention is the only way we can combat gangs,” she said.

The 10-week program, which started this week in Buena Park schools, is geared to fifth-graders. Begun in 1990, the program is funded through grants from the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Buena Park Community Block Grant Fund.

“It really makes the children aware of the effects a gang can have on their life; they don’t really realize how serious the decision is and that it’s (a matter of) life and death,” said Jane Snider, a Buena Terra fifth-grade teacher.

For an hour each week, Baiz teaches students lessons in building self-esteem, cultural awareness, the impact of gangs on families and the community, gang violence, and most of all, the legal consequences of getting involved in gangs.

The program also features a slide show of what it’s like to be in Juvenile Hall--to be subjected to a strip-down search, locked up in a cell and to lose freedom.

Jeff La Mendola, 11, said the program makes students aware that “you can get killed and put in jail.”

But most of all, Justin said it teaches youth not to join a gang.

“Because some young kids want to,” he said. “I want to encourage my friends not to do it--and I don’t want to join a gang. I want to be smart and successful in life.”