Gang Members
* Re “From the ‘Hood to Campus, He Brings a Warning About Gangs” (Oct. 2): I found your article wonderfully done, positive and, overall, very accurate. I am writing to correct the characterization of me as a “gangbanger.”
I was a gang member, but never did I consider myself a gangbanger. There is an incredible distinction between a gangbanger and a gang member. The former represents someone who actively seeks out rival gang members to kill and hurt. A gangbanger’s life is consumed by violence. Mine was not. My involvement in the gang was for companionship and self-protection. It’s true that sometimes situations developed where I was caught up in altercations with rival gangs, but I was not gangbanging. I was simply trying to stay alive.
In most gangs, there are many more members than bangers. Most gang members, like myself, grow out of the gang life and become contributing members of society.
GREGORY C. BROWN
Chairman, Criminal Justice Department
Chapman University
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