Street gangs gain foothold on Native American reservations

[alexalonso]

Native american gang called the Wounded Knee Crips - has anyone heard of this in South Dakota?

by Jay Scott Smith | November 23, 2012 at 8:00 AM

During this time of year, school children are often taught the story of the first Thanksgiving, when the Pilgrims met the Indians upon coming to North America. Much like the first Thanksgiving, the true story of the current struggle of Native Americans has remained largely untold and misunderstood.

Native Americans live in some of the most extreme cases of rural poverty in the world and in recent years have encountered many of the same issues plaguing some of the country’s largest urban centers. A prime example of such is the Badlands of South Dakota, which is home to the Pine Ridge Reservation and the Oglala Lakota tribe.

Pine Ridge, once the home of chief Crazy Horse as well as the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, is experiencing poverty on levels usually seen only in third-world nations. Over 90 percent of the residents live below the poverty line, the unemployment rate is estimated to be 85 to 90 percent and life expectancy is 48 years for men and 52 for women.

Pine Ridge has also become home to another growing problem facing many Indian Reservations: gang violence. According to the FBI, Native American gang membership has sharply risen in the last decade, with many notorious street gangs making their presence felt on reservations across the country. Some of these gangs originated in the prison system.

With the high amount of poverty in many reservations, they have become a hotbed for illegal drug and gun trafficking. In some states, the Native gangs are also working in conjunction with Mexican drug cartels, including the infamous Los Zetas cartel of eastern and central Mexico.

According to a 2009 Wall Street Journal report, Washington State Tribal Police seized more than 233,000 marijuana plants in 2008, nearly 10 times the amount found in 2006.

“These criminal organizations are growing in Indian country at an alarming rate,” said Carmen Smith, the police chief of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon. “The [growers] on our reservation were sent directly from Mexico.”

The gangs would infiltrate reservations, often paying Tribal members – most of whom are perpetually unemployed otherwise – thousands of dollars a month to tend to the crops of marijuana.

In a given year, the cartels could bank upwards of $120 million from weed alone. The grow operations largely run along reservations out west, but some have popped up as far east as Michigan and Virginia.

The best-known native gangs – Native Mob and Native Pride – are prevalent on reservations in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Other native gangs have created their own versions of well known black, white, and Latino gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, Norteños, Sureños, and Juggalos.

[VictoriousHTZ]

Lol wounded knee..so might as well crip walk!

Native Americans becoming crip and blood. This is a great example of _______. Fill in the blank!

[silentwssj]

I spent 6 months working on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. I saw graffiti from Nortenos, Surenos, Crips, Bloods, Vice lords, Gangster Disciples and a homegrown gang the Dragons! You would be surprised what you find on them reservations. Its very poor and desolate out there. There are not that many jobs. What happens is the people travel all over the country for employment opportunities and they get exposed to all these different gangs! I know it sounds ridiculous but its true! The Rollin 60's Crips are one of the biggest gangs on the Navajo reservation. From what I hear they can get wild out there. Its very remote! Some of those communities don't have much of a law enforcement presence. Response time could be hours away! I don't think its any different than Asians becoming Crips or Bloods! There are plenty of those in the world!

[VictoriousHTZ]

I am just suggesting we as a people have lost our culture. But I do understand why we take on sub cultures. Just stating something is really wrong here for us to embrace the sub culture more than our original. Even though we may not have much in common with the old ways, but anybody can see there is something very wrong.

[silentwssj]

I think we are products of our environment. Most people grow out of the gang lifestyle! I would be willing to bet that most native gangsters at some point in their lives return to the traditions of their people! Same thing for Asians!

[VictoriousHTZ]

I think that was once true. but many traditions now are on the verge of disappearing just like gang culture.

[VictoriousHTZ]

Grow out of the gang lifestyle yes.

Product of our environment agreed 100 percent.

[BooRoc]

I think we are products of our environment. Most people grow out of the gang lifestyle! I would be willing to bet that most native gangsters at some point in their lives return to the traditions of their people! Same thing for Asians!

Very true. I agree with you on that one silentwssj. I'm white, but I grew up locked up in different juvenile placements from age 11-18. So of course being at a young age my mentality became that you use violence to get your point across. I really didn't know what a gang was until I got locked up. The place that I was had a couple of Crips from the Inland Empire, and a Blood from San Diego. In the end I ended joining a gang cuz I felt that it was the right thing for me to do at the time. They treated me as family more then my family did. Most people think that if you're raised in the hood then you'll never amount to anything. That's not true. I'm 40 now, and I left that gang life behind me, and I'm attending college now. However cuz that was my life for almost two decades I'll always have that part of me that if someone pisses that violent gang member mentality will come back out of me.