Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Things I wonder about


So day after day I read the LA Times and there are terrible stories about gang members pulling up to people's houses and firing shots at families and killing young children, teens and people who are either in or not in gangs. Just last August, while Mayor Villaregosa was down the street comforting a family of a young boy shot in a drive by killing, a teenage girl who was going to the memorial service was shot to death - on the two blocks from the Mayor of Los Angeles.

Now, I don't know, but I wonder. Why are these things called "gang" related and not militia related? How come we have "gangs" and Iraq has "militias?" Both have guns and ammo. Both have economic means of survival through black market activities. Both have support among some members of the community who are willing to shelter members and are willing to buy the goods controlled by the militia. The people who are randomly dead from their activities are all really dead. So when is a gang a militia? When is a militia a gang?

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