To My Future Son -

Dear son,

I'm coming to you as a man by letting you know that gangs are not the way you want to live. It may seem cool the money, popularity, girls, parties the whole lifestyle is really overrated. Take it from your father someone who has actually lived through some of the things you hear in songs and see in the movies. I'm going to give you some advice on how to maneuver through gangs and violence. First, I'm going to start off by telling you your grandfather is apart of a gang/organization named the latin kings. I found this out when I was about 12 years old and I found myself wondering how in the ---- did he get into a gang named the ¨ Latin ¨ Kings inferring that he has sort of latin background come to find out your great great grandmother was coasterican. Saying this to say just because you come from somewhere doesn't mean you have to live with that title. I was never taught what to do if gang members approached me and tried to force me to join their gang/organization. When they approach you asking you to be apart of their gang/organization it isn't mandatory that you join them you can just say no you're not interested.

Majority of the time they want you to join them because they really enjoy your company and want to hang out more, or it could be they are just trying to recruit crash dummies under their belt you know someone to take the blame for them when ---- goes south then the ------- thinks that their being loyal to their gang or their brothers when he was getting played the whole time. That brings up my other point be careful who you hang around and let be your close friends never let anyone put fear in your heart. When I say that I'm not saying walk around thinking you're a bad --- thinking you don't have to respect anyone and doing what you want. Still be respectful to yourself, peers, and your elders. What I'm saying is if someone tries to punk you out don't let them just treat you like you're their pet because if you don't stand up the first time something like that happens to you they will keep doing it like a repeated cycle. That's when it becomes bullying and all that other stuff. When I was in high school I didn't let anyone punk me out, yeah I avoided fights but no one can actually say I ran from the fight. Violence isn't always the answer but it's ok to apply a little force when its needed and if you run your mouth make sure you can back it up because your mouth can get you in a lot of trouble. 

For example, when I was in the 9th grade a couple of my friends got into a heated argument with a couple of dudes and one of the dudes swore he knew where my friend lived so my friend told the guy to pull up. So later on after school, we went to his house to play basketball, so we´re outside playing basketball and a car rolls by very slow and circled the block a couple of time then the car finally stopped like two houses down. We didn't pay it any mind we continued to play basketball then 4 or 5 dudes came from the car two of them were from school the other 3 I didn't know, so the boy and my friend began fighting and my friend started to beat the guy up. His friends started to jump in and so we did the same and one of the guys pulled out a gun and held us at gunpoint for him and his friends got into the car and drove away. Son I'm telling you this thing just to let you know that isnt the life you want to live people I knew died from living the ” life ¨ got life sentences, 15 years, 5-year sentences from living the  ¨ life ¨. Not trying to control your life son just giving you the dark side of what seems to be a good life.